Elvira Baryakina - The Prince of the Soviets

 “It’s going to be noisy,” Friedrich told Klim. “Don’t forget to put in your earplugs. You’ll find them in the pocket in the sides of your seat. And if you get sick, use the paper bags.”

Tata and Kitty sat in an armchair together and spent a long time fiddling with the belt, trying to work out how to fasten it.

“Aren’t you afraid of flying?” asked Tata.

Kitty shook her head. “No.”

Lucky thing, thought Klim, sighing to himself. He was struggling to suppress a sense of dread. He had read so many reports of plane crashes in the papers!

The door flew open, and another passenger came on board.

“Oh, I see I won’t be flying alone!” he exclaimed in English, catching sight of Klim.

It was Oscar Reich. He was red in the face, his coat was undone, and his hat askew.

“I’m delighted to see you,” he said to Klim. “Are these your children? They’ll have a rough time of it, I’m afraid. These planes bounce you about terribly. I would never get into a plane for the life of me if I didn’t have urgent business to attend to.”

He put his briefcase under the seat and banged on the wall that separated the cabin from the cockpit. “Hey, Friedrich! Have you had the heating fixed? I almost froze to death last time I flew with you.”

A man with a shaved head appeared in the doorway.

“Yefim, come in and sit down,” Oscar patted the seat next to him. “You and I are flying with these young ladies today.”

Klim forced himself to shake both men by the hand. What bad luck to have to fly with Reich for company! He was glad, at least, that it would be noisy during the flight, so there would be no need for conversation.

“Ready everyone?” called Friedrich from the cockpit. “Off we go then!”

5

They reached Smolensk without mishap, not counting a sudden fit of tears from Tata, who had remembered that she had forgotten her father’s ashtray at home and that she had not said goodbye to her cat, Pussinboots. It had suddenly hit her that she was leaving Moscow forever and would never be able to go back home.

When the plane took off again, it began to bounce about horribly, and Tata was immediately sick. Kitty was frightened and began to cry, and Klim, at a loss as to what to do, tried to calm first one and then the other.

Oscar and Yefim screwed up their faces and moved their legs away squeamishly from the remains of Tata’s breakfast.

During refueling at Kaunas, Tata hid in the ladies’ lavatory, declaring that she would not get back into the plane for anything in the world. Klim was forced to carry her out—to the horror of the polite Lithuanian ladies in the queue.

“I’ve been kidnapped!” Tata yelled, bucking like a crazed calf.

Klim set her down on the ground. “Tata, look at me. Please, for goodness’ sake, don’t make my life even more complicated! I can’t leave you here. We’ve already crossed the border. If Kitty and I leave without you, where would you go?”

“I hate airplanes,” sobbed Tata.

Klim was sorely tempted to leave her with the Lithuanians. He understood the problem: Tata had had a difficult childhood, she had lost her mother, and now, she was flying to some unknown destination with a stranger—and a stranger she didn’t trust, at that.

Perhaps a Soviet orphanage would not have been such a bad option after all for Tata, he thought.

He took her hands and squeezed them tight. “I owe a huge debt to your mother. I promise I’ll look after you just as I look after Kitty. Just as long as you trust me, everything will be all right.”

Klim had already enough on his plate. There was a dull ache in his chest, and he was afraid it might be something serious. He was not enjoying being bounced around for hours in a small plane side by side with his worst enemy. And on top of that, only the day before, he had been held in a cell and subjected to torture. But none of this was likely to make Tata come to her senses. It was useless to expect any compassion or understanding from her.

She only calmed down eventually when Klim reminded her that it was a Young Pioneer’s duty to be strong and brave at all times.

“We’re going to Germany now,” he said sternly. “A capitalist country. We might face all sorts of dangers and deliberate provocations. I’m entrusting Kitty to your care. Whatever happens, you must make sure you get her to safety.”

Tata dried her eyes and nodded quickly. “All right. I understand.”

Klim gave Tata five Deutsche marks and a piece of paper with Seibert’s address written on it. “Show this to no one. This is the address of our coconspirators’ apartment. You can always go to them if you need help. Are you ready for the fight?”

“Always prepared!” said Tata, giving the Pioneer salute.

It is better this way, thought Klim. If he had a heart attack, at least the girls would be able to find their way to Nina.

6

A brief item had appeared in the Berliner Tageblatt stating that the timber being used to build German railway sleepers was produced in Soviet labor camps. Not long after this, a cable from Seibert had arrived in Moscow: “Stop stalling on counter-propaganda. Questions being asked about the provenance of Russian timber. Unforeseen consequences likely.”

Gritting his teeth, Drachenblut had allocated an additional budget of ten thousand dollars and ordered Oscar Reich to fly out to Germany immediately.

Oscar had hoped to get to Berlin before nightfall, but on arrival in Konigsberg, Friedrich announced that his plane had developed engine noise, so they would be taken on by a German plane that was flying out the next morning.

Klim and the two girls set off for the airport hotel while Oscar and Yefim went to the Soviet Consulate.

All this time, Oscar’s thoughts had been dwelling constantly on Nina. How could some commoner have managed to trick him into believing she was a baroness? He should have handed her over to the OGPU straight away instead of putting himself at risk, creating a jealous scene. If Nina had been just a little stronger, she could have smashed his skull with that starter handle.

