Russian Amerika: Chapter Forty

40

    "So it wasn't a mutiny," Bear muttered, peering down from the snow-laden roof of the headquarters building.

    "They've captured the redoubt," Valari said. "How could they do that?"

    "I told you they were a formidable enemy," Bear answered in a harsh whisper. "But you damn cossacks never believe anyone."

    "Who was it said, 'The Indians aren't organized enough to pull off something this big.'?" she countered in a hiss.

    "We don't have time to argue." He turned away.

    They could see the entire courtyard. A group of people dressed in foreign camouflage complete with flak jackets herded a coffle of Russian soldiers from a barracks toward the prison wing.

    "That's not moosehide they're wearing," Valari hissed. "They're getting military aid from another country."

    "They're all still inside the redoubt," he whispered.

    "So?"

    "Call in an air strike, level this place, and we stop their party cold."

    "You are full of hidden talents, Bear. I like that in a man."

    "There is much hidden about me that you have yet to appreciate. But this is not the time or place to show you."

    "I am becoming very cold, could we leave now?"

    "Do you have the radio?" he asked.

    "Yes." She fumbled inside her parka and brought out the bulky box of knobs and batteries. "Use it quick, tovarich, before the batteries freeze."

    "Not to worry." He snapped on the power switch and grinned appreciatively as the dials glowed to life. "I'm glad we preset the frequency before we left Tetlin Redoubt," he said absently.

    "Do you want me to make the call?" she asked.

    "I want you," he said heavily, "but I will make the call." He unhooked the microphone and held down the transmit button.

    "This is Chena Probe to Imperial Tetlin, Chena Probe to Imperial Tetlin, do you copy?"

    "Tetlin to probe," the voice from the radio sounded tinny, "we read you clearly, proceed."

    "The Dena' have the redoubt. Send an air strike now."

    "Oh my God," the tinny voice said.

    Valari gasped and Bear felt something hard press against the side of his head, his widened nostrils easily discerned the odor of gun oil. He pressed the transmit button three times in quick succession and hoped they were awake back in Tetlin.

    "You will tell them," a calm masculine voice said softly, "that there was a mutiny here, and the traitors have been subdued."

    The roof moved in the moonlight, suddenly populated with figures rising from the snow and shadows around them. A tall man closed on Bear and snatched the machine pistol from his hands.

    He heard the safety click off on the automatic weapon pointed at his head. "Da," he whispered and nodded slightly. The muzzle eased back a third of a meter.

    "There has been a mutiny." Even to him his voice sounded like an old man's croak. He swallowed quickly. "The traitors have been overwhelmed."

    The radio sat silent long enough that Bear thought the batteries had frozen. Suddenly a new voice issued into the crystalline night.

    "This is Colonel Rostov. Why do we not have radio contact with the redoubt?"

    Valari's eyes widened.

    "Tell them," the man said softly in Bear's ear, "Lieutenant Dimitri Andreanoff and his squad spoke to me. The radio room was destroyed by traitors."

    Bear parroted the words into the microphone. "Do you copy?"

    "Put the lieutenant on."

    Bear turned and looked into the man's face in supplication. Neither light nor humanity rested in those eyes. He felt he was looking at a cossack.

    "The lieutenant is leading his men," the tall Indian whispered, "but he left a corporal with us."

    Bear lowered his gaze as he repeated the lie. For the first time in his life he felt helpless and used.

    "Very well!" the colonel's voice snapped over the distance. "Put the damned corporal on."

    The microphone jerked out of his hands.

    "This is Corporal Danilev, Troika Guards," the Indian said in flawless Russian. Crepov recognized a St. Petersburg accent. "We've eliminated most of the traitors, but a small pocket still resists, sir."

    "Don't kill them all," the voice on the radio snapped. "We want to know how this happened. Good work, corporal. Give Major Kominskiya the microphone."

    Another safety snicked off in the frigid sub-arctic night.

    Valari reached out and snatched the instrument. Her eyes flashed about her. Bear felt his sphincter muscle twitch and he shivered. She grinned and snapped her mittened thumb down on the key with an exaggerated jerk.

    "Colonel Rostov, this is Major Kominskiya. What would you like to know?"

    "Do you agree with Corporal Danilev's assessment of the situation?"

    "Yes, Colonel," she said smoothly, effortlessly. "Lieutenant Andreanoff has the upper hand from all I have seen." She glared at the tall, smiling Indian.

    "Have the corporal report every hour, Major Kominskiya. Do you copy?"

    "Yes," she said, her face falling slightly, "I copy."

    "Tetlin Redoubt, clear."

    "Chena Redoubt, clear." She dropped the microphone.

    "Very good, Major Kominskiya," the tall man said. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Slayer-of-Men." He smiled thinly in the moonlight. "And on occasion I also slay women."

    Bear shivered again, his mind now as chilled as his body.