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As the security o sani’s bowed back, one of them breathlessly told him: ’Comrade Ustinov ounded, sir He went off in the ambulance’

’Comrade? Comrade?’’ Borowitz howled ’No comrade, that one! And "wounded", you say? Wounded, you arsehole? / want him dead!’

He turned his wolfs face up to the tower, yelled: ’You there - do you see the ambulance?’

’Yes, Comrade General It approaches the outer wall’

’Stop it!’ Borowitz screa at his shattered shoulder

’But -’

’Blow it to hell!’ the General raged

The ht binocu­ lars into a groove in the butt of the Kalashnikov, slapped ho, he picked up the vehicle again in the cross­hairs of the night-sights, ai down as it approached one of the archways through the periet there Ja his weapon between his shoulder and the parapet wall, he squeezed the trigger and kept it squeezed The hosepipe of fire reached out from the tower, fell short of the vehicle by a few yards, then juet

The front end of the a petrol in all directions Blown off the track, turned on its side, the vehicle ploughed to a halt in torn-up turf Someone in white crawled away fro an open, flapping shirt and carry­ing a dark overcoat, cowered back from the flames and limped in the direction of the covered exit

Unable to see out of the courtyard froerly shouted up to the tower, ’Did you stop it?’

’Yes, sir Two men at least are alive One is ambulance crew, and I think the other is - ’

’I knoho the other is,’ Borowitz screamed ’He’s a traitor! To me, to the branch, to Russia Cut hiulped, aimed, fired Tracers and bul­ lets reached out, chewed up the earth at Ustinov’s heels, caught up with hi steel

It was the first time the man in the tower had killed

Now he put down his gun, leaned shakily against the balcony wall and called down, ’It’s done, sir’ In the lull, his voice seemed very small

’Very well,’ Borowitz shouted back ’Now stay where you are for the roaned and clutched at his shoulder again where blood seeped through the material of his overcoat

One of the security men said, ’Sir, you’re hurt’

’Of course I’m hurt, fool! It can wait a little while But for noant everyone called in I want to speak to them And for the moment none of this is to be reported outside these walls How many bloody KGB men do we have here?’

’Two, sir,’ the same security man told him ’One in there -’

’He’s dead,’ growled Borowitz, uncaring

’Then only one, sir Out there, in the woods The rest of us are branch operatives’

’Good! But does the one in the woods have a radio?’

’No, sir’

’Even better Very well, bring him in and lock hiht, sir’

’And don’t let anyone worry,’ Borowitz continued ’All of this is on my shoulders - which are very broad, as you well know I’, but I want to break it in et the KGB off our backs once and for all Right, let’s see some action around here! You - ’ he turned to the helicopter pilot ’Get yourself airborne I need a doctor -the branch doctor Bring him in at once’

’Yes, Comrade General At once’ The pilot ran for his machine, the security men for their car where it was parked outside the courtyard Boroatched theosani’s ar else?’

’I’m still in one piece, if that’s what you mean,’ the other answered ’I just had tirenade exploded’

Borowitz grinned wolfishly despite the terrible burning in his shoulder ’Good!’ he said Then get back in there and see if you can find a fire extinguisher Anything still burning, stop it After that you can join me in the lecture room’ He shook off the naked man’s arm, swayed for afor?’

As Dragosani ducked back through the ruined door into the corridor, where the smoke had almost completely disappeared now, Borowitz called after him: ’And Com­ rade, find yourself some clothes to wear, or a blanket at least Your work is over for tonight It hardly seeosani, Necro about in his birthday- suit, now does it?’

