by Rik Stone
“It’s almost ten, and the plan is already off target. I think the skipper’s let me down. I’ve been stupid.”
The girls looked chilled to the bone and he didn’t need to wonder why. The grey harbor stones were wet and the wintry mist was penetrating.
“What was stupid about it?” Rachael asked, teeth rattling.
“Believe it or not, I gave him half the money up front.”
“But surely, if you hadn’t made payment there wouldn’t have been a deal,” Miriam said.
“The way things look, there wasn’t a deal. Not on the Turk’s part anyway.”
“Be patient, it’s not over yet.”
True enough, they just had to wait and watch. Which they did, willing someone to show from the ship, but no one did. Another hour passed and even Miriam looked nervous.
But then Rachael pointed to the gangway. “Look, you were expecting women?”
“Yes,” he said, with renewed hope.
Several women shuffled onto the ship’s gangway, four, no, five. Three wore white scarves swathed around their heads, half-length skirts with baggy trousers beneath, and blouses with waistcoats that matched.
Lydia’s face creased. “Three of them are a bit on the bulky side,” she said. “They must work in the galley.”
“Don’t be ungrateful,” Miriam said, but grinned.
The girls walked through the dock gates and giggled like schoolchildren as they did. They turned off into the alley where Jez waited.
“Welcome, you’ll never know how pleased I am to see you,” he said, but the girls stared blankly. “Do you speak Russian?” he asked. They didn’t.
Two of them unwound headscarves and fashioned them on Rachael and Lydia. When they did the same with their skirts and baggy pants, they became much slimmer.
“See, Lydia, you should feel ashamed,” Miriam said. Lydia pretended not to hear, but smiled.
“While they don’t speak Russian, Miriam, they must know what is expected of them. Just follow their lead.”
He looked at the young Turks, who giggled. His face flushed and he was glad not to be going with them. Two of the women weren’t dressed traditionally. They handed his younger sisters their ID cards, linked arms with them and steered them off towards town. Lydia broke free and Rachael followed closely behind. They almost threw themselves on Jez.
“Bring Momma and Poppa to us in Israel. We can all be together again.”
Jez ignored the plea and hugged Rachael. “Look after our little sister,” he said.
She smiled. “I will.”
They marched off with the group, and neither looked back.
“Oh, Jez,” Miriam said, putting her arms around his neck, pulling him close. “It’s been wonderful seeing you again.”
She’d changed into the clothes provided by the third Turkish girl. Tears popped and she turned away to join the women. They set off in the opposite direction to that of the other girls. He’d never thought about it before, but it was the first time he’d seen her cry. Because of it, he had to fight back his own emotions.
An hour went by and Rachael and Lydia returned to the dock gates with the Turkish girls. His sisters showed passes and the Turks watched but kept their arms linked.
A second guard leaned against the gatehouse. “Speaky Russian?” he asked. The girls shook their heads. “You want come back of hut for fucky?”
One of the girls used a lewd voice to say something in Turkish. She laughed uproariously and the soldier shrank back.
Another half hour and Miriam arrived at the gate with one of the remaining women. She showed her pass and the vulgar soldier ushered her through. Her comrade tried to follow.
“Halt,” he demanded petulantly. “Pass, show me your pass.”
The woman patted down her clothing, searched her pockets – nothing. Miriam walked on, hurried over the dockyard. She stopped at the foot of the walkway, but the skipper, who’d rushed down the gangway, collided heavily against her. He brushed himself off, cursed and stormed off to the gatehouse to show the guard the Turkish girl’s pass he’d just taken from Miriam.
The soldier who hadn’t been rude earlier shrugged and released her into the captain’s custody with a gentle rebuke. “Next time you’ll spend time in prison,” he said, but Jez saw him wink at the captain.
“You fool,” the skipper shouted at the girl in broken Russian. “How many times must I tell you about identification?”
He dragged her across the dock, shoved her against Miriam and pushed both women onto the gangway. At the top, Miriam briefly looked over to where Jez stood, turned and disappeared onto the ship. A well-rehearsed contingency plan. Impressive… but then sorrow came. Already he missed them.
He’d given Miriam most of the money he had and no longer worried about their safety, but he still waited several hours for the ship to sail before walking off. It began its journey: first it would cross the Sea of Azov, on into the Black Sea, then the Bosporus Strait and Istanbul.
“Bon voyage,” he whispered under his breath. “I hope your god goes with you.”
*
With a heavy heart, he left for Rostov station and boarded a nearly full train; he squeezed into a hard bench seat next to the window and allowed thoughts of the previous days to run their course. An involuntary smile set on his face as each episode repeated in his head. His gaze wandered off towards the opposite platform as his mind trawled through events.
For some reason a woman caught his eye. She stood on the opposite platform and stared intently at him. He squirmed. Why did she do that? But he had to admit, she was smart, very attractive – in fact, quite lovely. She wore a mid-length leather coat and stood with hands in pockets, feet slightly parted. Straight and upright, she had a military bearing. His initial discomfort turned to fascination. Certainly a beautiful woman: blonde hair plaited and coiled around the top of her head crowning an angelic face. Now, he stared at her with equal intent. That would be just how he would imagine Anna to look.
