She was a most attractive woman, although by no means beautiful, and by no means voluptuous; her breasts were too small, her hips too narrow. Her legs were splendidly long, but they were too thin. And of course, she was clean, because he had her bathed every morning — it was simply a matter of turning the hose on her; the floor, in fact, was still wet now from her morning’s immersion. But she was also a symbol of the hell that raged in both his mind and his body, all the time. When he had first seen her, he had been inflamed with the purest lust. Again, not because of her looks, especially; the woman Valya and the girl Natasha had both been far more generously endowed. It had been, and remained, the aura of her. He had been able to tell right away that she was more intelligent even than the woman Valya. She would know what was happening, she would feel in a way that a sub-human Slav never could. He had known that he was going to have the most gloriously ghastly experience of his life, tearing from this woman the secrets of the swamp. It had even occurred to him that he could torment such a finely-tuned mind without actually laying a finger on her, a kind of hors d’oeuvre. “Do you know what I am going to do to you?” he had asked her.
“No,” she had replied. “Why do you not just do it?”
Then he had been unable to stop himself from touching her, stroking her, caressing her breasts, squeezing her buttocks before abruptly stepping away from her, both because of the expression of contempt in her eyes, and because of the men standing around, watching him. And Jutta.
Jutta understood. “Why do you not bring her up here,” she had said in the privacy of their bedroom.
“And fuck her to your heart’s content. It’s what you want to do, isn’t it? I’d make sure she didn’t resist you.”
But Jutta was only capable of understanding part of the problem. He had never yet raped a prisoner. He had had his chance when they had been alone in that hut in the forest together; perhaps his men even supposed he had done it, then. But he had not. And to bring Elaine Mitchell up to his bedroom would be as obvious to everyone as if he were to take her here in the cell. Well, then, torture her to his heart’s content. He had done that, often enough, to other prisoners. He had personally supervised the destruction of Natasha Renkova, as a human being. His men expected it of him. Clausen had stood at his shoulder, holding the alligator clips which would send the electricity coursing through Elaine’s body and her screams echoing through the building. But she had stared at him as he had taken the first clip, and the stare had reached right down into the recesses of his soul, where once he had been a gallant gentleman fighting for the tsar. “Let her think about it for a while,” he had told Clausen.
That had been a week ago, and Clausen was more puzzled than ever. So was Jutta. So, best to end it, quickly and cleanly, he thought, as Clausen had recommended. This woman, this so civilised, intelligent woman, had recreated his past. But he could not admit that past. Therefore she would continue to torment him until she died. His hand rested on his revolver holster, and she turned to look at him. Once again he was impaled on that gaze. Why? Because she had not wept and screamed when he had had her flogged. She had revealed amazing courage, great fortitude. But surely she would weep and scream if he inflicted more pain on her now. Would that not break the spell, make her the victim instead of himself? “Go away,” Elaine said in a low voice. “Kill me, or go away.”
*
“There is no one there,” Shatrav reported. “No one alive.”
“It may be a trap,” Alex argued.
As usual, the partisans all looked at Tatiana to see her reaction. Immediately Olga had joined them, she had commanded them to pull back into the Marshes some distance farther to the east, while she had sent messengers to the other groups warning them of the impending sweep. That had been a week ago. Then the day following Olga’s appearance her scouts had reported seeing large bodies of Germans approaching and entering the swamp. “That swine Peter Petrovich has betrayed us,” Olga had snarled.
“Or the Germans fooled him,” Tatiana said. “We will just have to sit it out.”
“But Elaine! I told her to wait for my return, with orders from you.”
“One of us must warn her,” Alex had said.
“You would be caught and executed,” Tatiana said. “Elaine is a sensible girl. She will know the Germans are coming, and bring those of her people who can move to us. She will be here tomorrow.”
But she had not come. And now... “You say there are no living left?” Olga demanded of Shatrav.
