Colonel-General Andrei Mikhailovich Taffkowski suddenly felt a great peace come over him, peace born of a revelation. These miracles could only mean one thing. At last, at long last, God had forgiven the Russian people. He had restored His grace to them. The dreadful sufferings of the last twenty years had purged the Russians of their guilt for failing to fight the Antichrist Hitler and for all the other follies of the 1930s. At last God had decided the Russians had atoned for their sins. Finally, they had paid the full measure of the terrible price that failure to stand against evil brought upon the weak and now they were forgiven at last.
MFV Snapper, Port of Ban Mab Tapud, Eastern Thailand.
Obviously, Ban Mab Tapud was going to be a lucky port. He would have to come here more often, thought Captain Park Chung-Hee of the Korean motor fishing vessel Snapper. He'd had the standard order from the Japanese company that owned the vessel. Go fishing, sell the catch for hard currency, fish some more and bring the fish back to Pusan. His hold loaded with fish from a catch in the East China Sea, he'd pulled into Ban Mab Tapud to sell it. There. He'd had his first stroke of luck. The local fish cannery had a rush order from America but was short of stock. Deadlines pressing, they'd paid 30 percent over market price for his catch. Even better, they'd recorded the sale at 20 percent over market price and slipped him the rest in cash under the table. And that had been a pretty sum.
Most, he'd invested in consumer goods that he would sell on the black market back in Korea but the rest he'd taken to one of the bars in the town. There, he'd bought out the most attractive of the bar girls and brought her back here. She was lying on his bunk now, sleeping off the night's work. Still it was 0730, time for a good fisherman to be getting ready for sea. Even as he watched the girl opened one eye and looked at the clock.
“Hey, where are you going? You bought me out for twelve hours, You have until ten.” The girl looked slightly offended, Park realized in her line of business, being kicked out of bed two and a half hours early probably was a professional insult. Anyway, she was very good, worth every satang of her fee. And the tide wouldn't be right until mid-afternoon.
“Nowhere Noi, I was just going to order some tea for you. Now what were we doing?”
Two and three quarter hours later, Park watched the girl skip down the gangway, flip her ponytail and wave him a cheerful goodbye. Yes, he liked Ban Mab Tapud. He would definitely be back. He went up to his bridge and stopped dead. Just across the way from him was the largest ship he had ever seen, painted gray with the American flag flying from her stern. Bridge amidships, two very heavy goalpost masts forward, one aft. Helicopter pad by the stern. Small letter E large numbers 23. Park reached into the concealed recess on the bridge and got out his recognition book. That was her, AE-23 USS Nitro.
“Port authority contacted us sir, they regret but due to operational necessities, we cannot leave until high tide tomorrow.” Park frowned then grinned. They'd have to stay an extra night. He left the bridge and went back to main deck. He was in time, the girl was still waiting for her taxi. He walked down the gangway and called her.
“We have been delayed, are you free tonight? At eight? For twelve hours?”
The girl got out a small diary and turned to today's page. “Yes Captain, I am free then. And the American ship will not be staying for shore leave, she is due in the Philippines. Very well. I will write your appointment in. Oh Captain I love you so much. Fifty percent deposit on my fee please.”
The Captain chuckled as the girl's taxi left. Then, he went back to his bridge to watch the ammunition ship, her crew were bustling around on deck, the sort of organized chaos that any seaman recognized. Then the first pallet came out of the cargo hold. Park trained his binoculars on it. The long thin shape was unmistakable, the size was a little harder to estimate. He'd guess it was 250 kilograms, that made it a Mark 82. And there were ten of them on the pallet. The big cranes swung it out and put it onto a truck. There was a big airbase just down the road from Ban Mab Tapud. That must be where the bombs were going. The truck pulled out and another took its place. Another pallet of bombs was already being readied for delivery.
“We'd better count these.” The First Mate grunted and made a check mark on a pad. Then another as the second pallet went ashore. By dusk, Nitro had unloaded more than 3,000 Mark 82s and the work showed no sign of ceasing. Nitro's floodlights were on and the crew were still hard at work. At 19:55 Noi's taxi pulled up and she got some tired but appreciative whistles from the ammunition ship. Captain Park retreated to his cabin with her while Nitro continued to unload her cargo. The call girl and the crew of the ammunition ship had one thing in common, they were both working hard all night.
Office of President Cherniakhovskii, New Kremlin, Moscow, Russia
Even the thick walls of the New Kremlin couldn't quite keep out the sound of the church bells. The city was celebrating a victory, but only a few people knew that the celebration was also for the capture of the German stockpile of dreaded nerve gas. President Cherniakhovskii looked up from his file as Doctor Wijnand was ushered in. The man was nervous, he knew something was up but he had no idea quite what. That was good, let him stew for a few minutes. He waved at a seat, watching Wijnand sit down then finished reading the report.
“My apologies for my rudeness Dr Wijnand, but some things cannot wait. It is a great day is it not?” Wijnand nodded. “Doctor, you may remember that at our last meeting I said that the Germans would judge themselves, that they would determine their own fates? Well, it appears that fate has indeed rendered its verdict. Model gave orders for the nerve gas to be used against our civilian population, his orders would have caused a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. But a single German officer refused to be part of this terrible crime and risked his life to warn us. As a result, the gas was not released and is now in safe hands. God has undoubtedly passed his verdict and told us of it. And you can see what this is of course?”
President Cherniakhovskii watched Doctor Wijnand squirming in his seat. The poor man didn't know what to say and Cherniakhovskii was thoroughly enjoying his dilemma. In the end, he took mercy on the Doctor.
“Why Doctor Wijnand, I would have thought it was obvious. We have been shown that there is goodness, even in the Germans and it is our duty to save what goodness we can find. But enough of that. I told you that if the Germans did not use their gas, we would release the German women and children into your custody. For whatever reason, the Germans did not use their gas. Therefore, we will hold our part of the bargain true and the women and children will be released. Furthermore, it was our plan to execute all German men as war criminals but God has shown us this is not just or right. We will execute all members of the SS and all members of the Nazi Party. But, for the rest, if no crimes are proved against them, then they too will be released into the custody of the Red Cross.”
Wijnand felt a great load come off his mind. He had hoped that he could save the women and the children but to save some of the men as well was more than he could have expected. Whoever that German officer was, he'd done his people an immense service, much more than he probably would ever know. President Cherniakhovskii continued.