Anna! But it couldn’t be, not possible. Anna? He got up. He had to get off the train – although no, he shouldn’t do that – the authorities. But he couldn’t lose the opportunity. The train had pulled away from the platform. He rushed down the aisle, he could still do it.
“Is there something wrong, sir?”
His insides dropped, a railway security guard blocked his exit. The police would be brought in if he jumped from a moving train. He stopped and searched his pockets.
“Oh, there it is,” he said, and pulled out his wallet. “For a minute I thought I’d dropped it on the platform.”
The guard rolled his eyes and Jez returned to his seat. There was time to look back, give her a sign. But she was walking away. Oh, Anna, could that really have been you?
Possibilities thundered around his head, but then he decided he’d just imagined what he wanted to see. It couldn’t have been her. She was just a pretty woman who’d waited for a train. And she hadn’t stared at him. She’d been deep in thought as he had been.
Chapter 14
The oak door dwarfed Anna and she knocked, feeling like a small child awaiting a rebuke from the teacher. She didn’t usually let things get to her, but this was different.
“Come in.”
She pushed down the handle and used her free hand to shove the heavy door open. Inside the office, she let her eyes measure General Petrichova. He didn’t look so great: as he stared down at the report, he looked as if he wanted to wash the document clean. In that case, wouldn’t they all? He lifted his gaze with darkened eyes.
“You’re not on parade, Sergeant Puchinsky – relax. I’ve read and reread your report and still find it difficult to believe. Of those I’ve put my trust in, I thought Kornfeld least likely to let me down.”
She thought it best to remain silent.
“Sergeant Puchinsky, I want to hear the main points of your task in your own words.”
She pulled a skeptical face. “Of course, General, but they won’t vary from
what’s written.”
“I understand, but I want to get your gut reaction to what’s happened. I want to know if something in Kornfeld’s actions can be justified.”
She cleared her throat. “Very well, sir. I knew the lieutenant when he first trained and I’ve since read his career profile. Before I tell you what happened, I must say that none of what I knew or read matched the man I’ve reported on.”
“Why so?”
“In my opinion, sir, his behavior seemed out of character. He acted erratically. Not like an officer of an elite unit. I think something threw him.”
“How?”
“When you first assigned me to observe him, he did everything textbook smooth; but after he’d rounded up the women, his actions became unpredictable.”
“Have you any idea who the women were, Sergeant?”
“No, none, sir,” her voice caught.
“Well, according to their fellow protesters they were Kornfelds.”
She felt a little of the stiffness fall from her face and looked down. The general leaned forward, caught her eye, and signaled she should continue.
“Oh yes, right, General. When the women were arrested, he had them loaded into a truck and taken to a government office in Central Moscow. He returned to Dzerzhinski Square and reported the demonstration back to Captain Isakova, his section commander.” She drew in a breath. “He then sneaked the women from the offices and took them to an apartment in downtown Moscow. They stayed there for several days without making a show. Within a week, he got hold of clothing for them and arranged for a civilian truck and its driver to take them to Kazansky railway terminal. They began the journey the following morning.”
“Do you think he was unsure of his actions, spur of the moment maybe?”
“A possibility, sir, yes. He certainly seemed nervous… yes, in fact, when they arrived at the station a commotion ensued, mainly because he wasn’t prepared.”
“And according to your report, he over-reacted.”
“Well, yes, sir, but he got out of trouble by using his authority.”
“I see. He smoothed out the problem by abusing his power – for the second time.”
“Yes, sir.” She shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other and looked down to the floor.
“You look uneasy, Sergeant. Settle down. You’re not the one under the spotlight here. I just want to get the full picture. Be patient, I’ll explain why later.”
“Yes, General. There was another incident travelling from Saratov to Volgograd. The lieutenant assaulted the bargeman who’d taken them there. I’m not sure why.”
“No ideas?”
She brightened. “Nothing concrete, sir, but I suspect blackmail. The bargeman, a man named Rudi Olav, reported the incident to the local authorities. He accused the Kornfelds of forcing him to take them on the passage.”
“You don’t believe that?”
“Definitely not, sir. At the same dock, after Olav had been assaulted, he went out on a drinking binge. It happened on the day before they reached Volgograd. He had plenty of opportunity to go to the authorities there, so why wait until his captors could melt away into the big city?”
“Quite. Are the authorities pursuing the matter?”
“No, sir, you ordered me to keep everything low profile. I used my authority to make sure there would be no further action.”
The general nodded his approval and ran his finger down to a specific point on the report. “You say here that there was more trouble in a bar in Volgograd. That Kornfeld froze and the elder of the three women stepped in to sort it out.”
The bar in the apartment block had been packed and Anna thought back to how she’d dressed as a bedraggled worker and sat in a corner cuddling a pot of vodka. No one had taken notice of her.
