As the senior lieutenant turned for the monastery, Mikhail saw his brother beckoning to him.
“So Command hasn’t forgotten about us after all,” Alexander said.
“This might not be as glamorous as duty aboard a submarine or battleship, but our assignment sounds just as vital to our countries future survival.”
“So it does” said Mikhail, as he gazed over the monastery grounds.
“I must admit that it was an ingenious idea to hide a treasure in such an unassuming spot.
Who would have ever expected it?”
“During the time of the Mongol invasions, monasteries such as this one were utilized for similar purposes,” Alexander replied.
“Supposedly the barbarians feared our chapels were filled with black magic, and whenever possible they kept their distance. Too bad the Germans can’t be so easily deceived.”
A bearded priest escorted the group through an icon-lined chapel. The air was thick with the scent of incense, and by the light of dozens of white candles they were led to the back of the central altar where a descending stairway led to the basement.
They were not prepared for the glittering treasure trove that awaited them in the cramped subterranean vault. Glistening in the candlelight were gilded chests filled with gem-studded jewelry. Stacked among the chests were exquisite icons, golden cups loaded with precious stones, and an assortment of expertly rendered paintings. Yet it was the rear of the vault that drew their eyes. Stacked on a thick wooden pallet were the gold bars stamped with the double eagle seal of the Romanoffs.
“An incredible sight,” Ryutin reflected as he joined his men in the vault.
“I had no idea of the treasure’s true extent. This could take days to properly catalogue and remove.”
“I think that we should get started with the gold,” said Mikhail.
“Then if time allows, we can see about transferring the rest of the collection.”
The senior lieutenant attempted to pick up one of the gold bricks and grunted.
“That sounds good to me, Comrade. Moving this gold isn’t going to be such an easy task by itself. Each bar must weight well over 20 kilograms.”
“Just knowing the Nazis are out there will be enough to motivate us,” said Mikhail.
“Why don’t we form a human chain, and transfer the bars upstairs in that manner?” Alexander suggested.
“Good idea,” agreed the senior lieutenant.
“But while the actual transfer is in progress, I want both of you down here at all times with loaded weapons. If any of the men even touch any of the other objects you have my full blessings to stop them… permanently.”
It was late in the afternoon by the time all of the bars were removed from the vault to the courtyard. Here they were loaded onto a cart and trundled to the train.
They were in the midst of this process when the compound was buzzed by a dual-engine German surveillance plane. A tarp was hastily thrown over their glittering treasure, but it was not in place until the aircraft had made two complete passes.
“Get those bars loaded into the train with all haste, lads” Ryutin shouted.
“If the Nazi’s have spotted us, they’ll be upon us like vultures.”
The men were a good two-thirds done with their task when the sound of muffled gunfire could be heard in the distance, accompanied by several booming explosions.
A column of thick, black smoke could be seen rising to the west. As the gunfire intensified in volume that Ryutin decided it was time to make a run for it.
“Unload that last cartload and board the train, lads.
Comrade engineer, I want you to break all speed records from here to Leningrad.”
“But the rest of the treasure,” said one of the ensigns.
“We can’t leave it for the Germans!”
“The hell we can’t,” Ryutin said.
“By the sound of that gunfire, the Germans are just a few kilometers away. If we don’t get going now, we’ll lose the gold as well.”
A rumbling detonation caused another plume of black smoke to swirl up on the western horizon. Within minutes the last of the gold bars was loaded inside the boxcar located directly behind the locomotive. The squad was instructed to board the car behind, while the Kuznetsov twins were ordered to stay with the gold.
Mikhail and Alexander watched from the open doorway of the freight car as the priest refused Viktor Ryutin’s invitation to come to safety with them. As the locomotive built up steam and began chugging out of the clearing, the bearded man of God could be seen chanting and tossing Holy water in their direction as a blessing to insure the trip’s safe conclusion.
“I wonder what the Nazi’s will do to the occupants of that monastery when they overrun the place?” Alexander said.
Mikhail shook his head.
“Funny that he should be leaving us with a blessing, because those poor souls are going to need a miracle to remain alive. One look at the treasure we left behind and those Germans are going to become a bunch of crazed sharks in a feeding frenzy.
They’ll suspect that additional loot is buried nearby and will utilize every torture in the book to find out where it’s located.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t have left them, Misha. At least we could have gone down fighting.”
“Those are noble sentiments, dear brother,” Mikhail replied.
“But you’re forgetting the purpose of this mission.
The gold bars are worth a fortune. Think of how much medicine, food, rifles and ammunition it will buy.
To sacrifice this treasure merely to show how brave we are would be an injustice to the rest of the citizens of the Motherland.”
Mikhail turned toward the doorway, his attention riveted on the countryside they were leaving behind. He could still see the golden, onion-shaped dome of the monastery. It was just visible beyond the thick branches of the forest. As the track snaked in the opposite direction, the last vestiges of the holy enclave disappeared altogether.
Mikhail could still see the setting sun as it dipped beneath the tree line. All too soon it would drop below the horizon, and the night would swallow the forest in a veil of blackness. Mikhail guessed it would be under the shroud of night that the Nazis would close in on the monastery and transform the sacred site into a pure hell.
He gritted his teeth in anger. The encounter with the attacking Stuka had unlocked a primal instinct from deep within his subconscious. He had never gotten joy from taking another life before. Yet this was war. The Nazis had willfully violated their border; now it was either kill or be killed.
What power he had felt as he sat on the roof of the caboose perched behind that machine gun! Like a god, with the power of life and death in his hands, he accepted the challenge of the Luftwaffe pilot, and without fearing the consequences, put his very life on the line to defend his homeland. With the adrenalin pumping through his body he felt invincible, even though the greater firepower and maneuverability lay with his adversary.
Yet the fates had sided with Mikhail, and as the diving aircraft exploded in the air before him, his enemy’s fiery death was almost anticlimactic. At that moment he remembered thinking how very thin was the line between the living and the dead. And it was then he realized that he had transcended the normal bounds of mortal fear.
The freight car shifted hard to one side as the track began winding its way around a broad bend. Reaching out to the edge of the doorway to steady himself,