Grand Alliance (Kirov Series) Read Free Page B

question.”
    “Clear
enough, General,” Popski returned. “Not that I can say as I’ve ever seen kit
like that before. So I’m thinking you’re a special unit, seeing as though
General O’Connor doesn’t even seem to know anything about you. But you had old
Wavell on the blower a while back. What did he say?”
    “Popski,”
said Fedorov urgently, picking up some of what he had been saying. “Don’t
converse. Please stay with me and translate. This is urgent now.”
    “Alright,
alright. Don’t get all hot and bothered. The man is obviously a British serving
officer, and so there should be no question as to whether or not he will do any
fighting, and which side he’s on.”
    “He
said that? He’s willing to engage here? Ask him again. I need to be certain of
this now.”
    “Very
well… General, this man wants to know if you’re prepared to engage here—take up
the good fight, eh? I’m not sure what your orders are, but Wavell must have
given you an earful.”
    “That
he did,” said Kinlan. “Tell him Wavell was just a tad upset, but he’s grateful
we’ve found O’Connor. Yet he doesn’t seem to know much about my unit here…
secret and all, even from the up and ups.” He gave Popski a wink.
    “That
will be the case at the outset,” said Fedorov through Popski. “You are a great
unknown. There will be questions, a good many questions, and it would be wise
if you allowed me to assist you in answering them. You see, only a very few men
alive here know the real truth concerning our presence here, and the operations
we are presently undertaking.”
    “You were
ordered here by the Russian government?”
    “No. We
are acting independently. Our present intention is to try and reverse what is
looking to be a very desperate situation in the Mediterranean at the moment.”
    “Well,
we know how it all turns out,” said Kinlan, still inwardly shaking his head to
hear himself admit the insanity of the thought that this man was telling him
the truth, and this was, indeed, 1941.
    “We
know how it once turned out,” said Fedorov quickly, in halting English, wanting
to make certain Popski got it right. “This time things are different,” he said
again to Popski in Russian. “Tell him that the Germans have taken Gibraltar.”
    “What’s
that you say? Gibraltar?”
    “Yes,”
said Fedorov. “And if you know this history at all, then you know that was
never supposed to happen.”
    “Know
what history?” said Popski.
    “Just
translate what I said! We’ll have time to talk later.”
    Kinlan
could see that Popski was in the dark. He did not really know who this Russian
was—at least who he claimed to be. So he decided to explore this ground
briefly.
    “These
men don’t seem to know the whole story, Captain,” he said. “Have you told them
the same tale you’ve spun out for me?”
    “Only
one man here knows the whole truth—two actually.”
    “Wavell?”
    “No
sir, General Wavell has not yet been briefed.”
    “Is
this man here in the know?” He nodded to Popski.
    “No,”
said Fedorov directly, his eyes carrying a note of caution that he did not wish
to try and put into words.
    Popski
knew what they were saying, but if this was something that Wavell was not even
privy too, then he was in good company, and he did not let any of this bother
him. Yes, this was some secret unit assembling out here. Perhaps that’s why the
LRDG has units down at Siwa, and why Jock Campbell is there now.
    “Look
General, this is the situation as far as I understand it. I was in Alexandria
yesterday, and with Wavell himself, along with Admiral John Tovey, who has been
fully briefed in this matter.”
    “Tovey?”
Kinlan knew the name, and knew Tovey had been the man in charge of Home Fleet
during these years. “Who else knows?” he asked.
    “That
isn’t important now,” said Fedorov. “But what is important is that your unit
here is going to eventually be discovered. You had orders to withdraw to