Chapter 35: Cleaning House
Odessa:
Khrushchev stormed into his office near red with rage.
“Everyone out except Roman! Now!”
His aides and retainers filed out leaving only the firmly built 6'1” Roman Shevchenko, personal bodyguard to Nikita Khrushchev behind, merciless eyes scanning for any threats to his charge.
Khrushchev planted his hands on his desk. Seated in-front of him, in the plain olive clothing of a factory worker was Vasyl the First, king of Ukraine. Bound to his chair and tightly gagged, the captive monarch was obviously in bad physical shape; pallid and tired, but he locked eyes with Khrushchev none the less. The Syndicalist leader (and official Prime Minister) paced as he spoke
“ Two hours ago I issued instructions for three first rate divisions of the strategic reserve to move forward to join the defence of this city and throw the Russians back. I've just received word that they are refusing to move until they receive confirmation orders from the King himself, in his capacity as Commander in Chief following the fall of the Hetman.”
The echo of gunshots and falling shells carried through the room, as did the dull drone of aero-engines from the German and Russian bombers flying overhead.
“ With those divisions, we can hold Odessa. If we can hold Odessa, that will buy you time to talk to your inbred Austrian cousins and remind them that nobody wishes to see Russian troops subjugating territory so close to their sphere of influence. I expect you to write a letter to that effect.”
King Vasyl kept his eyes cool and locked as he firmly shook his head.
Khrushchev growled as another wave of explosions rocked the office.
“Do you hear that? That is damned Russian artillery falling on the heads of your damn people. That means that I don't have time to play games here, so pick your words you son of a bitch. Either you issue orders to those divisions and appeal to the Austrian Emperor on my terms or I will gladly put a bullet through your head before making the same request to your damn son.”
With that, Khrushchev nodded for the gag to be removed. Roman gently untied it, noting the small dots of blood where the King's dry and cut lips had seeped crimson into the cloth.
Softly spoken in his olive workman's garb, King Vasyl looked Khrushchev straight in the eye.
“Prime Minister Khrushchev, it is our opinion that your leadership has brought nought but ruin to the people of Ukraine. Accordingly, I declare that your services are no longer required. You will immediately convey to the Russian commanders our desire for a ceasefire, after which you will resign your post as Prime Minister and pray to the God you deny that I may see fit to exercise the royal prerogative of mercy.” His voice shook as he said it, the fear of a man who knew what must come next.
Khrushchev just grunted.
“ I'll make sure the people mourn your death at the hands of the German bombers you blue blooded son of an inbred Austrian whore.” He turned his back on the bound King and glanced towards his bodyguard.
“Put him down Roman.”
The bodyguard stepped forward and unbuckled the heavy leather flap from his holster. The King stared at the ground intoning prayers. Roman withdrew the Nagant revolver, checked the load and begun to screw a suppressor onto the end of the barrel, standard practice for indoor executions.
The King maintained his prayers but Roman could see his arms and legs shaking as the fear and adrenaline asserted themselves.
Roman took a step forward. Raised the revolver, and pulled the trigger.
'Roman' practicing with his Nagant prior to the Ukraine-Russian war.
Khrushchev's body slumped to the floor, a single bullet hole in the side of his head. The bodyguard approached the King and began to cut away at his bonds, smoking revolver slipped back into its holster.
“ Stay calm Majesty, know that you still have friends even in this dark time.”
King Vasyl began to shake in shock at the sudden turnaround in affairs, mouth flopping soundlessly for a moment. But he had seen combat and death before, he managed to rally.
“ Thank you” he muttered as his hands were cut free.
Roman didn't acknowledge the thanks, instead, he knelt down in-front of the king and shook him slightly.
“ Your Majesty, I need you to focus, we don't have long!” Shaking his head slightly, the King steadied and then nodded. Roman made a break for Khrushchev's desk and began pulling open draws and piling the papers on the desk.
“What are you doing?”
The bodyguard stepped over to Khrushchev's bleeding body and began going through the pockets, quickly withdrawing a small key. Within moments, he was trying to thread it into the lock on one of the drawers.
“ Looking for anything that might help us your Majesty. I will be honest, I haven't thought this process out, you must admit we were under time pressure.”
Now steady on his feet, the King managed to to acknowledge the dry humour.
“ Thank you for your timing none the less.”
Roman slipped the drawer open and reviewed the documents inside. 'Top Secret' markers adorned them all and a quick flick through confirmed they were intelligence briefs, including material from a foreign source.
“ You Majesty. Within minutes we're likely to be discovered here, I can get you out of the building but I’m at a loss as to where to go from there. Have you been in communication with anyone or any group that might be able to help us?”
The king stopped for a moment and thought.
“ The 14th Rifle division is loyal, as is the 2nd Cavalry, the commanding officers are good men, good enough to have Khrushchev concerned. They would likely be able to help us.”
Roman shook his head as he began to scrible on a blank piece of paper behind the tower of documents now sitting on the desk.
“ They are miles from here, we need someone closer.”
The King reeled off a few more names, royalist sympathisers, Austrian agents and covert diplomatic contacts. Roman noted them down but continued to shake his head, voice rising and becoming ever more percussive.
“The Russians are practically at the gate, they're the ones we need to be talking to. Majesty I know they must have tried to make contact with you in some way, you must know how to contact them for aid!”
Vasyl now hesitated again, eyes cast to Khrushchev, dead on the ground.
“There are things I can't reveal, even to my savior, but if you follow, I may be able to direct us.”
