The Romanov succession

Apart from the others she stood on the runway hugging her breasts; her long hair blew across her face. The soldiers were drawn up in formations beside their transports, bulky in their Red Army winter uniforms, heavily laden with combat field packs and parachutes. There were no lights; the guns snapped fitfully on the distant border. The sky had cleared during the day but it was still bitter cold. The moonlight was enough to see by; from inside the airplanes came the faint glow of the red lights inside their cabin spaces.

Prince Felix and his air crews stood off to one side at attention, in formation; and Leon’s group had a semblance of military order to it when Alex came across the tarmac to say his good-byes. She was too far away to hear the words they spoke. The soldiers began to climb into the airplanes. She saw Oleg reach out and grasp Alex in a bear hug-a ritual the Baron hardly ever practiced-and then her father shook Alex’s hand. General Savinov gravely drew himself to attention with a faint click of his heels; he lifted his thick right arm in a salute which Alex answered in kind. Then Alex returned to Prince Leon and the old man’s hand, a withered claw, sketched the Orthodox cross against Alex’s forehead and coat. Then Leon drew Alex to him and kissed him on both cheeks. The old Prince was visibly weeping when Alex turned away.

Alex said his good-byes to Cosgrove and the Americans and then walked to the pilots’ formation and spoke briefly to Prince Felix. She saw the flash of Felix’s grin once. The two men exchanged salutes and bear hugs and then Alex was coming toward her.

She was numb. He touched her under the chin with his forefinger, lifting her face. She heard the cough and wheeze of the aircraft engines starting up; beyond Alex’s shoulder she saw old Sergei waiting by the open airplane door in his combat uniform, beaming with incandescent eagerness.

Alex lifted his hands to her shoulders. He said, “I love you,” very quietly so that she hardly heard him against the racket of the airplane engines and then he was striding away from her and she wasn’t sure whether he had kissed her or not. She realized her arms were still folded. She watched the planes swing out onto the field and roll down to the far end of it. A single light came on at the opposite end of the runway to mark their way. She stood without moving anything except her head and eyes while the airplanes gathered speed down the runway and launched themselves upward into the night.

They were running without lights and she lost them very quickly in the sky. Then the drumming of the engines faded and she turned away.

Felix took her arm and guided her inside.

5

Sunrise: a dreary winter gloom and beneath them the birch and fir forests that lay between Leningrad and Moscow, the snow-buried marshes along the Volkhov. They flew at two thousand feet, not hurrying, the aircraft painted with Red Army markings-indistinguishable from dozens of American aircraft supplied to Moscow by Lend-Lease.

Alex moved through the crowded fuselage talking to his men. Most of them sat with their gloved hands wrapped around cups of coffee. They were nervous and trying to hide it but they were uplifted by eagerness.

Off to starboard he could see a great deal of smoke hanging low. Moscow; whether from combat or furnaces he couldn’t tell. The forests ran underneath at a steady clip, here and there a dacha with snow on its roof and an unplowed driveway. There wasn’t much movement on the roads except for the occasional battalion of soldiers on the march. Most of the main roads had been plowed.

The amber light came on and Alex stood up near the rear cargo door. “Hook up.”

They reached up and snapped the ripcord hooks to the twin taut wires that ran the length of the fuselage on either side at shoulder height. “Jump order,” Alex said and the twenty-four men stood up in two columns, turning to face the doorway. Alex nodded to Sergei and the old sergeant spun the wheel valve of the welded cargo door. There was a hiss and then a rush of air; it took both of them to get it open and then the wind was a howling racket in the plane. Alex braced at the door watching the signal light over his shoulder; he caught the brilliance of Sergei’s stare and he nodded gently.

The amber light went out; the green flashed. Solov tapped Alex’s shoulder and he jumped.