That wasn’t true. Some were his brothers. Was it worth pulling out his pistol so he could take the bodies and give them proper internments? But how would he move all five? The legion would have to bury them somewhere. Perhaps this spot was as good as any. “Will you bury them when you’ve finished?”
The woman let out a chuckle.
“If I paid you, would you bury them?”
The second man, thinner and hairier than the other, seemed to consider it. “I’ll come back when it’s dark.” He nodded to a hovel in the distance. “I’ll bring my shovel.”
Filip had no way of knowing if the man lied, but under the circumstances, it was the best he could do. He might owe respect to his fallen brothers, but he also owed information to his living brothers, and their needs came first. He handed over his money and hoped for the best. On days like this, he hoped all those promises that he’d heard in church about redemption and resurrection were really true.
***
Kral waved Nadia in when she arrived at his boxcar. A man sat before Kral, his back to her. He wore worn civilian clothing, yet something about the curly brown hair was familiar. Filip?
“You’re sure about those descriptions?” Kral asked.
“Yes, Brother Lieutenant.” Definitely Filip’s voice. “I paid a peasant to bury them. Don’t know if he will, but I didn’t think my horse could carry that many bodies.”
Bodies? What bodies? At least Filip was back, and alive, even if he slumped on the makeshift table. He needed rest, but she doubted he’d get it. Kral was bold, and time wouldn’t improve their situation, so the legion would strike soon.
“You have more information?” Kral looked past Filip to Nadia. Filip didn’t even turn to see who Kral questioned.
“One of the patients told me about shift changes at the train depot,” she said. “If they still use the same schedule, I thought it might be valuable.”
Filip’s head whipped around as she spoke. He must have recognized her voice.
Nadia met his eyes for a moment, then focused on Kral. “I wrote it down for you.” She handed over her notes. The proper thing was to stand erect and focus on the lieutenant until she was dismissed, but her eyes returned to Filip, who stared right back with a puzzled expression on his face.
Kral cleared his throat, and both of them straightened. “Thank you, nurse Sedláková.” He turned to Filip with a raised eyebrow. “Your wife?” Something about that tone—was it disapproval? Surprise that someone like Filip had tied himself to someone like Nadia?
“Yes, Brother Lieutenant.”
“Then I’ll dismiss you both. But, Sedlák, I’ll need you first thing tomorrow morning. Rest up.”
Filip nodded, then hurried to step from the car so he could help her down.
“Thank you,” she said.
He’d taken her hand to help her from the train and didn’t let go of it right way. He looked at their entwined fingers for several long seconds before releasing her. “Sorry, I’m filthy.” He wiped his hand on his clothes, then stopped when he only succeeded in creating poofs of dust on his smock. “Why were you reporting to Kral?”
He wasn’t angry, was he? “The Bolsheviks left a lot of wounded men when they withdrew. I thought that since they attacked from Omsk, they might have useful information. And since Kral needed intelligence badly enough to send you for it, I thought it would be helpful. I wasn’t trying to interfere.”
“I wouldn’t call it interfering. I’d call it helping. Thank you. You’re magnificent.”
Magnificent? All she’d done was ask a few wounded, lonely men the right questions. Her cheeks grew warm. “I had hoped it would keep you safer, somehow. I should have thought of it before Kral sent you.”
“Well, I made it back, and now we have two sources.”
“And the bodies you spoke of?” She was reluctant to bring up the Bolsheviks’ latest victims, but she wanted to know. “Legionnaires?”
“Three were. I’m not sure about the other two. The peasants said they were accused of counterrevolutionary activities, and I suppose scouting for the legion counts.”
“They call anything they don’t like counterrevolutionary. It’s what my family was charged with, and we were simply trying to leave. My father had worked against them in the past, but in Piryatin, we were just trying to survive.” She folded her arms across her chest and tried to ignore the fresh pain that still came whenever she remembered those events.
“What did your father do that they hated him enough to track him down in the Ukraine?”
She could trust Filip, but she still hesitated. “He was one of the tsar’s officials. He supported General Kornilov last August. But the coup was all a misunderstanding, and it was against Kerensky, not against the Bolsheviks.” She sighed. “My father said the Bolsheviks should have thanked him. When Kerensky and Kornilov broke, it left everyone weaker except the Bolsheviks.”
“Maybe they feared his potential to threaten them.”