Part 3 (1/2)
He said, ”Oleg's always tended to be more devious than necessary. He's been infatuated with you for years.”
”I know.” She said it indifferently. ”I'm afraid I don't feel it puts me under an obligation to him. I'm not responsible for Oleg's emotional foolishness.”
”But you came.”
”To see you.”
”What's Va.s.sily's place in this?”
”They've coalesced-the factions. Oleg's Socialists, the old-line liberal aristocracy, the reactionaries, even the partisans of each of the Pretenders. They've formed a consortium. It's the first time they've ever worked together. Even during the Civil War they were always at loggerheads-Prince Leon insists that's why we lost Russia to the Bolsheviks.”
”What's that got to do with Va.s.sily?”
”They're planning something military. Va.s.sily's been selected to command it.”
”Command what? There's no White Russian army-only a scattered pack of old-time exiles.”
”I can't say, Alex. I do know that Va.s.sily's at the center of it.”
”Whatever their scheme is-is it his idea?”
”No; they brought him into it recently. He's been in England you know-he's still got a commission with the Free Poles.”
”Where is he now?”
”I don't know. He's in hiding. There've been threats on his life-someone's tried to kill him.”
His belly churned. After a moment he said. ”Why?”
”We're not sure. Apparently Va.s.sily wants to believe it's someone from the past-someone with a grudge. It's plausible, isn't it? His arrogance must have made him a good many enemies.”
”But you don't believe it's that.”
”I'm not certain-Prince Leon thinks it must be someone who's trying to stop them by a.s.sa.s.sinating Va.s.sily. He's the key to it all-he's the leader they've chosen to command it. Without Va.s.sily the rest of them might not know how to proceed.”
He thought of Prince Leon, kindly and craggy, the best of the lot of them.
”Will you come with me?”
”I've got orders. I'm not a free agent.”
”It's been arranged for you.”
He shot her a sharp glance. ”You just keep chucking stones in the pond, don't you? How do you mean that?”
”With your War Department. Don't look so dubious, Alex. There's an American colonel at Fort McNair who will arrange everything for you.”
He was working at the puzzle in his mind. ”Is it their idea to throw in with Germany against the Bolsheviks?”
”No.”
”You said that very fast.”
Her eyes flickered. ”Would Prince Leon have anything to do with the Hitler gang? Would Oleg? Alex, I've told you all I can. What have you to lose? I've made no conditions.”
Her eyes glinted in the lamplight. She reached for the Du Mauriers on the coffee table and leaned forward to accept a light from his match. She held his glance; he felt ripples of flame. ”You'll come, won't you?”
But he made no immediate answer. He watched her throw her head back to sigh smoke toward the ceiling: he watched the long curve of her throat. She said, ”It's Va.s.sily of course. You don't want to have to work with him. What happened between you in Finland?”
”Didn't he tell you?”
”No. I only know it cost him his command. He said it was between the two of you. It's turned him bitter, you know.”
”It was his own fault.”
”What was it?”
”Maybe I'll tell you-when we trust each other more than we do now.”
”What a sad thing to say.” She squinted in the curling smoke. ”We used to trust each other with everything.”
”Yes.”
She sat back; it was a gesture of regretful withdrawal. They had been on the point of intimacy but it was gone. She said, ”You'd be under Va.s.sily's command but you wouldn't be working closely with him. You'd be continents apart. Does that make a difference?”
”Not particularly. It would still be his orders.”
”You hate him that much.”
”No. But I think they've picked the wrong commander.”
”No matter what the scheme is?”
”He'll make a mistake-the kind you can't patch up.”
”The others don't feel that way, Alex. Are you that much wiser than the rest of them?”
”The rest of them weren't in Finland.”
”It must have been something extraordinary for you to find it so unforgivable.” Then abruptly she said, ”If you have that much reason to distrust Va.s.sily don't you owe it to Prince Leon and the others to warn them? At least give them the facts and let them decide.”
”You can't destroy their heroes without injuring their self-respect-and G.o.d knows they've got d.a.m.n little left as it is.”
”This is too important for that, Alex. You can't be decided by those considerations when their lives may be at stake.”
”Their lives?”
”All of them. Prince Leon, Oleg, my father, Felix-the whole lot. They're putting everything on the line. Everything they've got-everything.”
”You didn't say that before.”