Tatiana and Alexander: A Novel(189)

He said nothing. "And then?"

"Then? There is a hatch on the roof. We climb out onto the roof and jump."

"While the truck is moving?"

"Yes." She paused. "Or we can just do it my way and drive the truck into Berlin."

He said nothing at first. "Not as good as your last plan, Tania," he said. "And that one failed."

"That's the spirit. I'll see you at seven. Be ready," she said, and saluted him. "O Captain, my Captain."

Tatiana pretended to eat dinner with Brestov and Karolich, to listen to banter between Penny and Martin, even to smile. How? She didn't know. To save him.

She didn't want to keep looking at her watch, but couldn't keep herself from staring at Martin's wrist until she realized she was making him twitch with her unexplained scrutiny. She excused herself and said she would go and pack. Penny excused herself and said since she was already packed she would go and check on barrack nineteen. Tatiana knew there was a man there Penny wanted to say goodbye to. It was 6:00 p.m. For fifteen minutes Tatiana agonized in her room, looking over the map of the area between Oranienburg and Berlin. She could not still her unquiet heart.

At 6:20 she carried her pack to the jeep and returned to the commandant's kitchen to get another plate of food for Alexander. At 6:45 she filled a glass with vodka and secobarbital and, with her nurse's bag on her shoulder, picked up the food tray and went to find Karolich.

At 6:55, Penny walked through the beds in barrack nineteen, moving past the bunk of Nikolai Ouspensky.

"Hey, nurse, where is the rest of your crew?" he called out in Russian. "Where is that other, hmm, little nurse?"

"It's a good thing I don't understand a word of what you're saying," Penny retorted in English with a smile, without stopping.

With a smile himself Ouspensky fell back on his bed. Penny brought back the image of the other nurse, the small, black-haired one. He had forgotten all about it, but something had niggled him about her. What was it about her that was so faintly familiar, and why for such a faint familiarity was that niggling so sharp?

"Lieutenant, could you come with me?" Tatiana smiled. "It's getting late. I want to bring the plate of food for the prisoner in cell number seven, and I don't want to go alone. And this way you and I could drive the jeep back to the commandant's house to retrieve Miss Davenport and Dr. Flanagan."

Karolich walked gladly through the forested path with her. He seemed flattered. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"You are a very good nurse," he said. "You shouldn't care so much about the prisoners, though. Take it from me. It makes it too hard to do your job."

"Don't I know it, Lieutenant," she said, walking a little faster.

"You can call me Ivan if you wish." He coughed.

"Let's stick with lieutenant for now," she said, walking faster still.

It was 7:00 when they walked into the jail corridor. All was quiet. Perdov stood up in a salute. Tatiana winked at him, glancing at the vodka glass. Perdov winked back. Karolich passed first, then Tatiana, who nodded and moved the tray over to Perdov who grabbed the full glass, downed it, and put it back on the tray. Karolich was opening cell seven. "Are you coming, Nurse?"

"Coming, Lieutenant."

Alexander was lying on his side.

Karolich sank down onto the straw with a yawn. He was facing Alexander's back and his machine gun was on his lap angled at Alexander.

"Feed him quickly, Nurse. I want to be done with my day. That's the thing about this work. Begins early, ends late, feels like it's never done."

"I know what you mean." Putting the tray on the ground, Tatiana pretended to examine Alexander. "He doesn't look so good, does he?" she said. "I think he's getting a terrible infection."

Indifferently, Karolich shook his head. "He'd look worse dead, don't you agree?" He lit a cigarette.

"Captain, would you like something for the pain?"

"Yes, thank you," said Alexander.

"Before or after you eat?"

"After."

He turned onto his back and she fed him. He ate quickly, and then groaned, rolling back on his side. "My head hurts. Maybe something for the pain now?"

"I'm going to give you a little morphine to help you."

Alexander continued to lie on his side. He opened his eyes and glanced at Tatiana without blinking. His hands were in front of him, his back was to Karolich, and in his hands, he held the Model 1911.

"So, how long have you been working for the Red Army, Lieutenant?" Tatiana asked Karolich, opening her nurse's bag and taking out three syrettes--small, toothpaste-type tubes each filled with a half-grain of morphine solution.

"Twelve years," he said. "How long have you been a nurse?" Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Just a few," she replied, fumbling with the needle and safety seal. Her hands were useless. Usually she could do this in her sleep. "I worked with German POWs in New York." She needed to get all three syrettes ready, and she couldn't even break the safety seal on one.

"Oh, yeah? Any escapees?"

"Not really. Oh, yes. One. Knocked out one of the doctors and took a ferry across the water."