A week later at a special hearing held in caor Borowitz defended the action he had taken at the con­ verted Chateau Bronnitsy on the night in question The hearing was to serve a double purpose One: Borowitz must be seen to have been called to order over ’a serious malfunction of the "experimental branch" under his con­ trol’ Two: he must now be allowed the opportunity to present his case for complete independence from the rest of the USSR’s secret services, particularly the KGB In short, he would use the hearing as a platform in his bid for coes - ators - was co Krisich of the Party Central Committee, Oliver Bellekhoyza and Karl Djannov, junior cabinet ministers, Yuri Andropov, head of the Komissia Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, the KGB, and one other as not only ’an independent observer’ but in fact Leonid Brezhnev’s personal rep­resentative Since the Party Leader would in any case have the last say, his ’nameless’ but all-important cipher was the man Borowitz must most impress He was also, by -virtue of his ’anonymity’, the one who had least to say

The hearing had taken place in a large roo on Kurtsuzov Prospekt, which made it easy for Andropov and Brezhnev’s man to be there since they both had offices in that block No one had been especially difficult There is an accepted eleh, as Andropov quietly pointed out, one would hope that as well as being ’accepted’, the risk ht also on occasion be ’anticipated’, at which Borowitz had s himself that one day the bastard would pay for that cold, sneering insin­uation of inefficiency, not toand entirely inappropriate air of sly superiority

During the hearing it had come out (exactly as Borowitz had reported it) how one of his junior executives, Andrei Ustinov, had broken down under the stresses and strains of his work and gone berserk He had killed KGB Operative Hadj Gartezkov, had tried to destroy the Chateau with explosives, had even wounded Borowitz hi stopped Unfortunately, in the pro­cess of ’stopping’ him, two others had also lost their lives and a third h reat importance The state would do what it could for their families

After the ’malfunction’ and until all the facts in the case could be properly substantiated, it had been unfortunately necessary to detain a second member of Andropov’s KGB at the Chateau This had been unavoidable; with the single exception of a helicopter pilot flying his machine, Borowitz had allowed no one to leave until all was sorted out Even the pilot would have been kept back had the presence of a doctor not been urgently required As for the agent’s detention in a cell: that had been for his own safety Until it could be shown that the KGB itself was not Ustinov’s et - indeed, until it was discovered that no ’target’ as such existed, but that a one mad and committed ent safe After all, one dead KGB man was surely one too ed to endorse

In short, the entire hearing was little inal explanation and report No mention at all was made of the disinterment, sub­sequent evisceration and necromantic examination of a certain senior ex-MVD official If Andropov had known of that then there really would have been a problem, but he did not know Nor would o he himself had lain a wreath on that poor unfortunate’s fresh-rave - or the fact that at this very rave sorounds of the Chateau Bronnitsy

As for the rest of it: Minister Djannov had made some indelicate inquiry or other in respect of the work or the purpose of Borowitz’s branch; Borowitz had looked astonished if not outraged; Brezhnev’s representative had coughed, stepped in and side-tracked the question What is the use, after all, of a secret branch or organisation once it has been e its secrets? In fact, Leonid Brezhnev had already vetoed any such direct enquiries in respect of ESP Branch and its activities; Borowitz had been a sinewy old war-horse and Party man all his life, not to mention a staunch and powerful supporter of the Party Leader

Throughout, it had been fairly obvious that Andropov was disgruntled He would dearly have loved to bring charges, or at least press for a full KGB investigation, but had already been forbidden - or rather, he had been ’convinced’ that he should not follow that route But when all was said and done and the others had left, the KGB boss asked Borowitz to stay back and talk a while

’Gregor,’ he said when they were alone, ’of course you know that nothing of any real i - is ever entirely secret from me? "Unknown" or "as yet unlearned" are not the sa You do know that?’

’Ah, orin ’A heavy load for any one man’s shoulders to bear, Comrade I sympathise with you’

Yuri Andropov smiled thinly, his eyes deceptively misty and vacant behind the lenses of his spectacles But he made no effort to veil the threat in his voice when he said: ’Gregor, we all have our futures to consider You of all people should bear that in oes dohat then? Are you ready for an early retirees?’

’Oddly enough,’ Borowitz answered, ’there is that in the nature of my hich has assured my future - my foreseeable future, anyway Oh, and incidentally - yours too’

Andropov’s eyebroent up ’Oh?’ Again his thin sers read in or?’

