The Charm School

wall took some hits, and Hollis could hear the sound of popping body gases and smelled death. Hollis reached out and pulled an AK-47 toward him, then rolled to the door and fired at some nearby muzzle flashes. “They’re here, at the front of the cabin now.”
    Alevy didn’t seem interested. He remained sitting with his back to the wall. He remarked, “And to add insult to injury, Sam, my people are going to smuggle the Kellums out. They’ll get teaching positions in our American Charm School. They’re quite bright as it turns out and willing to cooperate in exchange for not being thrown in the Moskva.”
    Hollis reloaded another magazine. “What a fucking mess. The people you were supposed to rescue here are going to die—”
    “Right. Quite painless though. Sarin is quick.”
    “And Lisa and I were supposed to die. And Burov the sadist lives, and the fucking Kellums live, and Surikov and his granddaughter who risked their lives for us are stuck here, and Dodson whom you all wanted to kill to shut him up is going from a living death here to another living death in your goddamned new Charm School—”
    “That’s about it. Except taking Dodson was your idea. I wanted the general. Anyway, Charlie Banks and his crowd are quite pleased. Your people are sort of pleased because the honor of the missing airmen remains unblighted. It would be hard to explain all those traitors—”
    “They weren’t—”
    “They
were
. And needless to say, the CIA got what it wanted.”
    “And you? Did you get what
you
wanted, Seth?”
    “I guess. Maybe I just got what I had coming.”
    Hollis looked at Alevy in the dim light. “Do you understand how monstrous this is?”
    “Absolutely. But do you realize how brilliant it is? This is a classic turnaround of a massive espionage offensive against us into an unmitigated disaster for them. We’ve bought a little more time for the fat, decadent West to consume more designer jeans, play at democracy, talk about peace and understanding, write diet books—”
    Hollis sprang across the room and knocked Alevy over. He pinned his shoulders against the floor and put his face near Alevy’s. “Do you know what you’ve
done
? Has everyone in Washington gone stark fucking crazy?”
    Alevy shouted, “They’re scared shitless is what they are! Get off your high horse, General Hollis. This is bottom-line survival.” He pushed Hollis away and sat up.
    “Then you’re all missing the goddamned point!” Hollis shouted, “We can’t survive by becoming like them. People like Surikov and his granddaughter… we’re their light in this darkness… don’t you understand, Seth? I’ve just gone through two fucking weeks of totalitarianism. You and I lived here for two years, Seth. Jesus Christ, man, haven’t you learned anything—?”
    Alevy pulled his pistol and pointed it at Hollis’ face. “I don’t want a goddamned lecture. I know what the hell I did. At least admit that it had to be done. Or just shut up.”
    Hollis lay prone on the floor and listened to the gunfire getting closer. He could hear men shouting orders and guessed they were getting their nerve up for the final assault across the open space between the road and the cabin. He took a deep breath and said to Alevy, “All right… I understand.” He thought of Jane Landis, then of Tim Landis and their little boy. He recalled the quiet suffering of General Austin, the understated bravery of Lewis Poole, and the tragedy of all the Americans he’d met here and their Russian wives and their children. He remembered the female doctor who had checked him over and remembered the other political prisoners who were victims of this madness. He even had a passing thought about the students, especially those who had raised their voices at the VFW hall. And there were the five or six hundred Border Guards, who to some extent were blameless, and there was Burov’s wife, his mother, and his daughter. “Damn it!”
    Alevy threw away his pistol and grabbed one of the AK-47’s from the floor. He stood at the window and fired a continuous stream of bullets until the rifle overheated and jammed. He threw it down and stooped for another rifle as a burst of bullets tore at the shards of glass and window frame.
    Hollis picked up the remaining AK-47 and moved to the window that faced away from the gunfire. He raised the butt of the rifle and smashed away the glass and wood.
    Alevy looked up at him. “Where are you