STENDAL, GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
“General Beregovoy reports a heavy counterattack from the north-towards Alfeld.”
Alekseyev accepted the news impassively. His gamble had failed. That’s why it’s called gambling, Pasha
Now what?
It was very quiet in the map room. The junior officers who plotted the movements of friendly and enemy forces had never talked much, and now were not even looking over to the other map sectors. It was no longer a race to see whose forces got to their objectives first.
The word you’re looking for is gloom, Pasha. The General stood next to his operations officer.
“Yevgeny Ilych, I am open to suggestions.”
He shrugged. “We must continue. Our troops are tired. So are theirs.”
“We’re throwing inexperienced troops against veterans. We have to change that. We will take officers and NCOs from the A units that are off the line and use them to beef up the C units now arriving. These reservists must have experienced combat soldiers to leaven their ranks, else we send them like cattle to the slaughter. Next, we will temporarily suspend offensive operations-”
“Comrade General, if we do that-”
“We have enough strength for one last hard push. That push will be at the time and place of my choosing, and it will be a fully prepared attack. I will order Beregovoy to escape the best way he can-I cannot trust that order to the radio. Yevgeny Ilych, I want you to fly to Beregovoy’s headquarters tonight. He’ll need a good operational brain to assist him. That will be your assignment.” I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself, you traitorous bastard. Use it well. More importantly, it got the KGB informer out of the way. The operations officer walked off to arrange transport. Alekseyev took Sergetov back into his office.
“You’re going back to Moscow.”
42 – The Resolution of Conflict
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
“Amazing what a pair of fives can do . .”
“What’s that, General?” his intelligence chief inquired. SACEUR shook his head, looking at the map with confidence for once. Alfeld held-a couplet, the General thought. The Germans to the west had taken a murderous pounding, but while their lines had bent, they hadn’t broken. More help was on the way. A tank brigade was en route to reinforce them. The newly arrived armored division was pressing south now to isolate this Russian division from those on the Weser. The farthest-advanced Russian divisions had shot out their supply of surface-to-air missiles, and NATO air power was blasting their positions with grim regularity.
Aerial reconnaissance showed the open ground east of Alfeld to be a charnel house of burned-out tanks. Reinforcements were heading there also. Ivan would be back, but skies were clearing again. The full weight of NATO aircraft was coming into play.
“Joachim, I think we’ve stopped them.”
“Ja, Herr General! Now we’ll begin to drive them back.”
MOSCOW, R.S.F.S.R.
“Father, General Alekseyev has ordered me to tell you that he does not think it possible to defeat NATO.”
“You are certain?”
“Yes, father.” The young man sat down in the Minister’s office. “We failed to achieve strategic surprise. We underestimated NATO’s air power-too many things. We failed to prevent NATO’s resupply. Except for that last counterattack it might have worked, but . . . There is one more chance. The General is suspending offensive operations in preparation for a final attack. To do this-”
“If all is lost, what is this you’re talking about?”
“If we can damage the NATO forces sufficiently to forestall a major counteroffensive, we will hold on to our gains, enabling you-enabling the Politburo to negotiate from a position of strength. Even this is uncertain, but it is the best option the General sees. He asks that you put it to the Politburo that a diplomatic settlement is necessary, and quickly, before NATO recovers its strength sufficiently for their own offensive.”
The Minister nodded. He turned in his chair to look out the window for a few minutes while his son waited for a response.
“Before that is possible,” the Minister said finally, “they will order Alekseyev’s arrest. You know what’s happened to the others they arrested, don’t you?” It took his son a moment to grasp the father’s words.
“They couldn’t have!”
“Last night, all seven of them, including your former Commander-in-Chief.”
“But he was an effective commander-”
“He failed, Vanya,” the elder Sergetov said quietly. “The State does not suffer failure gladly, and I have allied myself, for your sake, with Alekseyev . . .” His voice trailed off. I have no choice now. I must cooperate with Kosov, bastard or not, consequences or not. And I must risk your life also, Vanya. “Vitaly will take you to the dacha. You will change into civilian clothes and wait for me. You will not go outside, you will not allow yourself to be seen by anyone.”
“But surely you are being watched!”
“Of course.” His father smiled briefly. “I am being watched by officers of the Committee for State Security, officers of Kosov’s personal staff”
“And if he plays you for a fool?”
“Then I am a dead man, Vanya, and so are you. Forgive me, I never dreamed that something like this would-you have made me very proud these last few weeks.” He rose and embraced his son. “Go now, you must trust me.”
After his son left, Sergetov lifted his phone and dialed KGB headquarters. Director Kosov was out, and the Petroleum Minister left a message that the figures Kosov had requested on oil production in the Gulf States were ready.
The meeting requested by the Minister’s use of the code phrase took place soon after sunset. By midnight, Ivan Mikhailovich was again on a plane bound for Germany.
STENDAL, GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
“Director Kosov applauds your method for dealing with the traitor. He said that killing him, even accidentally, would have aroused suspicion, but now that he is safely behind enemy lines and doing his duty, they will be certain that he is not under suspicion.”
“The next time you see the bastard, tell him thank you.”
“Your friend was shot thirty-six hours ago,” Sergetov said next. The General snapped to rigid attention.
“What?”
“The former Commander-in-Chief West was shot, along with Marshal Shavyrin, Rozhkov, four others.”
“And that fucking Kosov congratulates me for-”
“He said there was nothing he could do about it and offers his condolences.”
Condolences from the Committee for State Security, Alekseyev thought. There will come a time, Comrade Kosov . . .
“I am next, of course.”
“You were right to have me float your rationale for future operations with my father. He and Kosov both feel that for you to propose this to STAVKA would mean your instant arrest. The Politburo still feels that victory is possible. When they lose that belief, anything can happen.”
Alekseyev knew exactly what anything meant.
“Go on.”
“Your idea to put experienced troops in the arriving C divisions has merit-anyone will see that. A number of such divisions are cycling through Moscow every day.” Sergetov halted to allow his general to draw his own conclusions.
The General’s whole body appeared to shudder. “Vanya, you are talking treason.”
“We are talking about the survival of the Motherland-”
“Do not confuse the importance of your own skin with the importance of our country! You are a soldier, Ivan Mikhailovich, as am I. Our lives are expendable pawns-”
“For our political leadership?” Sergetov scoffed. “Your respect for the Party comes late, Comrade General.”
“I hoped that your father could persuade the Politburo to a more moderate course of action. I did not intend to incite a rebellion.”
“The time for moderation is long passed,” Sergetov replied, speaking like a young Party chieftain. “My father spoke against the war, as did others, to no avail. If you propose a diplomatic solution, you will be arrested and shot, first for failing to achieve your assigned objective, second for daring to propose political policy to the Party hierarchy. With whom would you be replaced, and what would be the result? My father fears that the Politburo will lean towards a nuclear resolution of the conflict.” My father was right, Sergetov thought, for all his anger at the Party, Alekseyev has served the State too long and too well to allow himself to think realistically of treason.
“The Party and the Revolution have been betrayed, Comrade General. If we do not save them, both are lost. My father says that you must decide whom and what you serve.”
“And if I decide wrongly?”
“Then I will die, and my father, and others. And you will not have saved yourself.”
He’s right. He’s right on all things. The Revolution has been betrayed. The idea of the Party has been betrayed-but-
“You try to manipulate me like a child! Your father told you that I would not cooperate unless you convinced me of the idealistic” -the General sputtered for a moment, seeking the right word- “rightness, rightness of your action.”