Roman looked pleadingly at the King, hands outstretched and Palms upturned, the Nagant on the desk. “
Your Majesty, I understand your desire to maintain secrecy, but my only concern is getting you out of here alive. If we can get you to safety, then there is hope for Ukraine. But to do that I need to know who we are seeking and where we are going.” Roman walked to the front of the desk and placed his hand on the King's shoulder. Unthinkable in peace time, right now, it seemed natural.
“ Thousands of men are out there, dying right now in the hope that you might someday save Ukraine. If you die, all of that is for naught. So please, Majesty, for their sake, tell me where to take you.”
Vasyl looked up at his saviour and saw only truth in his eyes.
“ Three blocks from here there is a tailor's shop. The owner, he goes by Pavlo, of average height and dark black hair. He works for the Russians, one of their key agents in this area, he will be able to get us to their lines. Once there, i shall attempt to negotiate a ceasefire.”
Relieved, Roman took a step back and nodded, pacing back to the desk to gather his things.
“Perfect Majesty. Please, grab a coat from the rack and then we must move."
Vasyl turned to the coat rack at the rear of the office and flicked through them to one fit for his size. He had only just settled on an appropriate one when Roman emptied the remaining five rounds in the revolver into his head and back. He slumped to the ground, killed instantly by the first of the five expertly placed shots, royal blood running across the floorboards and mingling with the pool emanating from the falling Khrushchev.
Smiling, the bodyguard stepped over to Khrushchev's fallen corpse and placed the revolver in the quickly cooling hand. After adjusting the body slightly to better match the profile of a man who had shot himself while standing, he stepped back to the desk, lit a match and ignited the pile of secret papers piled upon the desk. They ignited readily and soon puffs of smoke were filling the room.
Job done, the bodyguard exited the office and locked the door securely behind him.
Two men approached, knowing looks on their faces. 'Roman' didn't wait for them to ask,
“It is done” he intoned. Without waiting for a response he pointed at the first man, a balding old fellow in the garb of an administrative assistant.
“ Much of the central leadership is assembled in the makeshift war room on level four. None of them know anything. Wait five minutes and then report that Khrushchev has executed the king and committed suicide, tell them you witnessed the two enter the room alone.” The balding man nodded and headed for the staircase. Roman thus turned to the remaining man. He was obviously a guard, MP28 slung over his shoulder.
“ The royal family are being held downstairs. Any succession would pose a threat to our future efforts in Ukraine. Liquidate them.”
The young guard hardly seemed surprised by the order, if anything, a sadistic grin crossed his face as walked away and slung his weapon into his hands. With any luck, the killings would be blamed on Russian assault troops but that was hardly necessary. For his part, Khrushchev's bodyguard had no intentions of staying to find out. Instead, he quickly glanced at the scribbled list of names and locations he had assembled from Vasyl's yapping. There were at least twenty names on the list, fourteen within Odessa itself. If all went to plan, all would be dead within the week.
Content that the hardest part of the operation was over, Georgian Agent Zviad Gelashvili made his way towards the exit and the distant sound of exploding artillery. With the death of Khrushchev and the destruction of his documents any evidence of Georgian involvement in the revolution had been erased, and without the king the ability of the Russian's to control Ukraine in the short term would be impaired. Now it was time to eliminate as many foreign intelligence assets as possible before returning home... Perhaps the tailors would come first.
As Georgian agents clean slate in Ukraine, the Russian army grinds forward.
Georgian Special Security Services said:
Review RE: Operation 'Poisoned Chalice'
1.0 'Poisoned Chalice' Objectives:
a) Preventing Russian acquisition of a Casus Belli.
b) Hamper Russian post-war plans in Ukraine.
c) Diminish relations between hostile powers.
1.1: Necessity of Objectives:
a) Khrushchev possessed knowledge of our extensive covert involvement in the Ukrainian revolution. Assistance in the detection and prosecution of counter-revolutionary agents and enemies of the state as well as the assistance provided by expeditionary intelligence units ran the risk of providing the Russians with a defensible Casus Belli for intervention in the Caucuses. As such, the deletion of Khrushchev and any and all retained private correspondence was of the utmost importance.
b) While the King may have been ethnically Austrian, there is little doubt that he was able to exercise considerable control over and respect among his people. With the elimination of the unpopular Hetman, there existed the possibility that Russian forces may be able to restore the Ukrainian monarchy with minimal disruption. Further, the king presented a potential rallying point for counter-revolutionary forces and a party with widely recognized powers to sign any potential peace treaty. With Vasyl eliminated, the war will likely drag on to the point of total occupation and Russia will undoubtedly feel the need to administer the territory directly. Any such occupation will generate dissent within Russia, necessitate net fiscal transfers from Russia to Ukraine to finance rebuilding as well as a significant ongoing commitment of Garrison forces.
In combination with predicted Russian 'Russification' policies, it is hoped that any such occupation will provide a galvanising force for a second revolution in the future. In any case, the elimination of the King will weaken Russia in the short term, in keeping with the requirements of operation 'Blood Memory.'
c) The elimination of international intelligence assets in Ukraine under suspicious circumstances, combined with a Russian occupation rather than royal restoration will further strain the fragile bonds between Russia and the Germanic bloc. It has the additional tertiary benefit of hampering efforts by any occupying force to detect, monitor and combat remaining revolutionary elements among the population.
2.0: Operational Evaluation:
a) Success, Khrushchev is dead and his document store purged.
b) Success, ongoing.
c) Unknown, ongoing.
3.0: Further Instructions:
In light of success of this operation, the Supreme Economic Council has authorized the Security Services to proceed with operation 'Blood Memory'.
