Tatiana and Alexander: A Novel(117)

"Yes, plenty of bandages, plenty of sulfa, morphine, even some penicillin."

"Good, we'll need it all. What about food?"

"We've got canned everything. Dried milk even. Dried eggs. Sardines. Ham. Bread."

"Canned bread?" Alexander nearly smiled.

"What haveyou been living on?"

"The flesh of my men," replied Alexander. "Are most of your men Russian?"

"Most of them, yes. But I have ten Germans. What do you propose we do with them? Certainly they are not going to go on your side and fight their own army."

"Of course not. That's unimaginable, isn't it?"

Pasha turned away.

"We'll take them prisoner," said Alexander.

"I thought the penal battalions had a no-prisoner policy?"

"I make my own policy here in the woods," replied Alexander, "having been abandoned by my suppliers. Now, are you going to help us or not?"

Pasha took a last smoke, stubbed out his cigarette and wiped the wet off his face, a useless gesture, Alexander thought. "I will help you. But your lieutenant will not approve. He wants to kill me."

"You let me worry about him," said Alexander.

Ouspensky was not easy.

"Are you out of your mind?" he whispered hotly to Alexander, when Alexander outlined his plan for the absorption of Pasha's unit.

"You have better ideas?"

"I thought you said Gronin was coming with supplies?"

"I lied. Get me my troops, please."

"I say we kill the commander, and then lie in wait in the woods until we get arms and men."

"I'm not killing the commander, and I'm not waiting for anything. They are not coming." Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Captain, you are not acting according to the rules of engagement. We cannot take the Germans prisoner. We have to kill their commander."

"Lieutenant, get me my men and stop this foolishness."

"Captain--"

"Lieutenant! Now!"

Ouspensky, his face full of squinting suspicion, turned to Pasha, who stood by Alexander's other side, untied. Ouspensky and Pasha glared at each other for a few moments. "Captain, you've untied him?" Ouspensky said in a low voice.

"Why don't you worry about what you have to worry about, and let me worry about everything else. Go!"

Alexander, Ouspensky and Telikov had fourteen privates and two corporals under their command. With Pasha's battalion, they would have over sixty men, not including the German prisoners of war. He motioned Pasha to come.

Pasha said, "My men need to know it's me when I call to them."

"Fine," said Alexander. "I'll stand by you, you yell. They'll know."

Ouspensky stood in Alexander's way. "With all due respect, sir, you are not headed toward the firing line."

"I am, Lieutenant," Alexander said, moving Ouspensky out of the way with his machine gun.

"Captain," Ouspensky said, "sir, have you ever played chess? Do you know that in chess you will often sacrifice your Queen to take the opponent's Queen? His men will kill you and him both."

Alexander nodded. "All right, butI'm not the Queen, Ouspensky. They will have to do better than killme ."

"They kill you, they win the game. Let the bastard go by himself. He can stop the bullets with his teeth for all I care. But if something happens to you, we've got nobody else."

"You're wrong, Lieutenant. We've gotyou . Now look. We are under a direct order to plow through the woods." He lowered his voice. "And I've finally figured out why. It's because of them--the Vlasovites. Stalin wants his Soviet dregs--us--to kill his Soviet dregs--them." Pasha was standing nearby. Alexander didn't want him to hear. He led Ouspensky away. "We have only one directive--to go forward--and only one responsibility--to save our men. We're nearly all out. To save our men you'd save Metanov's life, wouldn't you?"

"No," Ouspensky said. "I'm going to shoot the motherf*cker myself."

"Nikolai," Alexander said quietly, "if you touch him, you'll die. Just so you understand my position and won't accidentally fly into patriotic fervor, I want you to know your life is at stake. Anything happens to him, anything at all, I will blame you." Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Sir--"

"Do you understand?"

"No!"

"That man is the brother of my wife," said Alexander.

Something appeared on Ouspensky's face. Alexander couldn't quite place it. Some clarity, some understanding, some completion, almost as if Ouspensky had been waiting for something like this. Alexander couldn't tell, the expression in the eyes was too fleeting. Then Ouspensky said, "I did not know that."

"Why would you?"

Alexander and Pasha began their mission. It was mid-afternoon. Quiet in the woods except for the sound of drizzle on the evergreens. Disturbing, unexplained quiet. A burning branch broke and fell to the ground. It burned reluctantly, dampened by November. Pasha Metanov stood ten meters away from Alexander and yelled, "This is Commander Kolonchak. Can you hear me? Bring me my Lieutenant Borov immediately."