Dan Smith - Red Winter

Ryzhkov answered without hesitation. ‘I’d make myself as strong as possible – arm your men and wait for Krukov to come back.’

‘You mean you?’

‘Of course.’ He said it as if there could be no question about it. ‘Arm us, ambush him when he returns and find out where he took your family.’

‘My family? What makes you think I’m looking for my family?’

Ryzhkov raised his eyebrows. ‘ “I’m just a man who wants his family back.” That’s what you said to her before.’ He nodded at Tanya. ‘Or something like it. And when you asked about prisoners, you mentioned women and children, so… I put those things together and…’ He opened his hands and smiled.

‘Fingers laced together,’ Tanya said.

‘Oh. Sorry.’ Ryzhkov clasped his hands and smiled, pointing one of his fingers at her. ‘You, on the other hand, are looking for something else. You didn’t ask about prisoners, but you wanted to know about Krukov, and the look on your face when you found out about him –’ his finger moved in my direction ‘– well, I’d say you’re not keen on Bolsheviks. Revenge? Is that it?’

‘Don’t arm these men,’ she said to me. ‘You can’t arm them. It wouldn’t be safe.’

‘How do I know I’m safe from you ?’ he asked, keeping his gaze on her. ‘You’re the one who’s armed. You’re the one who hates Bolsheviks.’

‘You don’t know anything about me.’ Tanya bristled, her knuckles white round the handle of her pistol.

‘That’s right – I don’t.’ Ryzhkov addressed me now, speaking in that calm tone, as if trying to hypnotise me. ‘Who is this woman anyway, Commander? She doesn’t look like a patriot to me. Do you trust her?’

‘More than I trust you.’

Ryzhkov smiled and shook his head. ‘I’m your comrade,’ he said. ‘We’re brothers.’

‘No, we’re not brothers.’

The smile fell away in an instant. ‘Where is your brother?’ he asked. ‘Did he die in Ulyanov, or did he run with away with you? Alek. That’s his name, isn’t it?’

It took me by surprise to hear him talk about Alek and I felt at a disadvantage. Ryzhkov knew more about me than I did about him.

‘ Did he die?’ Ryzhkov stood, pushing back his chair. ‘Is that what happened to him?’

‘Sit down.’ Tanya stiffened.

Ryzhkov snapped his head round to look at her. His expression intensified, becoming angry. He lifted his hands, still clasped together, and pointed at Tanya. He stood that way for a moment, arms trembling, before he controlled himself and lowered his hands.

‘Don’t let her give me orders,’ he said. ‘ You’re my commander, not her. You are in charge, not this woman.’

‘Sit down,’ I told him.

He ignored me, leaning forward and separating his hands to put his palms flat on the table. ‘They all said you were such a good commander. Fair, they said. It’s what I expected from you.’

‘Sit down.’

Ryzhkov stood straight and stared right at me, raising his voice, challenging me. ‘Why won’t you trust me? We’re brothers.’

‘You’re not my brother.’ I felt my anger rise. I had kept it inside for so long, suffered every mental and physical hardship, trying to keep it all at bay while I did the right thing for Anna, for Tanya and Lyudmila, and for my family, but now I felt it consuming me. It burned in me, and Ryzhkov’s words only fuelled that fire. The way he looked at me, the way he spoke, everything about him needled me, pushed under my skin. ‘You could never be my brother. The things you did for Krukov. You might have been one of the men in Belev. Maybe you murdered those men and threw the women into the lake. Maybe you dragged my wife from our home.’

‘We had no choice,’ Ryzhkov argued.

‘There’s always a choice.’

‘You’re wrong. With Koschei, there was never a choice. If you disobeyed…’ He shook his head and grinned as he drew a finger across his throat. ‘You know how easy it is to do that? Well, of course you do. There’s a war; people die all the time. You’ve killed your share.’

‘Women drowned?’ I said. ‘Children taken away? That’s not war. That’s just—’

‘ You did those things.’

‘No. Not like that.’

‘What about all the people you killed at Grivino?’

‘I was fighting for my life. I never skinned a man alive, never branded anyone, never—’

‘Then why did you join the Cheka? You always knew what it was.’ He made a fist and held it out to me. ‘Fear. That’s what the Cheka is. Fear. To drive the enemy into the shadows.’ His face reddened as blood flowed to his cheeks.

‘The enemy?’ I said. ‘No one knows what that even means anymore.’

‘ I know,’ he said, slamming his fist on the table. ‘ I know . Anyone who opposes the revolution. We are the heroes who keep it from failing.’

‘The revolution? The revolution was supposed to make us all equal. That’s what we forgot. The same people still suffer. And there’s nothing heroic about taking food from the mouths of children. What kind of shit has Krukov been spinning for you? Can’t you men think for yourselves anymore?’

Ryzhkov fell silent, the colour fading from his face. He sighed and shook his head. ‘You disappoint me, Commander. I thought you were better – a true patriot.’

‘I am a patriot,’ I said, ‘but men like Krukov are tearing this country apart, using the war as an excuse to commit the worst crimes. You think calling himself Koschei is patriotic?’ My anger was hitting its peak now. ‘You know how far I’ve come? What I’ve seen?’ My voice was growing louder. ‘How my eyes have been opened? I’ve seen the trail of horror men like Krukov leave behind them. The things he gets his men to do – men like you and the four at this table. My wife and sons taken away. So many dead and… I saw a woman stuffed into a barrel and left to drown. Did you put her there? Did you… ?’ I took a deep breath and closed my eyes tight as I tried to calm myself. I knew how Commander Orlov felt now. Useless. Unable to change anything.

When I looked at Tanya, she said nothing, but her surprise was undeniable. She had never seen me like this. Anna cowered in the far corner as if seeing me as a new person. Sergei and his wife sat with confused expressions on their faces, but they were not looking at me; they were looking at Ryzhkov. Oksana appeared horrified by what I had said, disturbed by the monstrous things she now knew these men had done.

Ryzhkov stared past me, looking at Oksana, shaking his head. Then he smiled at me. He stepped back from the table and rubbed a hand across his head. ‘You know what I remember about you?’ He looked at the men seated round the table. ‘You know what I remember about this man? About Nikolai Levitsky?’ He waited, as if he expected one of them to reply, but they remained silent.

‘We were tracking deserters,’ he said. ‘Someone reported a deserter in some shitty village in the middle of nowhere. This was my first day with him. The great Nikolai Levitsky. Order of the Red Banner. The deserter who hunted deserters.’ He stood with his back to the front door and looked at his boots as if trying to order the story straight in his mind.

‘You should sit down,’ I said, feeling the weight of the revolver in my hand.

‘Should I?’ Ryzhkov raised his voice and snapped his head up, taking me by surprise. ‘Should I? No, I think I’d rather stand when I tell this story. You’re disappointing me, Comrade Commander . I expected more from you. The way you’re judging me after the things you’ve done. Don’t you remember how you shot that old man? Sitting up there on your horse and the old man came forward, pleading with you, and you shot him in the face. It was magnificent.’