The Partisan : A Novel (2022) by Worrall Patrick

Author:Worrall, Patrick [Worrall, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

25

MICHAEL OPENED HIS EYES AND SAW NEPTUNE AND DOLPHINS IN gold livery pulling the king’s chariot across the ceiling. Fish with human faces were in the corners, blowing the four winds. On the walls around the bed, knights in armour were performing deeds of valour.

He rose from the bed and went to look in the mirror. That manoeuvre took about half an hour. The maid came in and shrieked when she saw him sitting on the end of the bed, panting like a distance runner. He asked her who the knights were but she didn’t understand so he pointed and she thought he was hallucinating. Then she understood and said, ‘Bogatyr,’ and he said, ‘Bagateer,’ and she wiggled her hand to show that it was close enough. He looked at himself in the mirror and he had two more days of stubble than the last time he’d checked. Yulia and Vassily ran in and made him lie down again.

Later, there was a gramophone in the drawing room downstairs, and they found some ancient jazz records for him. The French windows were open for the air, and the garden outside was wet with rain. He could hear gulls, and a faint white noise in the distance that could have been breakers.

Yulia said: ‘We’re in northern Germany, on the Baltic coast. This place belongs to my mother. It’s a kind of dacha. But I don’t know what the German word is. Vassily?’

‘My German’s rusty. Maybe they don’t have one. How do you say it in English, Mischa?’

‘We don’t really have dachas. Only a few people. The prime minister has one. I think this one might be bigger than his.’

The Russian smiled sheepishly. Then he looked at the carpet. He made an expansive gesture with both hands and said: ‘Well, I will never forgive myself, anyway.’

‘Vassily Andreyevich!’ cried Yulia. ‘We have talked this out a hundred times.’

‘I underestimated Maxim Karpov. I got outwitted by a German harpy.’

‘You don’t know that for sure.’

‘Why else would she invite me for a nightcap at exactly the moment when our Bulgarian friends drop in?’ Vassily lamented.

‘Are you sure they were Bulgarian?’ Yulia asked.

He nodded. ‘Karpov’s favourites. This job was always going to be too risky for Russians. I’m guessing those two clowns were supposed to drag you off somewhere, and if I went tearing after you, that would leave Michael alone with the East Germans. He surprised them, I think. They didn’t expect to find him in your …’

Yulia looked at him, blushing.

‘… immediate vicinity’. Vassily shot a look of theatrical disapproval at their English guest, who wore an air of concentration. Michael had started, twice, when he heard the name Karpov, and he was determined not to do it again.

‘Our charming friend Horst is one of the most feared interrogators in East Germany,’ Vassily went on. ‘A shot of something nice and relaxing in Michael’s upper arm, I am guessing, was the plan. Then a friendly chat. He probably wouldn’t remember anything when he woke up.’

He looked at Michael carefully and added: ‘It is possible they had something rougher in mind.

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