Siberian Red

of Kolchak’s plan. Under any other circumstances, such an insurrection could not stand a chance against the massed forces of the Soviet Military, which Stalin would not hesitate to use if he felt that his power was threatened. But Kolchak’s timing had placed him in the centre of a chain of events which might soon engulf the whole world. If his prediction of a German invasion was correct, Stalin might not be able to prevent a determined and organised opponent from occupying Siberia. No one would understand this better than Stalin himself, whose own party had come to power in the closing stages of the Great War, when the Tsar’s army was crippled by defeats against Germany. Had the Bolsheviks chosen any other moment, their own uprising might never have succeeded, but with a combination of ruthlessness and popular support, they had taken over the whole country.
    ‘I was right about you,’ said Pekkala. ‘You didn’t come back for these men. You came back for the gold, and the reason they are free is because they are the only ones who knew where to find it. They believed in the oath you swore to them.’
    ‘The oath was to the mission !’ Kolchak howled.
    ‘The mission failed. It’s over.’
    ‘Not yet, Pekkala. I know I can’t bring back the Tsar, but I can use his treasure to build a new country, one that is not founded on the values of his enemies.’
    ‘With yourself as Emperor?’ Before Kolchak had time to answer, Pekkala continued. ‘You may have calculated the cost of this new country in gold bullion, but what about the cost in human life?’
    ‘I will not lie to you,’ replied Kolchak. ‘We have many scores to settle with those who fought against my uncle in the winter of 1918 when he was trying to liberate this country. Even those who stood by and did nothing will receive the punishment they deserve. Thousands will die. Maybe tens of thousands. Numbers do not matter. What matters is that they are swept aside until all that remains of them is a footnote in the history books.’ He gripped Pekkala’s arm. ‘Blood for blood! Those are the words on which the new Siberia will be founded.’
    Pekkala pointed at the trees, where Lavrenov and Tarnowski were still digging. ‘What about those two men who have remained loyal to you? Have they learned about this plan of yours? All I heard them talk about was building mansions for themselves in China. Do they know you are leading them straight back into another war?’
    ‘Not yet,’ admitted Kolchak. ‘After what happened when I tried to explain things to Ryabov . . .’
    ‘You mean you told Ryabov?’
    ‘I tried to!’ Kolchak’s voice rose in frustration. ‘He was the senior officer among the Comitati. I thought I owed it to the man to tell him first. I had imagined that, after so many years in captivity, he would be glad to learn that the thieves who had stolen his freedom would pay for that crime with their lives.’
    ‘What happened instead?’
    ‘He told me he wouldn’t go through with it. He didn’t even hesitate. I explained that he could stay behind in China. I said I didn’t care whether he came or not. But that wasn’t enough for Ryabov. He insisted that enough lives had been lost on account of the gold. I told him it was about more than treasure. It was about eliminating Stalin and the Communists. If there is one thing I have learned in my years of exile it is that the only way to get rid of a monster is to create an even bigger monster. After that, it’s just a matter of seeing who bleeds to death first.’
    ‘And what did Ryabov say to that?’
    ‘He said he would refuse to give up the location of the gold. After all, the Comitati were the only ones who knew where it was, since I had left before they buried it. Ryabov told me that the men in Borodok had learned to trust him. Everything they had lived through, he had also endured. Ryabov was certain they would listen to him before they listened to me.’
    ‘And you believed him?’
    ‘I wasn’t sure, but I couldn’t take the chance that he was right. That night, when he came to the mine, I thought he had come to speak with me‚ perhaps to try and talk me out of it. I didn’t realise that he was there to meet Klenovkin. He didn’t expect to find me outside that cave where I’d been hiding, deep inside the mine. Tarnowski and the others had warned me to stay put, but I couldn’t stand it, cooped up in there like some animal in a cage made out of stone. So I had