Sam Eastland - Archive 17

Sedov shrugged. “Bribed or threatened. It’s always one or the other.” Removing several flimsy matches from his trouser pocket, Sedov tossed them on the ground before Pekkala. “You will need these as well,” said the old man. “They are a gift from Lavrenov.”

“How long am I in for?”

“A week. The usual punishment for brawling.”

“You were the ones who were brawling.”

“But you were the one who got caught.”

“What about Tarnowski?” asked Pekkala.

“When the guards arrived, he told them you had started it. Somebody had to be punished. It just happened to be you.”

“What was the fight about?”

In answer to this, Sedov only smiled. “All in good time, Inspector.”

They know who I am, thought Pekkala.

Klenovkin had been right. Melekov had not waited long to share his latest scrap of information.

“I have brought you a message from Tarnowski. He says you should try not to freeze to death before tomorrow night.”

“Why should Tarnowski care?”

“Because he is coming to see you.”

“What about?”

“Your fate,” replied Sedov. Without another word, he turned and left.

Pekkala listened to the wooden bolt sliding into place, and after that the old man’s footsteps in the snow, as he made his way back to the camp.

Worry twisted in Pekkala’s gut. Whether he lived or died depended entirely on whether the Comitati believed his cover story. Alone in this cell, weak from lack of food, he would be no match for Tarnowski if the man decided to kill him.

Gathering the matches that the Old Believer had thrown before him, Pekkala undid the bundle of firewood and arranged the twigs in a pyramid. Beneath them, he laid out shreds of papery-white birch bark, peeled from the branches with his fingernails.

Of the four matches, one had already lost its head and was nothing more than a splintery toothpick. The next two Pekkala tried to strike against the stone slab of the floor. One flared but died before he had a chance to touch it to the bark. The second refused to light at all.

As Pekkala knelt over the wood with the last match in his hand, a feeling of panic rose up inside him, knowing that the threadbare blanket would not be enough to get him through this night.

When the fourth match flared, he crouched down until his face was only a handsbreadth from the twigs and gently blew on the embers. The birch bark smoldered. Then a tiny flame blossomed through the smoke. He cupped his hands around it, feeding the fire with broken sticks until it had grown big enough to burn on its own. Sitting cross-legged, as close to the heat as he could, Pekkala slowly began to feel warmth spreading through his body.

By the following evening, he had used up the last carefully rationed splinters of his fuel supply.

As he huddled by the glimmering embers of his fire, he heard piano music down in the guardhouse. Although it was poorly played and the piano was badly out of tune, he could still make out the haunting tune of Sorokin’s “Fires on the Distant Plain.”

The door rattled suddenly, startling Pekkala. He had not heard anyone approach. Then the wooden bolt slid back, and Tarnowski entered the cell.

The air seemed to crackle with menace. Pekkala felt it all around him, as if an electric current were passing through his body. If the Comitati had gotten wind of his true purpose here at Borodok, the odds of surviving this meeting would be zero.

Tarnowski reached into his jacket.

Pekkala thought he might be going for a knife, but when the lieutenant removed his hand, he was not holding a weapon. Instead, it was another small bundle of twigs, which he dumped beside the dwindling sparks of Pekkala’s fire.

At the sight of that kindling, the knot of fear in Pekkala’s stomach began to subside. Pekkala knew he wasn’t in the clear yet, but at least he wasn’t fighting for his life.

“I apologize for the unusual way in which I brought you here,” said Tarnowski.

“Brought me here? I am in this place because I tried to break up your fight with Sedov.”

“That is what you and the guards were supposed to think.”

“You mean it was staged?”

“After Melekov informed me of your identity, he mentioned that you didn’t like the way Sergeant Gramotin was treating our Old Believer. I guessed you wouldn’t stand to see him beaten right before your eyes, especially by the likes of me.”

“You have a crude way of getting things done,” said Pekkala.

“Crude, perhaps, but efficient. This is the only place where we could talk without being observed by the authorities. We used to hold meetings in the mine after dark, but after what happened to Captain Ryabov, the guards have been watching the entrance at night.”

“You damn near broke my jaw,” said Pekkala.

“That is something we might have avoided if you’d identified yourself to us when you arrived at the camp.”

“I didn’t know who I could trust.”

“We felt the same way about you, Inspector, when we first learned you were here.”

“And what do you think now?” Pekkala settled a few of the twigs on the fire.

“The fact that you are still alive should tell you all you need to know,” Tarnowski replied.

Soon the wood began to burn. Flames cast their flickering light across the bare stone walls.

“We were surprised to see you back at Borodok.”

“Not as surprised as I was,” Pekkala answered.

“We almost crossed paths here, you know,” Tarnowski continued. “The last survivors of the Kolchak Expedition reached Borodok not long after you did, but by that time you had already been sent into the forest. For a long time, we heard that you were still alive, even though no one had actually seen you. But when a new tree-marker was sent out to take your place, we became convinced you had died. Then new prisoners started showing up at the camp, saying you had been recalled to duty in Moscow. They said you were working for the Bureau of Special Operations, under the direction of Stalin himself. At first, we didn’t believe it. Why would the Emerald Eye put himself at the disposal of a beast like Stalin? But when these rumors persisted, we began to suspect that the stories might be true.”

“The stories are true,” Pekkala admitted. “I was recalled to Moscow in order to investigate the murder of the Tsar. After that, I was given a choice. Either I could come back here to die or I could go back to the job I had been trained to do.”

“Not much of a choice.”

“Stalin is fond of placing men in such predicaments.”

“And if they do not choose wisely?”

“They die.”

“Like a cat with a mouse,” muttered Tarnowski. “And now he has cast you aside once again, as he has done with so many others. This is where we end up and our job becomes to simply stay alive, a task you might find difficult, since there are men who are here in this camp because of you.”

“No.” Pekkala shook his head. “They are here because of the crimes they committed.”

“A distinction which is lost on them, Inspector. But I have passed the word that anyone who lays a hand on you will answer for it with his life.”

“And who will answer for the murder of Captain Ryabov?”

The muscles clenched along Tarnowski’s jaw. “Saving your life and seeking vengeance for his death are not the same thing, Inspector. So many have perished since we came to this camp, I can no longer even remember their names. It would take a hundred lifetimes to avenge them all. And even if I could, what would be the point? The desire for revenge can take over a man’s life.”

“And can also be the end of it,” said Pekkala.

“As you and I have seen for ourselves.”

“We have?”