The sergeant had gallantly carried out a personal reconnaissance. “All strung up in a row, they were,” Shatrav said. “Christina, some chap I don’t know, and three of the wounded. The other two had had the sense to blow themselves up.”
“Were they mutilated?” Tatiana asked.
“Of course.”
“And the Germans?”
“Are pulling out. All of them.”
“But where was Elaine?” Olga asked.
“She wasn’t there. I reckon they must have taken her alive. Maybe it was what she told them has caused them to withdraw.”
“Oh, Jesus!” Alex muttered.
“We have to get her out of there,” Olga said.
“That is being stupid,” Tatiana declared. “She is gone. She should have killed herself. There is nothing we can do about her now.” She looked at Alex. “I am sorry. But you know the rules.”
Alex’s shoulders hunched. To think of Elaine being interrogated by the SS...Elaine, who had always refused to accept that this world of brutal death and destruction was anything more than a nightmare, now forced to accept this... “I will get her out,” Olga said.
“How do you propose to do that?” Shatrav inquired.
“That is my business. I will go into Brest-Litovsk and get her out. I will also make sure the Germans stay out of the Marshes. I will just need some special equipment.”
“I will come with you,” Alex said.
Olga shook her head. “You would be a nuisance. One person can do this, if she knows what she is about. Two is too many.”
“You are stark, raving mad,” Tatiana said. “I absolutely forbid it.”
“You can either give me permission to go, or shoot me,” Olga said. “Because I am leaving, now.”
“Colonel...” Hans the batman was stammering with excitement and anxiety. “Herr Colonel, there is someone...!”
Alexander was out of bed in a moment, pulling on a dressing gown. As he went to the door Jutta instinctively handed him his Luger pistol. Alexander pulled the door open. “What the devil is the matter with you?” he demanded.
“A woman, Herr Colonel. She demands to see you.”
“Demands?” Alexander was already halfway down the steps. “Who is this woman?”
“Her name is Tatiana Gosykinya.”
Alexander checked in consternation. “Is this your idea of a joke, Hans?”
“It is the truth, Herr Colonel.”
The front door was opened, and Alexander had reached the foot of the steps. Standing in the centre of the porch there was certainly a young woman who filled Anna’s description of the Red Maiden — tall, handsome, and with a wealth of curling black hair. She did not have Bolugayevska features, but she obviously took after her murderous father. To either side of her there stood one of the guards, rifles levelled. “Has that woman been searched?” he demanded.
“No, Herr Colonel. She...”
“If they lay a finger on me, I will blow this house up,” Olga said, and opened her coat. Tied to the belt round the waist of her tunic were a dozen sticks of dynamite, and the revolver she carried in her right hand, the hammer already cocked, was resting with its muzzle on one of them, so that the removal of her finger would fire the gun — and detonate the charges.
Alexander swallowed, and instinctively took a step back. “What do you want?” he asked.
“To speak with you, Herr Colonel. Will you not let me in?”
“If she means to blow herself up, Herr Colonel...” Han
s said urgently.
“I am not going to blow myself up,” Olga assured him. “Unless any attempt is made to arrest me. But do remember that if I am shot, even if I am killed outright, I will release this hammer, and then we will all get together in Kingdom Come.” She smiled at them.
Alexander licked his lips. “Come in,” he said, and retreated farther into the house. Olga followed him, and looked at the stairs, where Jutta waited, wrapped in a dressing gown. “Leave,” Alexander said. “Get out.”
“No, no,” Olga said, “I think your mistress should stay. If you do have to go, would you not like her to be with you?”
“What do you want?” Alexander asked again, while Jutta sat heavily down on the steps. The guards remained standing in the doorway, looking for some instruction from their commander, and getting none: Alexander could not take his eyes from Olga.
“You have a prisoner,” Olga said. “An American doctor, Elaine Mitchell. I wish her released.”
“Just like that?” He was starting to get his nerve back. “If I refuse, are you going to blow us all up? That will not save your doctor. That will in fact seal her death warrant.”