Well, he knows that ht Borowitz; but it wasn’t really surprising Any secret police chief worth his salt could get hold of thatit ’Elevation to the Politburo in two years,’ he said, without changing his expression by so ht or nine more, the Party Leadership’

’Really?’ Andropov’s smile was half-curious, half- sardonic

’Yes, really’ Still Borowitz’s expression had not changed ’And I tell you it without fear that you in turn will report it to Leonid’

’Do you indeed?’ answered that erous of men ’And is there any special reason why I will not tell him?’

’Oh, yes I suppose you could call it the Herod Prin­ ciple Of course, being good Party Members we don’t read the so-called "Holy Book", but because I know you for a ent man I also know that you will understand what I mean Herod, as you will know, became a mass murderer rather than suffer the threat of a usurper on his throne - even a baby infant You are by no means innocent as a baby, Yuri And at the same time, of course, Leonid is no petty Herod Still, I don’t believe you’ll tell him what I predict for you’

After a ed ’Per­ haps I won’t,’ he said, no longer s

’On the other hand,’ said Borowitz over his shoulder as he turned and left the roo’

’One thing? What thing is that?’

’Why, that we all have our futures to consider, of course! And also because I consider myself wiser far than those three foolish "wise" ely to himself as he stamped down the corridor toward the stairs, suddenly Borowitz’s wolfs grin returned as he recalled so else his seers had told hi premiership he would sicken and die Yes, within two or three years at most Borowitz could only hope it would be soor perhaps he could do better than just hope

Perhaps he should ht now Perhaps he should speak to a certain chearia A slow poison undetectable painless bringing on a swift deterioration of vital organs

Certainly it orth thinking about

On the following Wednesday evening Boris Dragosani drove his spartan little Russian puddle-juor Borowitz’s spacious but rustic dacha in Zhukovka As well as being pleasantly situated on a pine-covered hillock overlooking the slug­ gish Moscow River, the place was also ’safe’ fro eyes and ears - especially the electric sort Boroould have nothing made of metal in the place - with the exception of his metal-detector Ostensibly he used this to seek out old coins along the river-bank, especially near the ancient fording places, but in fact it was for his own security and peace ofin his dacha The only bugs that could get anywhere near the place were the sort that crawled in the rich soil in Borowitz’s overgrown garden

For all that, still the old General took Dragosani walking in order to talk to hi the outdoors to the ever-dubious privacy of four walls however well he’d checked them over For even here in Zhukovka there was a KGB presence; indeed, a strong one Many senior KGB officials - a few generals a them - had their dachas here, not to ents None of thehted to supply Yuri Andro hatever titbits of information they could unearth

’But at least the branch itself is now rid of the the river bank He took Dragosani to a place where there were flat stones to sit on, where they could watch the sun going down as the evening turned the river to a dark green mirror

They narled, typically Russian, all horn and yellow ivory and ti man, almost effete by comparison, delicate of features (when they were not transforered hands of a concert pianist, sli, with shoulders broad as his smile was narrow No, apart from a mutual respect, they seemed to have very little in coosani for his talent; he had no doubt but that it was one which could help ain Notbut invulnerable to any would-be invader, indestructible to any weapons system, invincible in the pursuit of a steady, stealthy, world-enveloping expansionisosani could speed up the process immeasurably Borowitz’s hopes for the branch were fire, yes - but it was the other side of the coin froe of the coin Espionage - but with the emphasis on ’Esp’ That hy Borowitz ’liked’ the unlikeable Dragosani: he would never look right in a dark-blue overcoat and fedora, but by the same token no KGB osani was privy And of course, Borowitz had hiht him into the fold That was another reason he liked hireatest find

As for the paler, younger ets, his ambitions What they were he kept to himself - kept them locked in that macabre mind - but they were certainly not Borowitz’s visions of Russian world domi­nance and universal eain be threatened by any nation or nations however strong

