David Oldman - Dusk at Dawn

‘Is it? Then why does the fact I’m as poor as everyone else make no difference? I’m still a bourgeois as far as they’re concerned even if I have nothing. It’s not what I have , it’s what I think .’

‘They’re looking for scapegoats at the moment, that’s all. It’ll pass.’

‘And a great consolation that will be to us once we’re all dead.’ She started searching through the cupboards. Finding some stale bread, she put it on the table. ‘Not even your friend believes it’s temporary, does he? Why else are you here?’ She picked up a knife, her expression unexpectedly softening. ‘Oh Pasha,’ she said, ‘you have no idea what you’ve got yourself into, have you?’

She thought him a fool. Perhaps he hadn’t had much of an idea, but he was beginning to get one. According to Valentine, since the landings in Archangel Lockhart and the rest of the British legation in Russia were regarded as spies. Now Paul had turned up he’d given the Bolsheviks’ suspicions credibility. Not that Paul had much chance of contacting Poole or Maynard; from what Valentine had been able to discover from the few sketchy reports available in Petersburg, both men were still where they had landed and were unlikely to move very far south any time soon. Kolchak was God knows where — still in Japan probably — and the Legion was more concerned with getting out of Russia than in removing the Bolsheviks from power. It seemed they weren’t adverse to fighting them, but only if the Russians were in their way. Valentine suspected that having failed to convince Trotsky to continue the war with Germany on the eastern front, Lockhart had reluctantly agreed to Sydney Reilly’s attempt to encourage a mutiny among the Lettish Rifles. No doubt he’d hoped a coup to oust the Bolsheviks would garner support from the whole spectrum of Russian politics, now it had become obvious how dictatorial Lenin’s methods were.

Only that was not how it had worked out. Lenin might be dead but it hadn’t brought down the Bolsheviks or provoked any sort of rising. Even if Reilly had nothing to do with the shooting, Lockhart had still been arrested. Cromie had been shot and, as far as anyone knew, Reilly had been forced underground. As for Ransome, he was probably still canoodling with Trotsky’s secretary. Paul could only imagine what Cumming would make of it once he got the news — stick every sharp object within his reach into his wooden leg, probably.

‘Where is Olyen anyway?’ Sofya asked, slicing the bread.

‘His name’s Valentine,’ Paul said. ‘At least that’s what I know him as. He’s gone to the station to see if he can get us train tickets. He says we need to get out of Petersburg as soon as we can.’

‘What about me?’

‘You as well.’

That was one thing Paul had insisted upon. Given how Valentine had dealt with Tamara Oblenskaya on the steamer and now, it seemed, Olga Volokoskaya in Copenhagen, Paul didn’t have too many illusions as to how far Valentine might go if he thought Sofya in the way.

‘Where will we go?’ Sofya asked.

‘Moscow.’

‘Moscow? Are you mad? What is it the English say, out of the frying pan into the fire?’

Paul supposed it would be if they planned to stay there. He had said as much himself to Valentine.

‘It’s the Bolshevik capital. How do expect us to hide there?’

‘We’re not here to hide,’ said Valentine.

‘No, and that’s not what I meant. But Mikhail won’t be in Moscow, will he? Not if he’s got any sense. Anyway, is there any point in looking for him now? If killing Lenin didn’t start a rising against the Bolsheviks what are Mikhail and his friends supposed to do, blow up the Kremlin?’

‘That’s true enough,’ Valentine allowed, ‘but I said circumstances have changed. I doubt your cousin will be of much use to us now.’ Something in the tone of his voice suggested to Paul that Valentine thought much the same about Sofya, too. ‘We need to go east,’ he went on. ‘Kazan fell to the Czechs and what they’re calling “The Peoples’ Army” three weeks ago.’

‘Isn’t that where the gold reserves were moved to stop them falling into German hands?’ Paul said.

‘C briefed you on the gold, did he?’

‘I’m supposed to persuade the Legion that the gold is an objective as far as the Allies are concerned. C made it clear it should be handed over to Kolchak if the Czechs captured it. It wasn’t to be used to ransom the Imperial family.’

‘Too late for that anyway, old man,’ said Valentine. ‘By the way, I heard it wasn’t only the tsarevich and the girls they shot but as many grand dukes and duchesses as they’ve been able to lay their hands on as well.’

‘Beastly thing to do.’

‘Done now’ said Valentine pragmatically. ‘Our main objective, if the Legion has captured the gold, is to ensure it doesn’t fall back into Bolshevik hands. They’re moving on Kazan as we speak.’

‘And how do you propose we do that?’

‘Rally the troops, old fellow, rally the troops. You’ve still got Masaryk’s letter, I presume?’

Paul patted the belt at his stomach where his gold roubles lay.

‘Capital,’ said Valentine. ‘We have to get you to Kazan so you can convince the Czechs that now Poole has landed at Archangel it’s in their best interests to work with the White Russian forces and link up with him. And keep hold of the gold until Kolchak arrives.’

‘That sounds easy,’ Paul remarked sarcastically.

‘They say that Komuch is in control of the Urals Soviet—’

‘And what’s Komuch?’

‘It’s short for the Committee of the Constituent Assembly,’ Valentine said, ‘or what’s left of it. After the October coup a lot of the Petersburg and Moscow assembly members joined their colleagues in those provincial capitals that weren’t controlled by the Bolsheviks. Komuch is a mixture of Mensheviks and Kadets but it’s dominated by Social-Revolutionaries. The point is, if the Bolsheviks want to stop the Legion moving to link up with Poole at Archangel — which from their point of view is the Legion’s logical move — they’ll need to retake Kazan. So we need to get there first. I can’t imagine the trains are running through the lines, but it should be possible to get quite close.’

‘Aren’t the Bolsheviks in control of the railways this side of the Urals? How close are they likely to let us get?’

Valentine didn’t answer the question. ‘Of course we’ll need to see it first. Before we commit ourselves.’

‘See what?’ Paul said.

‘The gold . Before we tip our hand, I mean. Men are apt to do odd things where gold’s concerned. And we’ll have to see how the land lies before we reveal who we are.’ His eyes seemed to have lit up. ‘Can you imagine it?’ he said to Paul, ‘eight railway cars full of bullion?’

‘But even if the Legion does have it,’ Paul objected, ‘do you really think they’re likely to hand it over on the say-so of a British infantry captain and a letter?’

‘If the letter’s from Masaryk. Don’t you think so?’

Paul had no idea. Cumming seemed to assume all Paul would need to do was show the Czechs that the orders came from the Czech National Council and the whole Legion would be ready to do his bidding. But Cumming, Paul was beginning to realise, had more faith in human nature than he had, and the further he got from London the thinner the little faith he did have was wearing. And, for once, he had to agree with Valentine: men were unpredictable where gold was concerned. At least, that’s what he’d always read. He’d had no first-hand experience himself — the closest he’d ever got to gold were the roubles Cumming had given him and they’d come attached with so much baggage that, frankly, Paul thought they were more trouble than they were worth. He wished he’d never seen the damn things. But that was all beside the point. More to it was what the Czechs would do. Would they be willing to keep the bullion until Kolchak arrived? Another consideration was this Komuch government. After all, it was Russian gold, and if anyone should have a say in how it should be used it should be the Russians. As members of what was left of the Constituent Assembly, Paul didn’t suppose many of them would want the stuff handed over to Kolchak, a former Imperial admiral and a supporter of the monarchy. Or whatever might be left of the monarchy.