Fiend by Guy N Smith

Author:Guy N Smith
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781907846458
Publisher: Black Hill Books
Published: 2012-04-14T23:00:00+00:00

Andre Keschev talked as he wrote, conversed in deep, nasal tones whilst his pencil scribbled on a pad in front of him. Zinderling watched the other carefully. So pallid, no trace of a flush in the cheeks, the lips colourless too. The bald head was dulled, did not shine like so many hairless craniums did. As though the flesh was merely preserved, did not actually live. Like an unembalmed mummy. The surgeon shuddered; after a lifetime of medical research he would have said it was impossible but here was the proof before his very eyes. The last thing he wanted was to feel that pulse, touch the cold flesh again. There was no point; nothing would have changed.

‘Oborin?’ Andre Keschev crossed something out on his jotter, rewrote it. Half-listening because it wasn’t important to him. Or else he was acting, hiding behind a façade of Politburo business.

‘Your guard yesterday. At the biological research centre.’

‘Oh, yes. I remember. Dead, you say?’

‘Of a highly dangerous and concentrated bacillus. He could only have got it from there. We are concerned for your safety, Comrade General Secretary. I would like to examine you, briefly and without inconveniencing you, just to be sure. I’m sure you understand.’

The pencil stopped writing, the face was uplifted. A second or two whilst that film cleared from the eyes, the lips moving a little before any sound came, like dubbing on an amateur film. ‘That will not be necessary, I am in perfect health. However, the safety equipment at the research centre must be checked. I will ask Comrade Gmyrya to order it.’

‘He has done so already.’ Zinderling wondered if he had been presumptuous in volunteering information. Deputy leaders did not generally discuss such matters with their surgeons.

‘Good.’ Keschev’s eyes were brighter now, unblinking, staring fixedly at the man who sat nervously opposite him in this huge office of accumulated grandeur that only a short time ago had been a tourist attraction. Lenin’s sanctum; the seat of a great leader. ‘I don’t think there is anything else for us to discuss, Comrade Zinderling. I thank you for your concern for my health.’ Those eyes were mocking now. Look at me, you have examined me once. Surely you know. ‘Now, I am extremely busy.’

Aleksandr Zinderling departed with as much speed as dignity would allow, grateful to be back outside where the sun shone warmly. Once that room had been Lenin’s office; now, in a way, it was part of the great man’s mausoleum. A tomb where the dead walked and talked.

A short time later Zinderling returned to the deputy’s office. There was no mistaking the anxiety of Gmyrya’s features; he had aged considerably in the last couple of hours.

‘The headgear, Aleksandr,’ he blurted out the moment the door was closed. ‘The centre have checked and found two faulty ones. One was worn badly in one place as though the material had perished or rubbed against something abrasive. They are investigating it. There was a cut on the other, like a deliberate slit made by a knife.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.