For one thing, Dragosani did not consider hie older far than the oppression of Comil not only as tools but as a banner and a threat And perhaps that was one of the reasons he ’liked’ the equally unlikeable Borowitz, whose politics were quite un-politic As for respect - there was a measure of that in him for the old warhorse, yes, but not for ancient heroics on the field of battle, or the practised ease hich Borowitz could bluff the very sting out of a scorpion’s tail Instead Dragosani respected his boss s of his ladder And much like a steeplejack, he knew he could never afford to step back and admire his work But why should he, when one day the chimney would be built and he could stand at its top and enjoy his triumph from its own unassailable apex? Meanwhile Borowitz could instruct, guide his feet up the rungs, and Dragosani would cliht Or perhaps he respected hiht-rope walker respects his rope And how then must he watch his step?

What friction there was between the two sprang , loyalties and lifestyles Boroas a born and bred Muscovite who had been orphaned at four, had cut bundles of firewood for a living at seven, and had been a soldier froosani had been named for his birthplace on the Oltul River where it flowed down from the Carpatti Meridionali towards the Danube and the border with Bulgaria In the old days that had been Wallachia, with Hungary to the north and Serbia and Bosnia to the west

And that was how he saw himself: as a Wallach, or as a Romanian at the very least And as a historian and patriot (while yet his patriotis since faded on oldand very bloody Trace Wallachia’s history and what does one find? - that it has been bartered, annexed, stolen, re-taken and stolen again, raked over and ravished and ruined - but that always it has sprung back into a being of its own The country was a phoenix! Its very soil was alive, dark with blood, given strength by blood Yes, the strength of the people had been in the land, and that of the land in its people It was a land they could fight for, which by its nature could alht for itself Any set of historical maps would shohy this was so: in those old days, before the aeroplane and the tank - ringed about by mountains andlands to the west and the Danube in the south - the region had been almost completely insular, safe as a fortress

And so, through his pride in his heritage, Dragosani was first a Wallach (and possibly the only surviving Wallach in the world), second a Romanian, but hardly a Russian at all What were they after all, Gregor Borowitz included, but the settled spume of wave after wave of invaders, sons of Huns and Goths, Slavs and Franks, Mongols and Turks? Of course there’d be the blood of those dogs in Boris Dragosani, too, but mostly he was a Wallach! He could only liken himself to the older man in the one respect that they had both been orphans of sorts; but even in that area the circumstances were very different Borowitz had at least had parents of his own; as a baby he had known theosanihe had been a foundling Found on a doorstep in a Roht up and educated by a rich farmer and landowner; that had been his lot And not a bad one overall

’Well, Boris,’ said Borowitz, drawing his prot��g�� back fro, ’and what do you think of that, eh?’

’Of what?’

’Huh!’ the older man snorted ’Look, I know this place is very restful, and that I’oodness’ sake don’t go to sleep onfree at last of the KGB?’

’Is it really?’

’Yes, really!’ Borowitz rubbed his blunt hands together in satisfaction until they alht say We were only obliged to suffer theer in every pie Well, this pie’s no longer to his taste It has all worked out very well’

’How did you do it?’ (Dragosani knew the other was dying to tell hied, almost as if to play down his own role in the affair - which in itself gave Dragosani to know that the exact opposite was the truth ’Oh, a little of this, a little of that Should I say that I put my job on the line? That I put the branch itself on the line? I gambled, if you like - except that I knew I couldn’t lose’

Then it wasn’t a gaosani ’What, exactly, did you do?’

Borowitz chuckled ’Boris, you kno I hate being exact But yes, I’ll tell you I went to see Brezhnev before the hearing - and I told hi to be’

’Hah!’ it was Dragosani’s turn to snort ’You told hioing to be? What things?’

