CHAPTER 24
“Who are you?”
The four gang bosses sat in the center of the commandant’s office. We stood along its sides. Light flickered from a kerosene lantern onto the commandant’s well-appointed oak desk. Matsuma and Gurung stood in front of them without their exposure masks.
Matsuma pealed off his white overblouse to reveal a green quilted jacket with red collar flashes but devoid of insignia. He moved stiffly. I guessed the hit to the body armor had broken a rib or two. “We are soldiers of the People’s Republic of China. We are liberating all the concentration camps of the Russian imperialists in this area and seizing the Trans Siberian Railway.”
“Are we your captives?” asked an Armenian gang boss with a heavy beard.
“By no means. We have admired the courage of you who have challenged the Kremlin adventurists. You are free to go. In fact, that is why we have asked you here. One gang will divide up the camp’s food and supplies into four equal parts. Then, by lot, the other gangs will be allowed to choose which quarter they want. It will be up to each gang boss to parcel up the supplies among his individual gang members. You should take the three remaining half-tracks and the train. That’ll give you a head start. Head in different directions for about half a day, then abandon them and split up. We figure a VOKhk relief detachment will get here by rail within twenty-four hours.”
A straw-haired old boss with deep-sunken eyes stood up. “Can you help us get into China?”
“No,” Matsuma stated firmly. “We have liberated you, that is all we can do. Escape for us, in the event our army does not succeed, will be difficult enough.”
“How can we possibly survive?”
“I don’t know. All I can say is winter is nearly over and this is a large, sparsely settled region. With the guards’ portion added in, you’re going to have more food than you would have had otherwise. Anyone who wishes can of course stay in the camp until the raid has been discovered and the new guards arrive.”
“Not bloody likely,” another gang boss said, then spit for emphasis. It left a dark spot on the commandant’s Persian rug.
“They don’t look very Chinese to me. Some of these men are too big, even for northern Chinese,” a short gang boss with Mongolian features and no teeth said, pointing to Chamonix and Wickersham, “and why are they still wearing masks?”
Matsuma looked to me.
“Tell them we freedom fighters of the People’s Republic do not observe class or race distinctions. Ours is an international struggle.” I said to Matsuma in Japanese. He translated.
They guffawed.
“And it is in your self-interest for us to be Chinese. If we are Chinese, the Kremlin must order a border-long mobilization. If any zek reveals to anyone we are not, then the Kremlin can concentrate all its resources into catching us and recapturing you. Convince your zek gangs that we are all dog-eating Chinamen and be content. There is an ancient Chinese proverb: ‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.’”
They nodded understanding.
“One more thing,” I said. “Where is Special Prisoner Seven Thirty-four?… Vyshinsky?”
“That goner? He’s in sick bay.”
The old man raised himself up on his elbows. There was no color in his drawn features and his eyes were rheumy. Those pallbearer’s eyes.
“You’re from Kurganov, aren’t you?” he started timidly. “I’ve been expecting you.”
Only a few zeks remained in the sick bay. Most of the ailing had been carried to the half-tracks by their friends. Outside I could hear the bustling of prisoners dividing up the supplies.
“Yes… how did you know?”
“Myshka. Myshka told me.”
It was clear he felt uncomfortable with direct communication. His life had been built around double meanings and oblique references.
“Myshka told you? Here?”
“A queer twist of fate brought him here—just a few weeks ago. We were in the same work gang. He died here… just a few weeks ago.”
Vyshinsky fell back onto his cot. His breathing was heavy and erratic. He couldn’t have lasted much longer here.
“He told me Kurganov had considered rescuing me. The young man said it was a useless hope. He hadn’t had time to obtain some special information there in Moscow for you people outside.”
Vyshinsky’s voice had a mournful, wheezing quality to it. “He wasn’t made to survive in these camps—too dreamy, too proud. He was a poet, you know. Funny how those literary ones are—either they’re like Kurganov and survive forever, or they’re like Myshka and get their brains kicked out in a matter of weeks.”
He coughed and his pipe-cleaner body shook uncontrollably.
“All right, let’s get you bundled up for transport. You’re going on a sleigh ride.”
“Troika?” he said with a frail smirk.
“Ahkio. Not as enjoyable by half.”
Wickersham lifted Vyshinsky from the cot effortlessly.
By midmorning we were ready to evacuate the camp. There was enough talent among the zeks to drive the train and the half-tracks. Probably enough to drive a space shuttle.
The riders of one half-track had broken into the commandant’s liquor supply and were passing a bottle around. They sang bittersweet Russian folksongs in a haunting harmony.
A wizened old Ukrainian whirled through one of those Slavic dances, where the dancer alternately squats and kicks with his arms crossed, on the bed of the vehicle. He whirled and kicked, and kicked and whirled like some sad and marvelous mechanical toy. The old zek drew from some invisible source of energy.
As a group they were no worse off than before. There was little else I could do. The decision to flee had been theirs. My inexpert opinion was that the majority would be dead within a month. In any event they would die free… with hope. Who really knew what their chances were? After all, it was their country.
Chamonix stepped forward and saluted. “All secured and ready for departure.”
The gang bosses assumed Matsuma was in command of our party. Each walked up and gave him a hug. That was Lutjen’s, Alvarez’s, and Kruger’s memorial. For three good unfaltering men there would be no other.
We skied east, avoiding our old trail. Clouds were building in the west at an alarming rate. The barometer had dropped, indicating an impending weather change. The temperature hovered at five degrees below. Kick, slide.
In the early afternoon, I heard the drone of a plane overhead. It was a troop transport with four propellers. Paratroops.
The plane flew to the camp a couple ridges behind us and circled twice. Then it spilled out a chain of parachutes. It took less than a minute to deploy one hundred Soviet paratroops. The paratroopers wore white camouflage uniforms similar to ours. Suspended from their harnesses were skis and equipment bags. Their ’chutes drifted lazily behind the last ridge.
I had assumed we would have more time to make our escape. I had also assumed that we would be pursued by prison guards rather then elite shock troops. Over the years Ivan had claimed to have invented many things. He truly did invent airborne military operations. Ivan has seven airborne divisions—Uncle Sam, one.
I called to Gurung in the point position, “Veer southeast, we’ll try to intersect our old trail. Let’s pick up the pace, under the circumstances a little sweat might be permissible.” It was a bad tactic to go out the same way you came in, but a broken trail would let us maintain our position relative to our pursuers. At present they had the advantage of following a trail we had broken. Well, we had a few tricks that would change that. I hoped that I was reading the sky right. We were in a race for time. Kick, slide.