“Yes, sir, but my report may have been harsh here. Now I know that the women were family, I can understand why his reactions might have been slower. He would’ve tried to think of the safest way out of the situation. The woman happened to react before he had a chance.”
“Yes, but he should’ve been quicker off the mark than an untrained peasant.”
She moved on without acknowledgement. “When they reached Rostov, the lieutenant bribed a Turkish captain into taking the women onboard his ship,” she said. “Everything went smoothly for him there. When the ship sailed, the lieutenant parted company with his family and made his way back to Moscow.”
“I may be disappointed with Kornfeld, but the detail of your report and the way you attained it show an extra dimension to your abilities, Sergeant. Well done.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said.
“Oh, did he see you at all?”
“Err … yes, General, at the station. I was on the opposite platform. I think he saw me, but I don’t think he recognized me.” To her disappointment, she wasn’t lying.
He stood up, brushed a finger over books stacked on shelves against the back wall then walked to the window. Anna had noticed his eyes glaring and glassy, sunken so far back in his face that he was in danger of losing them.
She watched and waited.
“Sit down, Anna.”
Anna: he’d never called her that before.
He turned from the window and opened a hand, gestured her towards the chair in front of the desk. She sat and folded her hands neatly in her lap. The general took his gaze back to wherever he’d been staring.
“You’ll remember the beginning of your career, when I chose you for special training?”
“Yes of course, sir.”
“Of all the female cadets available across the Soviet Union you were the most promising I found.” He went to his desk but stayed on his feet and poured a glass of water. “On the very day you came for your final interview, when I outlined my vision to you, I left Lubyanka and happened across young Kornfeld. He seemed like a gift from above, so much so that I halted the current search for a male cadet and took him under my wing. He’d been exactly what I had in mind for my project.”
He returned to fingering the books.
“I placed you both together in the hope of producing a super team. I didn’t want either of you knowing of my intentions, so I asked you not to tell anyone of our agreement. But a report came back saying you clearly had feelings for one another, so I had you placed as far apart as possible. I didn’t want your progress disrupted, and up to this point your careers have developed exactly as I’d hoped, albeit on separate paths.”
“But why didn’t the lieutenant try to get in touch?” She failed to suppress the desperation in her voice or the inner question she asked of herself – why hadn’t you tried to get in touch with him?
“Your files were transferred to secure areas in the Kremlin. He wouldn’t have been able to verify that you ever existed, let alone get in touch with you.”
“Oh, right, sir.” Her heart sank.
“Because I was tied up with the various reforms Khrushchev introduced, I had to neglect my protégés. But then Brezhnev and his associates removed him from power and the reforms dwindled. I became free to concentrate on what I wanted to do, and that included regaining control of Federal Security Services and bringing the two of you back together.”
He picked up a pair of reading glasses and reread the report. “Hmm,” he shook his head.
Silence hadn’t time to settle before he picked up the thread.
“Stalin’s death opened doors to justice, but those same actions caused law and order to relax, and organized crime crept in. I decided, on my father’s behalf, the time had come to begin a crusade; and I intended that the two of you would spearhead the campaign.”
He looked over the top of his glasses.
“You were both in line for further promotion. I got wind of a demonstration in Red Square and thought it would be a good opportunity to justify Kornfeld’s next grade. And with the women being Jewish, it would prove his unbending loyalty.”
“And me, General?”
“Yes, as I told you, I knew th
ere was a time when you carried feelings for Kornfeld. I had you follow him to make sure you reported accurately.”
“But if I’d lied in the report, you’d be none the wiser.”
“You reported to me that he’d separated the women from the others at the demonstration. That was enough to win my trust.”
Her face tightened. “So, by following Lieutenant Kornfeld and not betraying to him that he was being watched, I passed your test?”
“Exactly right, Sergeant, or as you might have gathered by now – Lieutenant.” He smiled, lips thinning.
“Thank you, sir.” She gave no hint of being pleased.
A still quiet fell for what seemed an eternity, until the general emptied the glass of water in one quick swallow and said, “You must remember: if Kornfeld had played by the rules, you wouldn’t have been able to give negative feedback.”
“No, sir, thank you, sir. What will happen now?”
“I’m posting you here to the Kremlin. You will carry out covert tasks on my behalf, but officially you will act as my aide.”
“And Lieutenant Kornfeld?”
“By doing what he did, and knowing our terms of agreement, he lifted his hand against the state… But I won’t take action. The report will be stored here as top secret, but his ties with me are broken. I’ll show no more interest in his progression.”
He walked back to the window and fixed a gaze somewhere beyond. Silence reigned and Anna wondered if he’d ever speak.
“That will be all for now, Lieutenant.”
At last.
“Yes, sir.” She stood and left as fast as protocol allowed.
In the hallway, dizziness swayed her. Army life was everything to Jez. She leaned on the balustrade at the top of the stairway. “What have I done?”
Chapter 15
It had been more than four months since he’d broken up the demonstration and no one had even mentioned it. He’d been so sure General Petrichova had shown a renewed interest. How wrong could that have been?