The Child Thief

36

For a long while we stared at each other.

Lermentov remained at the far end of the table, both hands on the surface, while I froze with arms outstretched, the pistol aimed at the OGPU policeman.

To one side of the front door a young soldier, still in his coat, grabbed for the rifle slung over his shoulder.

‘Leave it,’ I said. ‘I’ll kill you both.’

The soldier stopped what he was doing and looked over to his superior. Lermentov nodded once, almost in resignation, as he lifted one hand to indicate the soldier should do as instructed. The movement was slow and weary.

‘I didn’t expect to see you again,’ Lermentov said. ‘How did you escape?’

I took a step forward, fighting the instinct to shoot and kill the man who had treated me so badly. ‘Where’re my wife and daughter?’ I took another step, coming into the light cast from the candle, wondering if there was any possibility of a positive outcome to this situation.

‘You won’t shoot me,’ Lermentov said. ‘It would only bring more soldiers, and then what would happen to Natalia and Lara?’

‘They’re here?’

‘Yes.’ He shifted his eyes to the front door and nodded gently, summoning the guard. ‘Bring me his weapon.’

The soldier took a few nervous steps towards me, but I stood firm with the pistol pointed directly at Lermentov’s head. ‘Stay where you are.’

The soldier stopped.

‘What are you going to do, Luka Mikhailovich?’ Lermentov leaned back. ‘Maybe you think you’re going to march me outside and force me to release your wife and daughter?’

‘I could.’ I hadn’t yet hit on a solution for resolving this situation, but Lermentov might have just given me one.

‘Except there’re other soldiers out there—’

‘Two.’

Lermentov shrugged. ‘Well, there aren’t many, but there are more than two, so you’d have to hope none of them was keen enough to try their luck at you – maybe even kill both of us for the glory of the motherland. You know how dedicated to the cause they can be.’ He shook his head. ‘Or even if you did force me to release them, what then? You think you wouldn’t be followed? No, the only way you’re going to see them again is if I allow it.’

‘How do I even know they’re here?’ I tried to harden my resolve. ‘Maybe I should just kill you anyway.’

‘Can you afford to take the risk? After everything you’ve been through to find that little girl, to escape and come back to your family? No, I don’t think you’d throw it all away now. Not if there’s even the slightest chance of reunion. You’ve come too far, Luka; survived too much.’ Lermentov relaxed even more now, there was less of an edge to his voice and I wondered if he was drunk again. ‘Where is she, by the way? The girl?’

‘Safe from you,’ I said without lowering the gun.

‘I have no reason to harm her.’ He nodded to the soldier. ‘Take the weapon, comrade. He won’t resist.’

The soldier reached out slowly and put his hands on the pistol. I gripped it tight, standing firm, but knew Lermentov was right – shooting him would only bring more men, and I was of no use to Natalia and Lara if I was dead.

‘Put it down,’ Lermentov said, ‘and I will allow you to see them.’

I watched him.

‘I swear it.’

I released the pistol, defeated. There was anger in me, but it was tainted with the knowledge that I was beaten. One man could not fight against so large a machine; I had told Viktor as much. I could only hope that Lermentov would make good on his promise and that, up on the hillside, Evgeni and Dimitri would persuade Viktor to turn away and leave.

‘I’ll take that,’ Lermentov held out a hand without standing up, and he waited for the soldier to hand him the weapon. ‘German,’ he said looking at me. ‘Should I ask where it came from?’

I didn’t reply, so Lermentov leaned over and spoke quietly to the soldier without taking his eyes off me. When he was finished, the soldier nodded and left us alone, closing the front door behind him.

It was quiet in the room, no sound from outside.

‘How did you escape?’ Lermentov asked, placing the pistol on the table, close to his right hand. ‘I’ve spoken to your wife so I know what a resourceful man you are, but… well, I have to ask.’

‘You already know, otherwise why are you here?’

‘Oh, you think I was expecting you? No.’ Lermentov opened out his hands. ‘I always come when they find a new village in my area.’

‘But why are you in my house?’

Lermentov shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Maybe it’s because there’s something about you, Luka Mikhailovich, something that stayed with me. You’re a memorable man.’

I stared at the policeman.

‘I can’t imagine how you must be feeling right now,’ he said. ‘You’ve come all this way only to find me waiting for you. It must be very frustrating. But I can’t help admiring your tenacity. You’ve come a long way. What about the other prisoners?’

I didn’t answer.

‘You freed them too?’

There was too much confusion for me to think clearly. Anger, despair, surrender and abandon. I’d failed and all I could do now was wrestle with the muddle of thoughts, try to put the emotions away so I could find a way out of this situation, or at least think of a way to warn Viktor and the others.

‘There’s really nothing you can do,’ Lermentov told me. ‘You might as well sit down.’

I stayed as I was.

‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Fine. You know, you’re either the bravest or the stupidest man I’ve ever met. I think I may have even said that to you once before, have I not?’ He reached for the bottle before pulling over two dented tin cups. He poured horilka into them, indicating that one of them was for me. ‘Your family,’ he said before tipping back his head and drinking the contents in one go.

‘What do you want?’ I asked. ‘If you need workers, take me. Let my wife and daughter go.’

