The Berkut (57 page)

Petrov had all the bodies collected and brought to the cavern. They sat quietly while he walked around the corpses, thinking, reflecting on the stars that had been cut into them. "Ostensibly an act of revenge. Is that what we have here?"

"Somebody
carved them," Bailov said.

"Yes, the stars. We can't overlook them, can we? One of the problems that most frequently haunt homicide investigators is their innate need to find what is not really there. All of these dead females and an apparent motive. Less imaginative men might look at them and conclude that it was no more than a brutish act of vengeance. Are we wrong not to accept that? Perhaps that's what we will conclude eventually."

The unit had no doubt that Petrov did not accept this thesis. "Evidence of sexual activity?" Petrov asked the doctor.

"Impossible to tell without a laboratory analysis. For accuracy we need to take specimens and put them under a microscope."

"Evidence of a struggle?"

"I think not, comrade. This one," he said, pointing to the drowned body, "exhibits no evidence of a struggle. No tissue under her fingernails or in her teeth, no marks that might have occurred in kicking or striking at an attacker. If I had to guess, I'd say that she was taken by surprise by someone who was close to her when the attack came. She might have been floating in the water and then suddenly thrust under it and held there until she drowned."

"It couldn't have been done by an intruder," Pogrebenoi said.

"They're all unclothed, and they were drinking." She pointed to the nearby empty bottles.

Petrov raised an eyebrow.

"A woman without her clothes feels extremely vulnerable," Pogrebenoi continued. "At such a moment most women tend to be far more alert than men in a similar situation."

"Thank you, Major," Petrov said. "An interesting observation. You think a woman without clothes is likely to be more alert than if she was dressed, and therefore more difficult to intrude upon? Is that it?"

"Even in a group it's true. Women are not as
sociable without their clothes
. Men will romp together in the nude; it's not as natural for women."

"Not natural," Petrov repeated. "What if a group of women was encouraged over time to behave so? Might t
his modify instinctual behavior
?"

"Yes," Gnedin answered. "Our responses to situations are in large part culturally derived. For example, in the tropics people often go about with no clothing. Such behavior is possible in virtually any society, given the necessary reinforcement. With adequate time you can establish virtually any norm."

"Think about this." Petrov pointed to the drowned body, whose viscera, laid open by the doctor's knife, were now being attacked by flies. "She is in the pool, perhaps with someone else, maybe even a man. A friend? Relative? Her lover? They are floating blissfully when suddenly he grabs her and thrusts her into the water. Having drunk too much, at first she doesn't realize the threat; by the time she does, it's too late."

"It would fit the physical evidence we have," Gnedin said.

"I agree," Pogrebenoi said. "A woman in her lover's arms feels more secure; her guard is down." She glanced briefly at Ezdovo, who looked elsewhere.

Rivitsky jumped into the discussion. "What we see is the aftermath of a slaughter, ostensibly by intruders. The deaths are violent, messy, done quickly. This supports the intruder theory. On the other hand, how could they gain entrance so easily, unless someone was already inside and not considered a threat?"

"An interesting question," Petrov said.

"A boulder was blocking the cave entrance. It was blown from the valley side; the minefield was delibera
t
ely detonated," Ezdovo added.

"Your evidence?"

"Explosion patterns, and no bodies in the minefield. It was a hasty attempt to make it appear that the valley had been invaded."

The others nodded in affirmation.

"The rooms show signs of more inhabitants than there are bodies," Pogrebenoi pointed out.

"What bothers me is the dark-haired woman. She doesn't fit. The others are much younger, obviously Nordic. She's older than the others; I believe she is a Jew," said Rivitsky, who had been studying the corpses ever since they'd entered the cliff house. Something else was gnawing at his subconscious, but he was unable to put his finger on it until the others began their discussion.

"There's a tattoo on the inside of her left arm," Gnedin observed. "I also think she's a Jew; regardless, she has at least been a guest in one of Hitler's camps."

"This structure has been here a long time," Talia said. "Some of the furnishings are very old."

"These girls could never have created this kind of hoard on their own. The place is well stocked," Bailov said. "It's like a military outpost. It lacks for nothing, and judging by what's here and how much, a great number of trips would be necessary. In Bad Harzburg we learned that Brumm often came into the mountains with his grandfather for days, sometimes for weeks. They lived off the land. Later, when he was older, he came back on leave and went into the wilderness by himself. I think we have the right place, comrades."

"But where did these girls come from?" Pogrebenoi asked. "They're very young, no more than children."

"For the Nazis there were no children once menstruation began," Petrov said. "That one there"-he pointed to the drowned girl-"despite her age, has borne a child."

Gnedin nodded. Petrov's powers of observation constantly amazed him. "There are faint stretch marks, and other signs."

"I believe that these girls were brought here from Berlin by Brumm.

It would not be outlandish to theorize that they were brought along for the sole purpose of providing a ruse, a red herring," Petrov concluded. "How long have they been dead?" he asked Gnedin.

"Three or four days. It's difficult to be precise."

"That would put the time of death within twenty-four hours of the plane's flight through the valley," Petrov said. "Now I'm satisfied. He was here. We'll eat and sleep. We have the trail, I'm certain of it. There's no longer any doubt."

THE

PURSUIT

79 – March 28, 1946, 6:30 A.M.