Borowitz ss!’ he said ’Things which are not yet! I told hi with Nixon would take hith - but that he should prepare for Nixon’s fall three years from nohen it will be shown to the world that he is corrupt I told him that when that is over he will be in a position of so with a bumbler in the White House I told him that in preparation for Areeraph missile sites in the USA, and vice versa -that he should do it while he still had the chance and while Aain, you see He’s keen on it He’s siet too far ahead in that race, and so I promised him a joint space venture, which will come in 1975 As for a whole crowd of Jews and dissidents who’ve been giving hireat many of them - possibly as many as 125,000 - in the next three or four years!

’Oh, don’t look so shocked or disgusted or whatever enify, Boris We’re not barbarians,exterration, kicking or allowing the their arses out of here! Oh yes!

’All of these things I told hiuaranteed them - strictly between Leonid and myself, you understand - if only he’d let ht off my back What were these starch-faced policemen anyway but spies for their boss? And why should they spy on htelse, how could I hope to anisation such as ours - withoverI was doing, who couldn’t possibly understand anything I was doing? They would only laugh, deride what they could not hope to fathoain our foreign adversaries would forge ahead; for make no mistake, Boris, the Americans and the British -yes, and the French and the Chinese, too - they also have their ive me four years, Leonid," I said, "four years free of Yuri Andropov’s e nethose incred­ ible potential you cannot possibly iosani was suitably impressed ’And his reply?’

’He said, "Gregor, old friend, old war-horse, old Coht, you shall have your four years And I shall sit and wait and see to it that your bills are paid, and keep you and your branch in funds enough to run your Volgas and drink your vodka, and I shall watch all of these things you’ve prorateful to you And if in four years they have not come to pass - then I shall have your balls!"’

’And so you’ve put your faith in Vlady’s predictions,’ said Dragosani, nodding ’Are you so sure, then, that this seer of ours is infallible?’ ’Oh, yes!’ answered Borowitz ’He’s al out the secrets of the dead’

’Huh!’ This tiosani was not impressed ’And why then didn’t he predict that mess at the Chateau? Surely he could have foreseen a disaster of that nitude?’

’But he did predict it,’ answered Borowitz, ’in a round­ about way Teeks ago he told ht- and left-hand men And I did He also said I would appoint others - but this tiosani couldn’t conceal his interest ’You have someone in mind?’

Borowitz nodded ’You,’ he answered, ’and perhaps Igor Vlady hiosani at once

’Rivalry does not come into it Your talents are diverse He does not profess to be a necromancer, you cannot read the future The reason thereshould happen to either one of you’

’Yes, and we had two predecessors,’ Dragosani growled ’What were their talents - and did they also start out without rivalry?’

Borowitz sighed ’In the beginning,’ he patiently began to explain, ’when I was first pulling the branch together, I was short of actual effective talent in the ranks: ents, ESPers, were untried Those with real talent - like Vlady, who I’ve had fro, and who improves all the time; and, more recently, like yourself - were too important to tie doith routine administration Ustinov, also with us from the start but purely as an administrator, and later Gerkhov, fitted their positions precisely They had no ESP-talent whatsoever but both seemed to have open minds - difficult to find in Russia these days, not that can stay on the right side o the political fence at the same time - and I had hopes that at least one of them would become as deeply inter­ ested and involved with our work as I am When jealousy intervened and they became rivals, I decided to let them weed theht say But you and Vlady are different kettles of fish entirely I will not permit rivalry between you Put it out of your osani insisted, ’when you are gone one of us will have to take the reins’

’I do not intend to go anywhere,’ said Borowitz ’Not for a very long time By thenwe shall see e shall see’ He fell silent,the river’s sloirl

’Why did Ustinov turn on you?’ the younger et rid of Gerkhov? Surely that were easier, less risky?’

