Tell Tale: Short Stories Read online

  “This is a pleasant surprise,” she said.

  “You may not think so when you hear what I’ve got to say,” said Niko.

  “Does it concern Alexander?” asked Elena anxiously.

  “I’m afraid it does. He’s begun badly. Refuses to take orders, and is openly contemptuous of the KGB. Today he told a junior officer, and they’re always the worst, to fuck off.” Elena shuddered. “You must tell him to knuckle down, because I won’t be able to cover for him much longer.”

  “I’m afraid he has his father’s fierce independent streak,” said Elena, “without any of his discretion or wisdom.”

  “And it doesn’t help that he’s brighter than everyone else around him, including the KGB,” said Niko, “and they know it.”

  “But what can I do about it when he doesn’t listen to me any longer?”

  They walked in silence for a while before Niko spoke again, and then not until he was certain no passerby could overhear him. “I may have come up with a solution,” said Niko, “but I can’t hope to pull it off without your full cooperation.” He paused. “And Alexander’s.”

  * * *

  If Elena’s problems weren’t bad enough at home, they were becoming worse at work, as the major’s advances became less and less subtle. She had considered pouring boiling water over his wandering hands, but the consequences didn’t bear worth thinking about.

  It must have been about a week later, as Elena was tidying up the kitchen before returning home, that Polyakov staggered in, clearly drunk. He began to unbutton his trousers as he advanced toward her. Just as he was about to place a sweaty hand on her breast, a junior officer rushed in saying that the commandant needed to see him urgently. Polyakov couldn’t hide his anger, and as he left, hissed at Elena, “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back later.” Elena was so frightened, she didn’t move for over an hour. But the moment the buzzer finally sounded, she pulled on her coat and was among the first to clock off.

  When her brother joined Elena for supper that evening, she begged him to go over his plan.

  “I thought you said it was far too great a risk?”

  “I did,” said Elena, “but that was before I realized I can no longer avoid Polyakov’s advances.”

  “You told me you could even bear that as long as Alexander never found out.”

  “But if he did,” said Elena quietly, “can you imagine the repercussions? So, tell me what you have in mind, because I’ll consider anything.”

  Niko leaned forward and poured himself a shot of vodka before he began to take her slowly through his plan. “As you know, several foreign vessels enter the dock to unload their cargo every week, and we are expected to turn them around as quickly as possible, so any waiting ships can take their place. That’s my job.”

  “But how will that help us?” asked Elena.

  “Once a ship has unloaded its goods, the loading process begins, and because not everyone wants bags of salt or cases of vodka, several vessels leave the port empty-handed.” Elena remained silent while her brother continued. “There are two ships due in on Friday, which, after they’ve discharged their cargo, will leave on the Saturday afternoon tide with several empty holds. You and Alexander could be hidden in one of them.”

  “But if we were caught we could end up on a cattle train to Siberia.”

  “That’s why this Saturday is so important,” said Niko. “Because for once the odds will be stacked in our favor.”

  “How come?” said Elena.

  “Leningrad are playing Torpedo Moscow in the final of the Soviet Cup at the national stadium, and almost all of the officers will be sitting in a box supporting Torpedo, while most of my fellow workers will be cheering on the home side from the terraces. There’ll be a three-hour window we could take advantage of. So by the time the final whistle blows, you and Alexander could be on your way to a new life.”

  “In Siberia?”

  4

  THEY NEVER LEFT for the docks in the morning at the same time, and they didn’t return home together at night. When they were at work, there was no reason for their paths to cross, and they made sure they never did. In the evening, they didn’t discuss what they were planning until Alexander had gone to bed, and then they talked of little else.

  By Friday evening, they’d gone over everything they imagined could go wrong again and again, although Elena was convinced something would trip them up at the last moment. She didn’t sleep that night, but then she hadn’t slept for more than a couple of hours for the past month.

  Niko told her that because of the cup final, almost all the dockers had opted for the early shift on Saturday morning, six until midday, so once the noon siren had blasted, the docks would only be manned by a skeleton crew.

  “And I’ve already told Alexander I wasn’t able to get him a ticket, so he’s reluctantly signed up for the afternoon shift.”

  “When will you tell him?” asked Elena.

  “Not until the last moment. Think like the KGB. They don’t even tell themselves.”

  Mr. Novak had already said that Elena could take Saturday off, because he doubted if any of the officers would bother to come in for lunch, as they wouldn’t want to miss the kickoff.

  “I’ll just pop in during the morning,” she told her supervisor. “After all, they might not all be football fans. But I’ll leave around midday if no one turns up.”

  Uncle Niko did manage to pick up a couple of spare tickets on the terraces, but what he didn’t tell Alexander was that he’d already sacrificed them to make sure his deputy loader and the chief crane operator wouldn’t be around on Saturday afternoon.

  * * *

  When Alexander came into the kitchen for breakfast on Saturday morning, there was only one thought on his mind, and even before he’d sat down, he asked Niko if he’d managed to get hold of a spare ticket at the last moment. He was puzzled by his reply.

  “You’ll be playing in a far more important match this afternoon. It’s also against Moscow, and one you can’t afford to lose.”

  Alexander sat in silence as his uncle took him through what he and his mother had been planning for the past week. Elena had already agreed with her brother that if Alexander didn’t want to be involved, for whatever reason, the whole exercise would be called off. She needed to be convinced that he wasn’t in any doubt about the risks they were taking. Niko even offered him a bribe to make sure he was fully committed.

  “I did manage to get a ticket for the match,” he said, waving it in the air, “so if you’d rather—”

  He and Elena watched the young man carefully to see how he would react. “To hell with the match,” he said. “We might never get a better chance to escape from those bastards who killed my father.”

  “Then that’s settled,” said Niko. “But you have to understand I won’t be coming with you.”

  “Then you can count me out,” said Alexander, jumping up from his father’s old chair. “Because we’re not leaving you behind to face the music.”

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to,” said Niko. “If you and your mother are to have any chance of getting away, one of us has to stay behind and cover your tracks. It’s no more than your father would have wanted.”

  “But—” began Alexander.

  “No buts. If we’re to succeed, I must get going and join the morning shift so everyone will assume that, like them, I’ll be at the game this afternoon.”

  “But won’t they become suspicious when no one remembers seeing you at the match?”

  “Not if I get my timing right,” said Niko. “The second half should begin around four o’clock, by which time I’ll be watching the match with the rest of the lads, and by then, with a bit of luck, you’ll be well outside territorial waters. Just make sure you report for the afternoon shift on time and, for a change, do whatever your supervisor tells you.” Alexander grinned as his uncle stood up and gave his nephew a bear hug. “Make your father proud of you,” he said before leaving.

  As