Petrov awoke to the aroma of steaming tea and a whispered conversation between Ezdovo and Pogrebenoi. Though he was wide awake and alert, he remained under his thin bedcover. He'd first seen the signs on the night they'd viewed the aerial footage of the valley. He didn't know for certain that there was a romance between them, but there was no question that a strong bond was developing. He wondered if they were able to separate their physical desires from emotional attachment. It was one thing to sleep with each other because of need and convenience; it was quite another to allow oneself to be trapped by powerful emotions. It had been a gamble to bring the woman on board, he reminded himself. She was handsome, the kind who attracted men naturally and created a wave of lust wherever she went, with no effort-and from what he could tell, no desire-on her part. Because she had commanded a military unit, he had assumed that Pogrebenoi was adept at fending off advances from amorous peers and subordinates, but he also knew that working side by side in a small group was a different situation, especially when the other partner was Ezdovo. It worried him to think of such matters, but it was his job. Even in peace, there would be no room for deep involvements between Special Operations Group personnel, and under present circumstances it was particularly tricky. Even if they had satisfied their carnal needs, there was still time to control the situation, not only for their own sake and because he respected both of them, but for the sake of their mission. He'd been wrestling with a decision. Pogrebenoi had been recruited for her language faculty, but he had been leaning toward sending her with Ezdovo. Now he rejected the idea; Bailov would be paired with the Siberian.

Petrov coughed to let them know he was awake and got up. Within minutes of their commander's rising, the entire team was awake, dressed and ready to move on his orders. Only Rivitsky showed signs of lingering sleep, a normal occurrence. Whatever his appearance, Rivitsky's brain, Petrov knew, was functioning and calculating; it was just that he never looked alert until later in the day.

Pogrebenoi was in charge of the day's meals. Each team member, including their leader, carried a two-day supply of rations for the entire team. By organizing it so, all members could keep their packs loaded and be ready to move out instantly. It was a procedure devised by Ezdovo, who had learned it as a boy on the trail with hunters of his clan.

T alia opened several tins of meat, sliced the contents and laid out raw onion rings. They ate in silence, their attention on Petrov. When the others had finished eating, he was still chewing carefully and delicately sipping his hot tea. Pogrebenoi hefted her pack and checked her weapon, a small-caliber semiautomatic rifle with a long barrel and an empty mount for a telescopic sight, which she carried wrapped in an oilskin in her rucksack. It was an unusual weapon because of its small caliber, but she packed her own cartridges in such a way that the weapon had a long, flat trajectory, making it ideal for accurate shooting at very long distances. It was a sniper's tool.

Gulping down the last of his tea, Petrov cleared his throat and looked at the others. "Last night," he said, "you saw firsthand what we are faced with. When our armies moved into Poland and later into Germany, you saw that many of the enemy laid down their weapons and fled or surrendered, begging for mercy. Now we are faced with different opponents. Those we seek are not common men. One of them is extraordinary-a true soldier, a warrior. I do not know if he subscribes to the old Teutonic legends, but I believe he is as fierce as those legends describe and is committed to completing his mission. He will not be taken easily."

He stood and stretched. "I want you to understand what's at stake. Tens of millions are dead in our country because of Adolf Hitler. To the world the monster is dead. Only we and those with him know that he is alive. This
SS
colonel took the number one war criminal from under our noses and carried him through our armies to safety here in this valley. If anyone of us were to propose such an attempt, he would be sent to an asylum.

"You have always been committed to the party and its goals. Your patriotism is unparalleled in a nation where examples of patriotic sacrifice abound. But we are now to undertake something more important than anything we've ever done before; I remind each of you of your sacred duty. If necessary, you must forfeit your life in seeing this through. From this moment forward you must abandon self and think only about our mission. The pursuit of Adolf Hitler begins; the nearer we get to him, the more careful we must be. Am 1 right, Comrade Ezdovo?"

"At the time of greatest gain is also the time of greatest risk." Petrov grunted and assumed a professorial pose. "How can success and failure be equal partners?"

"When the animal has room to flee," Ezdovo said, "its instinct is to do so. It is only when it is trapped and all possibilities of evasion are denied it that it will turn to fight. The craft in hunting safely is to conceal the trap in such a way that at the very moment the animal thinks it has reached safety, it has in reality lost all options. The quarry's illusion of escape must be maintained right up to the precise moment of the kill. It's the subtle hunter who eats fresh meat."

"Push the beast," Petrov interpreted, "but not too hard. Keep it moving; let it know we are hunting, but keep the pressure off. We must hunt with our minds, not our weapons, with our empathy and understanding, not brute force. We must let the animal enter our invisible trap and let him sigh in contentment at his perceived safety, then squeeze the trigger."

There was a pause while Petrov inhaled and held his breath for a long time. "Hitler is to be taken alive."

"That may not be possible," Gnedin said.

"It was not possible for Hitler to get out of Berlin either, but he did." There was no further objection to their leader's command.

Coming out of the mountains, Ezdovo, Pogrebenoi and Bailov scouted ahead, looking for a sign of those who had left the valley. It was Ezdovo who discovered the trail on the far side of the western ridge beyond the outer valley. They gathered around him and waited for him to interpret his findings.

"There are three of them, all men. Two large ones, both of whom are heavy and probably tall. The third is smaller and weaker; he drags his leg slightly." Ezdovo showed them a mark in a muddy place in a rock field and mimicked the limp.

Eventually they followed the trail out of the mountains, down to a road and over it into another forest. They waited just off the road while Ezdovo explored ahead. When he returned, he was grinning. "I have them. They're traveling due south, moving deliberately, and one of them is carrying a postmark."