Archangel

The searchlight caught him.

Far away there was a shouted order.

The snow crunched under his boots as he headed between the blazing huts and the burning tank towards the main gate.

Chapter 24

'Rudakov… Yuri Rudakov… I want to speak to Captain Rudakov.'

Holly shouted into the white dazzle light of the beam soaking him from the roof of the Administration building.

He stood between huts 3 and 4, and when his voice had died on the wind there were the sounds of the fire as company for him. A rafter that blazed and fell, the crackle of jumping sparks, a wall that trembled inward crazily. He felt the warmth of the fire on his body, a precious and solid heat that seemed to thaw away the chill of the Kitchen. He could see no movement beyond the searchlight, he could not know that the sergeant marksman was crawling back along the flat roof to the opened trapdoor and the ladder down into the building. His arm ached as he held it high and the thin vest was wrapped by the breeze around his wrist, and tickled the skin that it found between his glove and the cuff of his tunic.

The zeks would fight while he was with them.

The zeks would die while he was with them.

There was the wreckage of the helicopter across to his right. There was the burned carcase of a tank behind him.

How far would the zeks follow, Holly? They would follow him to hell. Would he care if they returned? God… there were seven hundred men and seven women in the Kitchen, and the weight of their lives was across his shoulders, a hideous weight. Not surrender, no. .. he could not lead them to surrender. He waited for Rudakov to come, he stood straight and still with the vest above his head.

It had begun to snow again. Fast little flurries that soared in the beam of the searchlight and hissed in the flames. He felt it against his cheeks and nose. Seven hundred men, and some were dead and some were wounded and some were afraid. Seven hundred men, and they would fight with tooth and claw.

You started it, Holly…

Rudakov was in front of him. He walked forward into the orbit of the searchlight beam. His shadow was flung forward, a black giant on the snow, and the cap nudged against Holly's boots. He carried no weapon. His hands were clasped across his stomach, resting on the webbing belt around his greatcoat.

'You have no need of the flag, Holly. You can put down your hands.'

'Thank you for coming.'

'Thank me for nothing.'

Rudakov came close. He showed no fear.

'Do you like what you see, Captain Rudakov?'

'You have expelled our Commandant from his compound. You have brought down our helicopters. You have destroyed our tank. Are you tired now of victories, Michael Holly? Are you ready now for defeat?'

'Just words, Captain Rudakov, and words are meaning-less now.' it was you that asked to talk.'

Holly looked into Rudakov's face, into the eyes that were now shorn of ambition, pride.

'The men want to fight on.'

'Then they are doomed.'

'I will not lead them to surrender.'

'Then they die.'

'There will be a massacre.'

'Not of our choice.' if I were not with them…?'

'You are a part of them.' if I were not with them, they would come out.'

'I cannot save you, Michael Holly.'

'Have I asked to be saved?'

'What I tried to do for you, Holly, in a civilized and humane way, is finished. You played the idiot here, Holly.

You had a choice. You could respond to my help, you could ally yourself with that shit in the Kitchen. You made your choice. There is a telex on my desk, Michael Holly. It talks of your transfer. You will go to Vladimir, or perhaps to Chistopol. You will never find another like me. You spat on me, you crapped on me. Perhaps they will shoot you now, perhaps they will lock you away forever. It is not my concern. My concern for you is over. I was reasonable with you, Michael Holly. How did you respond? You threw coffee at me. You chose the scum that are now in the Kitchen. I tell you I would not have that scum clean out my lavatory. You made your choice. I have no need to stand here and listen to you.'

'Captain Rudakov… I want the man that was sent to Yavas brought back here,' Holly said.

A sad, bitter smile spread across Rudakov's face. 'He is to be tried tomorrow. He will be sentenced tomorrow. In such a case the sentence of the court would be carried out within a week.'

'I want him back here with us. I want him back before morning.'

'You face the charge of murder of a guard. You face the charge of incitement and leadership of armed mutiny. You have the nerve to talk to me as if I were some bastard negotiator.'

'Did they tell you of Kengir when they put the camp uniform on you

…?'

'I don't have to listen to you.'

'Did they tell you of Kengir?'

'They told us of Kengir.'

'Listen hard to me, Captain Rudakov. There was not one tank at Kengir, there were a dozen. The tanks came into the compound after forty days, the zeks had no weapons, they lay down in front of the tracks. Did they tell you that? They died rather than surrender.'

'Kengir is history.' it will be the same at Barashevo, Captain Rudakov.'

Rudakov caught at Holly's arm. 'You think I am in charge outside the gate? After four helicopters, after one tank, do you think the Political Officer is still in charge?' it will be a massacre, Captain Rudakov. Cruel. Horrible.

Bloody. The camp of which Captain Yuri Rudakov was Political Officer will become a legend of death. You will be broken, Captain Rudakov, destroyed… '

'That's shit…' Rudakov shouted.

'That's true.'

'I believe you.' Rudakov's voice fell, a dropped stone.

'You ask me to bring this man from Yavas back to the camp

… what do you give me in return?'

Holly closed his eyes, squeezed them tight. The searchlight beam hammered onto his face.

'I give you the end of this.'

'There will be reprisals, there will be executions, that is the way of these things.' if you have the leader…?'

'You ask me if the leader balances the scales. The camp is destroyed.'

'You have the leader, you have the end to this.'

'You would have faith in me, Michael?'

'As you would have faith in me, Yuri.'

'There is one way only that the leader balances the scales.'

'One way.'

'I will bring the man from Yavas.'

'When he has reached the Kitchen, I will come to this place.'

Rudakov's hand snaked out. He held Holly's two hands in his. 'I will go to Yavas.'