Olga took a sharp breath; she had at least learned that Elaine was still alive. “I understand that. I will offer you a bargain. Me for her.” Alexander stared at her. “It is a very good bargain for you,” Olga pointed out. “She is of no value to you. She knows nothing of my plans or even of the forces at my disposal. She is a doctor, nothing else. Nor is she actually guilty of fighting against you, of killing Germans. She has never accompanied me on any of our raids. She is just a doctor. Whereas I am the Red Maiden. Is it not I you have been waging war against, for the past year?”
“You are offering me your life, for hers? Why?”
“I am her lover.”
“You…?” Alexander’s mouth fell open in consternation.
Jutta gave a short laugh. “You must love her very much.”
“I do.”
Alexander licked his lips. “So, if I let her go, you will surrender yourself to me.”
Olga smiled. “I am not exactly a fool, Herr Colonel. You will bring Dr Mitchell up from your cells, and you and I will drive her to the end of the road to the Marshes, and there she will be set free. Once she is free and has gone into the swamp, I will surrender myself.”
“Now you are taking me for a fool,” Alexander said. “What you mean is, you are trying to lead me into a trap. No doubt your people are waiting for me, on the edge of the marsh.”
“My people are not waiting for you, Colonel. This is between you and me.”
“You expect me to believe that?” But as he gazed at her, he did believe that. Then she must have another plan. “I see,” he said. “But you are determined to commit suicide as soon as you regard your lover as safe, then you will blow yourself to bits, and me with you. I do not like that idea. So here is what we will do. I will release Dr Mitchell, and as you say, we will drive her out to the swamp and set her free. We will be accompanied by a force adequate to protect me from any treachery. However, we will stop before we reach the swamp, and you will take off that human bomb arrangement you are wearing. You may retain your revolver. I promise you, there will only be a driver and myself in the car, and my support will not be close enough to jump you, so you will still have the advantage. Then, the moment Dr Mitchell is safely into the trees, you will hand over your revolver, and we will return here.”
“I could still shoot you, once Elaine is safe.”
“Of course you could. But then my driver would shoot you. And he would be under instructions not to kill you, but to leave you well aware of what is happening to you. And it would be quite a lot! Whereas, if you fulfil your part of the bargain, I will promise you a quick, clean death. A bullet in the base of the head. The death I was planning for Dr Mitchell.”
It was Olga’s turn to lick her lips, and Alexander wondered if so young a woman had really considered the inevitable climax of her gallant little adventure. But he was aware of a growing excitement. All of his dreams were slowly coming true. And how insignificant was Elaine Mitchell beside this splendid creature. To think of her at his mercy... “You are crazy,” Jutta said from the stairs. “She means to kill you, no matter what.”
“I think we will be able to work something out,” Alexander said.
“Olga?” Elaine peered at her friend. She was in any event totally bewildered at having been taken out of her chains in the middle of the night, given clothes to wear, and then taken to the Colonel’s house. He has succumbed to his lust at last, she thought. And I have been defeated. For the past week she had existed in a naked world, naked in the flesh, naked in the mind. Her only certainty was that she must endeavour to maintain that initial advantage, defy him and all his minions to the end, and die when the time came with a smile on her lips. The nameless heroine, dying in a nameless cellar. But now, perhaps, she was going to be publicly executed. But there was Olga, smiling and confident. And Holzbach? And that hateful woman who looked at her as if she would devour her. “Has the war ended?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Olga said.
“Then I don’t understand.”
“There is nothing to understand. I have negotiated your release, that is all.”
“But...” Elaine looked from face to face.
“No questions,” Olga said. “We must make haste.”
It must be a trick, or I am dreaming, Elaine thought, as the car bumped over the rough track leading to the Marshes. She sat in the front, beside the driver, while Olga sat in the back with Holzbach. It was all so terribly civilised, so confusing, so unreal. And so terribly sinister. There was a panzer to either side of the road, and four trucks behind the command car, each filled with soldiers. But Olga seemed content. Elaine had been forbidden to turn her head, even to exchange a glance with Olga. Dear Olga, who had risked so much and was now actually pulling it off.