’There were two reason why he couldn’t just remove his rival,’ said Borowitz ’First, he had been suborned by an old enemy of mine - the man you "exa my removal We actually hated each other, me and this old MVD torturer! It was unavoidable: he would kill me or I him Because of this I had Vlady watch him, concentrate on him, read him In his immediate future he read treachery and death The treachery would be directed against or isn’t ed for it to be his

’Second, killing Gerkhov - however skilfully, however carefully avoiding his own involvement in the actual "accidental" death - would not re doeed; in tiain Doubtless I would elevate someone else to the post, probably an ESPer, and what hope would there be for poor Ustinov then? That was his only real problem - ambition

’Anyway, I am a survivor, as you see I used Vlady to foresee what that old pig of a Bolshevik arse-kicker had in store for et uts and see who else was involved Alas, it was Andrei Ustinov I had thought perhaps Andropov and his KGB ht be in on it, too They like me about as lad about that, for they don’t give in very easily But what a world of petty feuding and vendettas we live in, eh, Boris? Why, it’s only two years ago that Leonid Brezhnev hiates!’

Dragosani had been looking thoughtful Tell ,’ he finally said ’When it was all over - that night at the Chateau, I mean - was that why you asked me if it was possible for me to read Ustinov’s corpse? Or rather, the ht have been got at by the newer KGB, as well as your retired old chu like that,’ Borowitz shrugged ’But it doesn’t matter now No, for if they’d been involved at all it would have co; our friend Yuri Andropov would not have been so much at ease I’d have been able to see it in him As it was, he was just a bit pissed off that Leonid has seen fit to haul in his leash a bit’

’Which means he’ll really be after your blood now!’

’No, I don’t think so Not for four years, anyway And if hen it is shown that I’m correct - that is, when Brezhnev r ealises Vlady’s predictions, and so has proof positive of the effectiveness of the branch - not then either! Sowith a bit of luck, we’re free of that pack for good’’Hmm! Well, let’s hope so So, it would seem you’ve been very clever, General But I knew that anyway Now tellme here today?’

’Well, I’ve s in the pot, you know? But we can do that over dinner Natasha is serving fish fresh from the river Trout Strictly forbidden They taste all the better for it!’ He got up, began to lead the way back up the river bank ’Also’ (over his shoulder) ’to advise you that you should now sell that box on wheels and get yourself a decent car A second-hand Volga, I should think Nothing newer than oes with your proo on holiday’

’Holiday?’ It was all co thick and fast now

’Oh, yes, hadn’t I told you? Three weeks at least, on the state I’et any branch work done’

’You’re doing what? Did you say you’re - ’

’Fortifying the place, yes,’ Boroas very un e They have it at Baikonur in Kazakhstan, where they launch the space vehicles - and is our work any less important? Anyway, the work has been approved, starts Friday We’re our own bosses now, you knoithin certain limitations inside the Chateau, anyway When I’m finished we’ll all have passes for access, and no way in without them! But that’s for later Meanwhile there’ll be a lot of work going on, much of which I’ll supervise personally I want the place expanded, opened up, widened out More rooot four years, yes, but they’ll go very quickly First stage of the alterations will take the best part of aon, I’osani was keen now, the tone of his voice eager

’Right, you and one or two others For you it’s a reward You were very good that night With the excep­tion of this hole inwas very successful - oh, and also the loss of poor Gerkhov, of course My one regret is that I had to ask you to take it all the way I kno hateful that must be for you’

’Do you osani found Borowitz’s sudden concern for his sensibilities a bit much - not to ht, on’t talk about it,’ said the other But half-turning and with a rin, he added: ’Anyway, fish tastes better!’

That was more like it ’You sadistic old bastard!’

Borowitz laughed out loud ’That’s what I like about you, Boris You’re just like ed the subject:

’Anyhere will you spend your holiday?’

’Home,’ said the other without hesitation

’Roosani where I was born’

’Don’t you ever go anywhere else?’

’Why should I? I know the place, and I love the people - as , anyway Dragosani is a to, but I’ll find a place outside the town - soes in the hills’

’It irl?’

’No’

’What, then?’

Dragosani grunted, shrugged, but his eyes narrowed to slits Walking in front, his boss didn’t see the look in his face when he answered, ’I don’t know So in the soil, I suppose’