“Of course. And it seems Ivan Volkov knows about it as well, or what was that little spat you had with him there? I believe he lost a pair of airships and some good men in that little raid-a bold maneuver, even for him. Well let’s put it this way. Let’s say we all seem to have one thing in common here, you, me, the men I met off that ship, and even Ivan Volkov. We have all signed our names in the register of that inn. Have we not?”
Karpov’s mind spun round and round with that. Yes, that was where Volkov disappeared, in the year 2021, so the man obviously knew about Ilanskiy if he was ever smart enough to put two and two together. But what did Volsky and Fedorov have to do with it? And how did Sergei Kirov learn of Ilanskiy?
“You know everything? About that inn, the stairway there. You were behind that mission to destroy it?”
“Destroy it? Is that what was going on there?”
“That was the result of that engagement. Whether Volkov intended to destroy it or not, I do not know. Are you saying you had no part in that? If not, what was a Soviet airship doing there, ferrying men off my old ship to the scene of the crime?”
Kirov knew the details of that mission. He had given his permission to use Narva, sending the go ahead through Admiral Golovko, and he had been informed of the results in a message from Admiral Volsky. Since frank truth seemed to be the best way forward here, he was forthright again.
“The mission was conceived by your former comrades. Admiral Volsky requested the use of an airship, and I provided one. He has already been of great service to me in return. I think I had better tell you about my stay at that inn, and then everything will be clear between us.”
Kirov continued, relating the strange events of that morning in 1908 when the loud roar lit up the sky with a second sunrise, and a strange young man appeared at his breakfast table-a man named Fedorov. He told him of his curiosity, and how he ventured up to the second floor to satisfy that. And he told him of that fateful whisper in his ear when Fedorov let him go.
“So you see,” he said at last. “That curiosity of mine got me into some real trouble in the past, but not this time. This time it put me here!” He gestured to the setting all around them, the palace, the Kremlin, the Soviet State he now ruled.
“I went back to that inn, and took a few more trips up those stairs. It told me very many things, terrible things, and they were centered on the name of one man-Josef Stalin. I knew who he was, just a minor rabble rouser in the early days of the revolution. The Okhrana was hounding us all, throwing us into the nearest prison on trumped up charges, and I found out which one Stalin was in one day… The rest is history, at least for the moment, unless someone else gets a notion to try their luck on that back stairway.”
“Amazing,” said Karpov. “Yes, now it all makes sense. Removing Stalin opened the door for you here, but you did not count on Ivan Volkov.”
“Nor did I count on meeting that man Fedorov ever again, until I received that message. And to be honest, I did not count on you either, Karpov. They say knowledge is a powerful thing, and I suppose knowing what the days ahead are likely to bring is a good stiff vodka. So it doesn’t surprise me that this man Volkov outmaneuver Denikin, or that you are going to replace Kolchak in due course. The only question I have is whether you think you will be replacing me?”
Karpov smiled at that. “I would never presume such a thing, but we must reach some understanding, you and I. As you say, we seem to be common fated, our names written in the same ledger of time.”
“It looked to me like you had hoped to engineer something quite different at Omsk. Yes?”
“That was… Unfortunate.”
“Yes it was. And now that Volkov has shown you his true nature, you come to me.”
Karpov hardened, knowing this awkward issue would have to be dealt with, but pressed on. “The Free Siberian State needs friends, Mister Secretary. You need friends now as well. I tried to make peace with Volkov because we have the Japanese to worry about at our backside. Volkov had other plans, and he has also chosen to ally himself with Hitler, which is something I would never do. I know the man from my time. He was a petty operative in Russian Naval Intelligence assigned to inspect my ship, and a nuisance. My meeting with him was meant to sound out his thinking and see what he had under his fingernails. Well he has shown me that, hasn’t he, and he got a nasty surprise the other day for getting too pushy. I won’t mince words here. You and I both know that Russia is in grave jeopardy now. Volkov sits atop all that oil and curries alliance with Hitler. At the moment the war is in North Africa, but you and I both know that it will soon be here-and not the back stabbing civil war we have inflicted upon ourselves, but the German Army.”