‘I could take you all. I could take everyone in this village.’ Lermentov refilled his cup and raised it in another toast. ‘Your health.’ When he had drunk, he wiped his lips. ‘For God’s sake, why don’t you just sit down?’ He took up the pistol and pointed it at me. ‘Sit.’

I pulled out the chair at the other end of the table and sat down. ‘I thought you dogs don’t believe in God.’

Using one hand, Lermentov poured horilka into his cup and pushed the other one across to me. ‘Drink with me.’

I took the cup and drank the contents, feeling the alcohol burn my throat.

Lermentov nodded his approval and drank, then placed the pistol back on the tabletop. ‘I don’t know what anyone believes in now, Luka Mikhailovich. God, communism, our great leader. It seems like everything’s gone to shit. Everyone’s forgotten who they are and what the damn revolution was for. It’s like we’re barely human any more.’ Lermentov poured another generous measure into his cup. This time he drank without toasting.

I continued to watch him. He was obviously drunk and his reactions would be slow. I reconsidered taking the policeman as a hostage. Lermentov had dissuaded me from it before, made me see danger I hadn’t considered, but now it seemed possible again. I saw no other option.

‘You’d never make it,’ Lermentov said, putting his hand on the weapon. ‘I can see how your mind’s working. You wouldn’t get away. Anyway, there’s no need. I’m going to let you see your wife and daughter.’ He watched for my reaction. ‘I just told that soldier to bring them here.’

‘Why?’

‘You know, you were right about me.’ His words were slow, heavy with alcohol. ‘There was a time back in Sushne when I thought you could see right through me.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘I have a daughter, and that made me hate you so much. I wanted to punish you for everything I felt. I really thought you’d hurt that child. I thought you’d cut her.’

I looked at him, hating him and everything he stood for. ‘That’s no excuse for what you did to me. And you did the same thing to others for no reason.’

‘We live in hard times.’

‘Made harder by men like you.’

Lermentov nodded and looked away to the corner of the room. ‘We do what we have to.’

‘Don’t pretend you have to behave the way you do,’ I said. ‘That’s no excuse for the things you’ve done. You sent Dariya away to work.’

‘So she could be with you.’

‘And you left Kostya in the bell tower to die. You’re—’ ‘And what have you done, Luka Mikhailovich?’ Lermentov raised his voice, the words slurring together. ‘How many wars have you fought? How many men have you murdered and how many villages have you burned? How many times have you forgotten who you are?’ He stopped and took a breath, speaking the next words in a near-whisper. ‘Even good men can do bad things.’

I put my hands on the table and stared at him. ‘I only ever did what I thought was right. What I had to do to survive.’

Lermentov nodded and sat back. ‘The same excuse we all use.’

‘It’s different.’ But I remembered some of the things I’d done and wondered if Lermentov wasn’t right: if we didn’t all just do what we had to do to survive. Even good men can do bad things.

It’s not so different,’ he said. ‘You think I’m any safer from men like me than you are? It’s kulaks now, but how long will it be before we look inwards? No one trusts anyone. The police are no different.’

‘That’s the world you people made,’ I told him, and the silence that followed was interrupted by a knock at the door.

‘You ready?’ Lermentov asked.

‘For what?’ I turned to look as the latch dropped and the door opened. The soldier who stood framed by darkness moved to one side and Natalia stepped into what had been our home.

Seeing her almost took my breath away, and I felt both joy and sadness in my heart. Joy at her presence, but sadness at the thought of what was to come. But for now we looked at each other unable to believe we were together again. For now all that mattered was that moment.

‘Papa,’ Lara said, appearing from behind her mother and running straight to me. She threw her arms around my legs and squeezed them tight as I put down a hand to pull her to me. I held my other hand out to Natalia and she came closer so all three of us were reunited. She put her fingers on my face as if to reassure herself I was really there, and her eyes filled with tears.

‘You found her,’ Lara said. ‘The man told us you found Dariya.’

‘Yes,’ I said, seeing Svetlana come into the room.

Once she was inside, Lermentov ordered the soldier to leave. He saluted the policeman and closed the door behind him.

‘What about Viktor and Petro?’ Natalia asked. ‘Where are they?’

‘Somewhere safe.’ I looked across at Lermentov, who was still sitting behind the table with the pistol in his hand. I couldn’t tell Natalia where Viktor was, not with the policeman there, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth about Petro. This was not the time. Soon she would be taken from me and our family would be fragmented for the last time, so it was better for her to think both her sons were safe from this nightmare. She didn’t need to know.

Lermentov kept his eyes on me and stood. ‘You have until morning,’ he said.

‘Before what?’ I asked.

‘This village is going to be cleared.’ He put the pistol on the table and went to the door, turning to look at me standing with my family. ‘If I were you, I’d gather what you can and leave. Just the four of you.’

‘You’re letting us go?’

‘It would be safer if you leave before I remember what I’m supposed to be. A man like you, with your skills, I think you might even make it to Poland.’

‘Is this a trick?’

‘No.’ The policeman put his hand on the latch and opened the door.

‘But why?’

Lermentov stopped without turning round. ‘Perhaps I forgot who I really am for a while,’ he said. ‘Or maybe it works both ways: maybe even bad men can do good things.’

Then he stepped out into the cold and closed the door behind him.