Hammer of God (Kirov Series Book 14) by John Schettler Read Free Book Online Page B

those desperate hours they fought was now but a few lines
in an old history book. Yet here he was now, walking along those lines, seeing
it all in the finest detail, smelling it, breathing it in…
    That
thought mated with the distinctive scent of tobacco, and he knew that someone
had lit up a cigar. There was a movement behind him, and General Wavell came
out from the sitting room to find him. He turned to see the tall, stalwart
figure, weathered by the long years in Egypt, but still strong, his cap on,
eyes catching the light of the stars.
    “Captain
Fedorov, would you care to join us now?” Wavell said in perfect Russian.
     “Certainly,
“ said Fedorov, and he followed the General past the two standing guards and
into the shadowed room beyond. There he was thrilled to see one of the great
pillars of the war years, one of the truly great men the century had given
birth to, Churchill himself, sitting quietly in an chair by the fireplace with
a brandy in one hand and a cigar in the other. Fedorov soon found himself under
the heavy gaze of the Prime Minister, and he had an inner sense of dread as to
what he might now be asked.
    “You
are a remarkable young man, Captain,” Churchill began, as Wavell translated. “I
listened to you very closely in the general meeting, and I can see that your
grasp of the situation here is secure.”
    “It may
seem that way,” said Fedorov, “but nothing is ever certain, Mister Prime
Minister.”
    “Very
true, but yet you have had a peek around the corner of tomorrow, young man, and
that is something that few, if any, can claim with any hope to be taken as a
sane man. That, plus the fact that you seem intimately acquainted with the
events now unfolding, make you a most remarkable asset. I hope you do understand
that. And here you have come to us like a guardian angel, and I am told that in
your day, our two nations were adversaries. To see you here now, and realize
you have taken it upon yourself to try and reverse that outcome, is most
commendable. With the knowledge you have of days to come, we can stand advised
of every crooked jab of the enemy’s lance, and know when we must thrust and
where to parry.”
    “Possibly,”
said Fedorov, a note of caution in his tone. “I do know what happened once, but
that is as much a burden as it is an advantage. And I cannot predict what may
or may not result from the decisions you might make. I can only advise you in
the light of what I already know.”
    “Because
you’ve walked the long path ahead. You’ve climbed that hill I put into my
speeches to bolster up the people back home.”
    “No
sir, I haven’t walked it, and I’ve done no climbing at all. That has been, and
will be, your privilege and task. I have only read about it, though being here
like this makes me feel very odd—as if I were inside one of my books, if you
can understand that.”
    “Yes… I
do understand. I do quite a bit of reading myself,” Churchill said with a
smile. “And seeing you here leads me to feel that you have walked right out of
some very good tales where I’ve lost myself for many a long hour. Our H.G.
Wells, for example, always seemed to me to be a man who saw tomorrow. Now that
I know there are really such men alive on this earth, and charting the course
of events here, it is somewhat chilling. So here you are in my book, and here I
am in yours. That’s the way this life is, my good young man. Everyone you meet
is walking out of the story of their own lives, coming to you after a journey
of many thousand steps. Some stay with you but a while, a brief chapter or two,
but others are at your side for many long volumes, even to the end of your
story. I am only glad we have met, and shaken hands here, but tell me, Mister
Fedorov, what compelled you to stand with us?”
    The
question pricked at that deep seed of guilt in Fedorov, for he still believed
that it was his meddling, that impulsive whisper in Sergei Kirov’s ear, that
had caused the breakup