Douglas Jacobson - The Katyn Order

The boy beamed. “It’s me, Captain Wolf.”

Adam turned to Natalia. “I don’t understand… how…?”

“Don’t you remember? He was there last night, at the chapel. So was Andreyev.”

“Andreyev?” The room began to spin. Christ, what’s wrong with me?

“You should lie down again,” Natalia said, placing her hand on his shoulder. “You were in pretty tough shape when we found you last night.”

“No, just give me a minute. What time is it?”

“Six o’clock. And that would be in the morning. Friday morning.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get smart. So, Andreyev is here, in Nowy Targ?”

“Yes, we’ll get to that in a minute. First, tell me about your uncle.”

Adam rubbed the left side of his face. It seemed like his visit to Prochowa had happened a long time ago. “He died… two weeks before I got to the village…”

When he finished the story, Natalia took his hand, squeezing it gently as their eyes met. After a moment she said, “There’s something we have to tell you.”

“What is it? You look like—”

“General Kovalenko is dead.”

Adam flinched and another jolt of pain shot through his ribcage. “What the hell… what happened?”

“Andreyev says Tarnov arranged for Kovalenko’s death in an auto accident.”

“Jesus Christ, I can’t believe—”

“You can’t believe that Russians would murder their own generals? They’ve been doing it for—” Natalia stopped and bit her lower lip.

“I can’t believe this happened now, that Tarnov could act that fast.” Adam stood up. The dizziness had subsided. He stepped over to a bureau on the opposite wall and looked in the mirror. There was a black-and-blue lump on his forehead, and the left side of his face was red and swollen.

“Tarnov certainly did a number on you,” Natalia said. “I’m surprised you’re able to stand up.”

“Casimir said you took out eight riflemen,” Rabbit said, grinning.

Adam smiled at the boy. “Thanks for looking after Natalia.”

“Yeah sure, we make a good team.”

Adam’s head pounded and he felt like hell, but his injuries were nothing compared to what Tarnov had done to Piotr and Krystyna. If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to get that fucker. “I want to talk to Andreyev,” he said to Natalia.

“Rabbit will get him.” She glanced at the boy, and he hurried from the room.

“What have you told Andreyev?”

“Everything. I’m still not sure we can trust him, but we had no other choice.”

“You did the right thing. If we want to get out of here alive, we’ll need his help.”

It wasn’t long before Rabbit returned with Andreyev. Adam leaned against the bureau. He was afraid if he let go he might fall down. He held out his hand. “Good to see you again, Captain.”

Andreyev shook his hand, peering into his face. “You look like hell.”

“Thanks for the compliment. Natalia told me about General Kova-lenko. Tarnov could make that happen?”

“Tarnov’s operating on his own. But he’s got friends, dangerous friends. He can get to anyone.”

“To you?”

Andreyev shrugged. “He could. But I don’t think he’d try. Not right now, anyway. Given what’s at stake for him, Tarnov probably felt he had to take the chance and get Kovalenko out of the way. If the general had seen Natalia’s message he would’ve raised hell. I can’t do that. No one would pay any attention.” He paused for a moment. “Do you have the Katyn Order?”

Adam shook his head.

“But you know where it is.”

“It’s in the Copernicus Memorial Library.”

Andreyev blinked. “Stalin’s order about Katyn is in a library?”

“I’m certain of it.”

Andreyev looked around at all three of them. “When does the library open?”

Natalia answered, “Ten o’clock.” She took Adam’s hand and stood back to study his torn, bloodstained shirt and filthy trousers. “We can’t do much about your face, but Karol will give you some clean clothes, after you’ve had a bath. Then I’ll bandage those ribs.”

Tarnov was livid. He paced his office. It was 9:30 in the morning, and more than three hours had passed since the futile raid on the shabby room in Kazimierz, but he was still beside himself. We missed her! She was there! I know it… I can feel it! He picked up the phone and screamed at the operator: “Get Lieutenant Resnikov in here!”

When Resnikov stepped into his office, Tarnov jabbed his finger into the young officer’s chest. “Can you get any more from that fucking priest? Would he know where the woman went?”

The lieutenant shook his head. “We could try, but I doubt we’d get anything. He’s almost dead. I gave them instructions to keep him alive, but it’s been several hours.” The young lieutenant shifted his weight from one foot to another as silence hung in the room.

Tarnov took a deep breath to settle down. He sat at his desk and stared out the window, then abruptly swiveled around and snatched up a pencil as something occurred to him. “You said Banach was smuggling documents out of the Copernicus Library.”

Resnikov nodded.

Tarnov tapped the pencil on the desk. “Everything seems to focus on that library. Hans Frank stored secret files there. Banach and Jastremski worked there and smuggled out the files. Nowak went there to make contact with Jastremski.” The pencil snapped in half, and Tarnov tossed it at the wastebasket, missing. He stood abruptly, hands on his hips and glared at Resnikov. “So what the hell does it all mean?”

The lieutenant cleared his throat. “Uh, I’m not—”

“What do we know for certain?”

“ For certain? I don’t think—”

Tarnov ignored him. “What we know is that Banach left Krakow abruptly last January and traveled up to the Tatra Mountains. Then Adam Nowak came along and followed him up there. But, when we caught up to Nowak, he was headed back here. And he didn’t have the document…” Tarnov’s voice trailed off.

“Document, sir? What document are you—?”

“Nichivó! It doesn’t matter! Don’t worry about the fucking document. It’s Nowak we’re after. He was on his way back here, to Krakow. Why, lieutenant? Where do you suppose he was going?”

“The library?”

“Exactly! The Copernicus Memorial Library.”

ADAM STILL FELT UNCOMFORTABLE sitting next to Captain Andreyev in the front seat of the GAZ-11. He knew that he had no choice. He had to trust Andreyev, but the shock of General Kovalenko’s murder still bothered him.

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Andreyev asked. “Even with clean clothes, you still look terrible.”

“I’ll be fine as long as I don’t run into Tarnov again.” That’s a lie. I want that bastard!

“I guess that depends on whether or not Tarnov makes a connection between you and the library,” Andreyev said. “He got to your friend Jastremski, and the priest. He’ll probably figure it out before long.”

Adam’s ribs felt better now that they were bandaged, but he still winced as the black motorcar bumped over a pothole. “It didn’t take Tarnov very long to get to General Kovalenko, did it?” he replied, but regretted the comment when he saw the flash of pain on Andreyev’s face. Perhaps this Russian could be trusted after all.

Andreyev turned onto Avenue Mickiewicza and drove past the imposing structure of the Copernicus Memorial Library. At the end of the block he turned left, circled around the building and pulled into a narrow, cobblestone lane behind the library.