Kirov II: Cauldron Of Fire (Kirov Series) Read Online Free Page A

this ship fired no weapon at Halifax
Harbor.”
    He paused,
filling his shot glass and that of the Captain one more time. “We stopped at
the Azores on the way over… Madalena Harbor was destroyed as well, and I think
by a very low yield weapon. I put men ashore on Pico Island for fresh water,
but we found little else. Some of the buildings were still sitting there
untouched by any sign of war. But there were no people—just bones where they
should have been. Just bones…”
    He drank.
    “So I
thought we would have a look at the Med. Yes, I know there are too many targets
there to think anything survived if they were willing to spend a missile on a
distant island outpost like Madalena Harbor, but one gets curious, yes? You
were below decks, and did not see much of this, but as we approached the Straits
of Gibraltar I thought, or perhaps I hoped we might see the lights of Tangier
glittering on the coastline, yet it was black as coal. Once we got closer we
encountered a heavy fog, thick as good borscht, and it was deathly quiet through
the strait. Gibraltar was burned and smashed—almost beyond recognition. We
sailed on all night, but the fog was still on the sea when dawn came, dull and
gray. We skirted the North African coast for a while. Oran and Algiers were
devastated—who knows why?” He held up a hand, inexplicably.
    “I turned north
and sailed up into the Balearic Sea. I don’t know what I thought to see there
after what we had already encountered. Perhaps it was only to confirm my worst
misgivings….Then again, I have always been fond of the south coast of France. I
thought, one day, that I might buy a cottage there and grow grapes for wine.
But no more. Nothing is growing there now…” His voice trailed off, and he
tightened his lips on the edge of the shot glass. The Captain drank with him,
slower now, to savor the lingering taste of the vodka and chase the bile from
his throat.
    “Did we do
all this?” Volsky waved his arm at unseen shores as he spoke. “No. We did not.
We only made it possible for them to do it—all the other generals and
admirals and prime ministers and presidents. We showed them what power was, and
they wanted it for themselves as badly as you wanted it, Karpov. So now we see
the result. In truth, I cannot blame you any more than I blame myself, and all
we have before us now is simply a matter of survival.”
    Karpov
nodded, and the two men sat in the quiet for a time. Then he looked up at the
Admiral, and blinked. Something in his face spoke more than he was capable of
at that moment, and Volsky was wise enough to see it—the sorrow, the anguish,
and the shame.
    “I want to
have a look at Rome before we turn and head back out into the Atlantic,” said
Volsky. “I thought we might transit the Aegean and head for Sevastopol, but I
see no point in that now. If there is still anything living on this earth it
will likely be in the southern latitudes. We’ll skirt the Italian coast, then
head west again through the Tyrrhenian Sea. After that, who knows.”
    “That
island, Admiral?” Karpov managed a wan smile.
    “That island.”
    Volsky stood
and went to the door, looking over his shoulder as he went with one last word.
“I’ll have the guard escort you back to the brig now. It’s best that the men
see the consequences of what you have done, and it’s also best if you bear it
like a man. In due course I’ll have you transferred to your quarters, and from
there I suppose the rest is up to you.”
    Before he
left he poured his Captain one last shot of Vodka. Then he tipped his hat
lightly and reached for the door.
    “Admiral….”
    Volsky
looked over his shoulder again.
    “I was wrong…
I… I made a stupid mistake.”
    Volsky
nodded gravely. It was probably as close as Karpov could come at the moment to
a genuine realization of his wrongdoing, and an apology, but the Admiral said
nothing more.

Chapter 2
     
    Now the Admiral was on the aft
quarter, walking with memories