Deep Lie Read Free Page A

down the long hallway, which was lit only by every third chandelier at this time of night.
     
    At least he was “captain” again. Her mistake, probably.
     
    He followed her like a puppy, her leather heels clicking on the czarist marble, the rubber soles of his canvas deck shoes squeaking on the hard surface. They walked at least a kilometer, he reckoned, past shut office doors with departmental designations. They saw no one. The ensign turned down a wider hallway and passed through a door marked “Chief Administrative Officer.” Another woman sitting at a desk nodded at her, and she continued through the anteroom without stopping and knocked on the inner door. A voice bade her enter. She opened the door, waited for Helder to enter, followed him into the room, and closed the door gently. A short, fat contra-admiral was sitting behind a large desk, reading a document. The charges, probably.
     
    Helder came to attention and saluted.
     
    “Comrade Admiral, Senior Lieutenant Helder reporting as ordered.”
     
    The admiral looked at him and winced.
     
    “You look like shit,” he said.
     
    “I am very sorry. Comrade Admiral, there was no time…”
     
    “Of course, of course.” The admiral fished an envelope from a desk drawer and handed it to Helder.
     
    “You are to report to the commanding officer of—he hesitated—“a special brigade in Liepaja at once,” he said, then seemed to think better of it.
     
    “Well, perhaps not at once. An hour or so won’t matter.” He reached into a drawer, and removed a printed pad and signed it. He ripped off the page and held it out for the woman, who stepped forward to receive it.
     
    “Take him to the headquarters depot, wake the sergeant, and get him a decent uniform. Find him a bath and a shave, too.” The admiral reached back into the drawer and produced a bottle of vodka and a glass. He poured a stiff drink and offered it to Helder.
     
    “Here, you look as though you need this.”
     
    Helder knocked back the drink and set the glass down on the desk.
     
    “Thank you very much. Comrade Admiral. I wonder if I may ask.. ” “You may not,” the admiral replied.
     
    “Get out of here.”
     
    Apparently, there would be no court martial, and there had been no mention of a reduction in rank. Still. Liepaja.
     
    What the hell did they want with him in Latvia? There were no submarines there. The Baltic Fleet was based in Leningrad and in Baltiisk. in Lithuania, down near the Polish border. Dock officer in Liepaja. Not as bad as Vladivostok, anyway. At least he would be almost at home, which was very unusual. Officers from the republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were invariably assigned to duty in other parts of the Soviet Union. The Politburo distrusted the independent attitudes of these peoples.
     
    They were not Russian enough, and their young men who served in the forces were stationed in places where their Russification could proceed, unimpeded by nationalist sentiment.
     
    Helder saluted the admiral and followed the woman again. An hour and a half later, he was on another plane, shaved, bathed, and newly uniformed. This time there was heating and seats. He grabbed an hour’s sleep before they landed in Liepaja, where a car was waiting, another improvement.
     
    It was ten in the morning, now, and there was time only to ascertain that they were headed toward the sea before he fell asleep again.
     
    He woke as the car lurched to a stop at a heavily fortified gate. His pass and face and that of the driver were carefully examined before they were permitted inside. They drove down a smoothly paved street which descended a hillside overlooking the Baltic. Ahead of them to their left was a sort of tidal lake, joined to the sea by only a narrow passage. They passed buildings which looked newly completed and others still under construction. As they continued down the hill, Helder suddenly realized that what he had thought was the water’s edge was