It was clear from Elkin’s testimony that Nina Kupina was in Germany. What if she decided to go to the press and tell the newspapers about the private life of the famous Mr. Reich? It was essential he found Nina and got rid of her!

But it was no easy task to locate a young lady who had arrived in Germany on a false passport. In Moscow, all you had to do was go into some establishment and show your OGPU credentials, and immediately, you would find out everything you needed to know. But in Berlin, it was difficult even getting a list of guests from a hotel. And how many such hotels were there in this city with its population of millions?

The Soviet consul, a fussy, stout man with dark eyebrows, took Oscar and Yefim into an office with pale wooden walls.

“Take a look at the message that just came in,” he said.

He handed Oscar a diplomatic cable stating that on November 13, 1928, a dangerous criminal by the name of Klim Rogov—the husband and accomplice of Nina Kupina—had fled the USSR.

“But we were on the same plane with him!” cried Oscar and began to read the cable aloud: “Rogov is to be captured immediately and returned to the USSR. If it is impossible to take him alive, destroy him. His departure will demonstrate our utter defeat and constitute a serious blow to the reputation of the Soviet Union. Deploy all possible means to achieve this mission.”

“Our plane has broken down—otherwise, we could have ordered Friedrich to turn back,” muttered Yefim and turned to the consul. “We need to arrest Rogov immediately. How many free men do you have?”

The consul shook his head. “There’s no one I can call on.”

“There’ll be no end of trouble with the kids,” said Oscar, frowning. “Let’s get to Germany and seize him there. He’ll probably go straight to Kupina, so we can take the two of them together. Wire the envoy’s office in Berlin and have them send their men to the airport. Then we’ll take Kupina and Rogov to Hamburg and put them on a Soviet ship. They won’t get away from us after that.”

1

The plane circled the new airport of Tempelhof. Gazing out of the window, Klim saw a building stretching the length of the airfield and dozens of planes—some modern and some veteran fighter planes from the last war.

As it landed, the plane sped past aircraft hangars and towers with flags. When the plane’s engine had stopped, two servicemen in dark blue boiler suits wheeled up a sloping gangway.

Klim jumped down to the ground and took a deep breath of the cold air. Thank heaven they had arrived!

The freight handlers began to take the baggage out of the hold and load it onto trolleys.

“Goodbye!” Oscar waved to Klim and hurried toward the large glass doors of the airport building.

Yefim set off at a run, following him.

Klim took both girls by the hand. “How are you feeling?”

The girls were exhausted from the journey, but nonetheless, curiosity got the better of them. Tata stared wide-eyed at the technicians driving about the landing strip on motorized carts.

Klim went through passport control, and a customs officer checked his baggage.

“All in order, sir. Welcome to Berlin!”

Klim found a stand with a plan of the airport and located the taxi rank on the map.

“Here are some of my fellow Russians!” the exclamation came from a tall, fair-haired young man in a thick sweater and quilted pants who was bearing down on them. “Delighted to meet you. I’m Sergei. Can I take you anywhere? I have a taxi waiting just outside.” Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed Klim’s suitcases. “Come on. It’s just a step away. Are you from Moscow? I’m from Suzdal myself. My parents brought me to Berlin when I was just a little boy.”

Chatting and laughing, Sergei led them through to an empty passage between two hangars where a small yellow van stood waiting. It was emblazoned with a picture of a pike with staring eyes and the inscription “Fresh Fish” in Russian and German. Beside it stood a burly man with gold teeth, holding a tyre lever.

Klim looked around in alarm. This van was clearly not a taxi. Where had they been taken? Who were these people? Thieves?

Sergei, quite unperturbed, was securing Klim’s cases to the baggage rack.

“Take a seat, Mr. Rogov, please. Let’s go!”

And how on earth did this man know his name?

Klim picked up Kitty. “Tata, we’re going!”

But they had barely taken a step when Yefim came around the corner of one of the hangars, holding a revolver.

“Get into the car this minute!” he ordered quietly.

The two girls set up a terrified wail.

Sergei and Yefim sat Klim between them on the back seat. Tata was ordered to take Kitty and sit in the front next to the driver with the gold teeth.

“Where does Kupina live?” Sergei asked Klim.

Klim kept his head down and said nothing.

“Do you think we’re here to play games with you?” Sergei grabbed Klim by the shirtfront.

Klim pulled away, and a scuffle broke out. The children began to wail even louder. Then Yefim took a brass knuckleduster from his pocket and dealt Klim a blow to the back of the head, knocking him out.

2

Tata huddled in close to Kitty’s shoulder, which was shaking with sobs.

Who were their abductors? Tata thought. White Russian émigrés? Surely it had to be! Nobody else would be capable of such a vile act!

The van kept circling the streets aimlessly while the gangsters argued about whether they should head to some “envoy’s office” or drive to Hamburg.

Once, Tata plucked up the courage to look around. Uncle Klim was lying unconscious at the feet of their abductors. Good grief! Maybe he was dead already?

“How on earth will we find out Kupina’s address now?” Sergei asked Yefim angrily. “Who told you to knock him on the head?”

“You started it with your questions!”

“Quiet!” snapped the driver. “Make up your minds where we’re going.”

The abductors were silent for a minute.

“Let’s make for Hamburg,” said Yefim. “We’ll hand Rogov in there and work out what to do after that. In any case, we can’t take these kids into the envoy’s office. There’ll be no end of fuss.”

Trying to appear casual, Tata put out a hand to touch the lock on the door.