“Here will do,” Holzbach said.
The car stopped, as did the trucks and the tanks. Elaine tensed, because the Pripet was still several miles away. And something was happening in the back seat, but she didn’t know what. Then they were driving again, until even in the darkness the great trees began to loom in front of them. “This is the end of the road,” Holzbach said, as the car came to a stop.
“Then you will get out here, Elaine,” Olga said. “Go into the trees, find your way to where the others are. There are no soldiers left to fear.”
“Elaine opened the door and got out. Now at last she could turn to look at them. “Aren’t you coming?”
“Oh, indeed,” Olga said. “But the Colonel and I have some unfinished business. Go into the trees and keep walking. I will join you in due course.” Elaine looked at Holzbach. How she hated this man. And now, just to walk away from him after all the abuse that had been heaped on her...
“Go!” Olga said. Elaine turned and walked into the darkness.
“Your gun,” Holzbach said.
“When she is safe,” Olga said.
They waited. “You know,” Holzbach said. “You are a very brave woman, Tatiana Gosykinya.”
Olga shrugged. “I have had a good life. That woman is an innocent. She does not deserve to die in this quarrel.”
“I am sure you are right,” Holzbach said. “But still, for one so young as yourself...you are not yet 21, are you not? But you look much older. That no doubt is a result of your experiences.”
Olga smiled; Elaine had disappeared. “It is a result of my age, Herr Colonel. I am not really Tatiana Gosykinya. My name is Olga Kaminskaya, and I am a lieutenant in the Red Army. And I am 29 not 20.”
“You lied to me!”
“Well, I did not think you would be interested in exchanging a mere lieutenant for Elaine.” Holzbach stared into the darkness. “You will never find her now,” Olga said. “And the real Tatiana Gosykinya and her people are waiting for her; if you attempt to invade the Marshes in the dark you will suffer heavy casualties. So...” she reversed th
e gun and held it out.
Holzbach took it. “Never trust a woman,” he remarked. “Do you know, Lieutenant Kaminskaya, I have said that so often, and yet here I am, allowing myself once again to be betrayed by one.”
“I have not betrayed you,” Olga said. “I misled you, perhaps. But I am ready to fulfil my part of the bargain. You may kill me whenever you choose.”
“Whenever I choose,” Holzbach said, and signalled his driver. “I do not think that will be for some time yet.”
“We had a deal...”
“Based on a misapprehension on my part. My deal was with Tatiana Gosykinya. Now you also have to endure a misapprehension, my dear Lieutenant.” Olga took a quick breath, and hurled herself at him, willing him to use the revolver. But the chauffeur had already got out of the car, and used his own gun to give her a blow on the back of the head which had her slumped half conscious in the bottom of the car. Before she could recover he had pulled her arms behind her back and handcuffed her wrists together. She gasped, and Holzbach dug his fingers into her hair, to drag her up and throw her on to the seat. “Take me home, Willi,” he told the driver.
*
“Today, the war was won,” Stalin announced.
Priscilla raised her head. “You said that after Stalingrad.”
“After Stalingrad, the war could not be lost,” Stalin explained. “After Kursk, it is definitely won. It would be won more quickly if your Americans and British would invade France. But even if they are afraid to do so, we no longer need them. Are you not pleased, Priscilla?”
“Is Joseph safe?”
“Oh, yes. He is safe. He seems to have been adopted by one of our generals.”
“And you are more powerful than ever.”
“As you are more beautiful. Come now, will you not celebrate our victory with me?”
“If it is my victory as well.”
He shook his fist at her. “You are the most infuriating woman I have ever known. Do you know what I can...”
“Do to me? Have you not told me a hundred times! I think that is your biggest thrill, imagining what you can do to me. Telling me all your filthy dreams. But it still won’t give you an erection, will it?”
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