William Wu - Dictator

“We can’t knock on every door,” said Steve. “What do you want to do?”

“I do not have a plan yet,” said Hunter. “I fear that finding him here will be difficult. We shall not be able to watch this area constantly without attracting the notice of the authorities.”

“That’s right,” said Judy.

“I want to find Jane,” said Steve. “Then we can concentrate on MC 4.”

Hunter magnified his hearing to the maximum, listening for footsteps suggesting the weight of MC 4, or his voice speaking English. He turned slowly in different directions, but heard no signs of the component robot. This failure meant very little, however, considering the density and size of the buildings. MC 4 could be quite close, or could still be microscopic, or might have already left the area at full size.

“I agree, Steve,” said Hunter. “We shall remain here at this bus stop and find a bus going toward the warehouse to look for Jane.”

“Is the NKVD looking for you two?” Steve asked. “You think they’ll go back to the warehouse?”

“It is possible,” said Hunter. “Since I have changed my appearance back to normal, they will not recognize me. However, they did see Judy clearly.”

“We’d better sleep somewhere else tonight,” said Steve, looking up the street. “How much time is there between buses, anyway, Judy?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know. That’s too much detail for the history I studied.”

Hunter looked at her. “Once we get there, Judy will have to hide in the crowd in case the NKVD returns. We shall leave as soon as we have Jane with us again. Please be very careful and very aware of people noticing you.”

“Count on it,” said Judy, smiling wryly. “I’ve seen enough of them already. I’ll be careful.”

By the time the sun was low on the flat western horizon, Jane was already exhausted. For the last couple of hours, she had shoveled slowly, with very little dirt on the blade of her shovel. As long as she continued moving, however, no one else in the work brigade seemed to care.

She had not been able to get enough privacy to call Hunter. Except in the outhouse, which had no water to flush, she had not been alone all day. She had not dared use her lapel pin for fear of being overheard by the people waiting in line outside.

During the course of the day, the ditch had grown. Since Judy had told the team that the Battle of Moscow would involve the Soviet armies counterattacking the Germans, Jane knew that the ditch she was digging was probably not important. She knew she was not altering history by participating.

Finally she heard the rumble of trucks. Everyone looked up to see the welcome sight. She fell into line with the others, climbing out of the ditch and queuing for the ride back to the warehouse.

In the back of the truck as it jerked and drove away, Jane leaned against the side and slid down to a sitting position. She had not been this tired in a long time. As a roboticist, she was simply not used to an entire day of the kind of physical labor that robots would do in her time. The cold had taken a toll on her, as well; the daytime temperature here had been much colder than even the mountains of central Germany on their previous mission.

Even when the truck finally stopped, she did not stand right away. She waited while the back was opened and the rest of the work brigade began to climb out. Finally she stood up, stiff with the cold, and followed them out of the truck.

Jane joined the crowd moving toward the door of the warehouse. Then she glanced up and saw Hunter just inside the door, towering over the others. A wave of relief swept over her, but she knew better than to call out. To those around her, she had to look as resigned as they were about this difficult routine. As before, two burly men stood by the door, watching as everyone entered. When she finally got inside, she could see Judy and Steve for the first time.

“Good evening,” Steve said in Russian, grinning. “You okay?”

“Worn out,” said Jane. “How did you get here? Hunter, where have you been all this time?”

“We can confer in a moment,” said Hunter. “Now we must leave the warehouse.”

“All right.” Jane accepted his judgment. “I’m ready.”

Hunter, moving against the current of people still plodding into the warehouse, slipped around the edge of the doorway. Steve waited for Jane and Judy to file after him, so Jane pushed her way after Hunter.

“Where are you going, comrade?” One of the guards put his hand against Hunter’s chest.

“We must find some friends,” said Hunter. “Please excuse us.” He started to moved around the man, but the guard shifted with him, still blocking the way.

“It is dark, comrade, and cold. Come inside for the night.” He gestured back toward the doorway.

“This is very important,” said Hunter.

“Then you must explain it to me.”

Hunter hesitated, then glanced over his shoulder at his team. Then he moved back inside. Hunter led the team back to the familiar corner in the rear of the warehouse. Jane and Steve exchanged puzzled glances but did not argue.

“What’s wrong, Hunter?” Jane spoke quietly, seeing that no strangers were close to them. “We have to get out of here.”

“The NKVD knows what Judy looks like now and may return here for her,” said Hunter. “We cannot risk remaining here.”

“Exactly,” said Steve. “We could have rushed out of here. You could have pushed past that guy.”

“I do not want to force our way out past the guards, either,” said Hunter. “That would be disruptive and would attract even more attention to us.”

“You aren’t just going to sit here and wait for the NKVD,” said Steve. “So what are we going to do?”

“For now, please prepare to sleep,” said Hunter. “I shall consider the options that we shall have after the lights are out.”

Wayne let Ishihara do most of the work in their day’s search. He knew that Ishihara could turn up the sensitivity of his sight and hearing to find MC 4 and nothing Wayne could do was the equal of that. So he spent most of his time just holding his cloak as tight as he could.

Leutnant Mohr rarely spoke as he dutifully led his guests through the tents and up and down the lines. Wayne became sure that the Nazi command had ordered Leutnant Mohr to be very careful with them. If they proved legitimate, then Oberst Schepke wanted to be able to prove later that he had cooperated with them fully. At the same time, he wanted to distance himself from the strangers in case they were phony. As a result, Leutnant Mohr did not spend much time talking to soldiers or letting them see inside tents. He gave them a perfunctory tour of the grounds that did not accomplish very much.

At one point late in the day, Ishihara stopped and looked east. Wayne saw only open, frozen ground. He waited to see what Ishihara would do.

“Lieutenant,” said Ishihara, in English.

“Yes?”

“How far is the actual front line?”

“This encampment is roughly a half kilometer from the front,” said Leutnant Mohr, squinting into the distance himself. “We are in Panzer Group 3, a mere twenty kilometers or so from Moscow itself.”

“Straight east of here?” Ishihara asked.

“So we are told.”

“How long since anybody moved?” Wayne asked.

“Excuse me?” Leutnant Mohr stiffened.

“How long have you held this position, without advancing?” Wayne turned to look at him pointedly.

“We are searching for a spy, not discussing military matters.” Leutnant Mohr fidgeted uncomfortably.

“Lieutenant.” Wayne used his most authoritative tone of voice and tried to think like one of the German military men. “I want to know if that spy is gaining information of value-how fresh it is, or how old. It bears directly on our purpose. Now answer my question.”