Crescendo Of Doom Read Online Free

the men away.”
    “Sir?”
    “You heard me! Get them out of here. I need to think this through.”
    Tyrenkov hesitated, ever so briefly, then gave Sergeant Konev a nod to send the squad off. That was something that Karpov did not fail to notice. He was no longer the coiled spring that would enact his commands without a moment’s thought. Yes, when I first told him he was the one to go up those stairs, he had the temerity to quibble the matter with me. I had to suggest I would get a Corporal to go in his place. He put his own fear and desire for self-preservation ahead of my interests, and my orders. Yes, he acquiesced in the end, and did as I ordered, but he hesitated, just as he hesitated again just now, when I told him to dismiss the men.
    A moment later they were alone, and Karpov stood there, realizing Tyrenkov was holding a submachine gun, standing there by the fire with a look on his face that clearly revealed his displeasure.
    “What is it sir? What have we not considered?”
    “We? Don’t get too big for your britches, Tyrenkov. I’m doing the thinking here. Now put that damn machinegun away. I have things to consider, things you cannot possibly understand.”
    “But sir, I thought—”
    “You? Don’t think, Tyrenkov. This involves a good deal more than you may realize. I can’t expect you to grasp it all, but there are factors in play here that I must consider very carefully.”
    Tyrenkov perceived a sea change in Karpov’s mood, and he knew enough of the man to realize that was dangerous. So he did what he knew he should, and assumed the role he had so carefully played out in the past, that of a dutiful servant, the Devil’s Adjutant. He was like a submarine on the surface, lined up on his target, just a witless tramp steamer named Ivan Volkov, but now he could hear the drone of aircraft over head, and he knew it was time to dive, submerge, get beneath the swelling waves of the sea and move in that muffled quiet and darkness, time to lurk. Time to renew the slow, stealthy approach, the stalking of the hunter, who works from the shadows and shuns the light.
    Karpov had told him a great deal in these last few days, confided in him to a degree he never did before. Yet now, for the first time, Tyrenkov could sense that the Admiral looked on him with a wary eye. He could sense the edge of resentment in Karpov’s voice, and the tinge of suspicion. He’s just realized I’m a threat to him, thought Tyrenkov. Now he’s thinking everything through again. I must be very careful here…
    “Volkov.” Karpov spat the name out, the disdain clearly evident in his tone. “So this is what he has planned, is it? He thinks he’s going to swarm in and destroy my entire fleet! In fact, that is exactly what he does, if this fiction is truly based on facts the author became aware of. Is that so, or is this simply what it appears, a story? I wonder just who this fellow is, this Yuri Rudkin. Well, he’s not collecting royalties on my account! I won’t become the fodder that fuels his pen, nor will I allow him to enshrine Ivan Volkov as he does here, making that man the proud victor who tramples the Free Siberian State beneath his boot. No! We’ll do this another way.”
    “Another way sir?”
    “We do it man to man. I was wrong to send you off to settle the matter of my Great Grandfather. I should have gone and handled it myself. It was a small thing, yet it was personal, but this is something quite more. It’s a very big thing, Tyrenkov, and it is also personal. This little war is a duel in heaven, between men from a world you have but barely glimpsed. I can’t expect you to understand, but I have decided that I also can’t order you to be my agent of doom in this matter. I must handle the matter myself.”
    “Yourself? But I thought you said you could not go up to that world any longer, sir. I don’t understand. That was the only reason you are sending me in your place.”
    “Yes, you don’t understand, do