Read Online Snow Wolf by Glenn Meade - Free Book Online Page B

wiping them out in three days of savage hand-to-hand fighting.
Promising mercy to the survivors and their families who had surrendered,
Kraskin instead had them lined up against a wall and shot, showing no mercy to
women and children.
    Enger shrugged and toyed with a pencil on
the desk. "What makes you think I have troubles, Grenady? The project is
going better than I expected."
    Kraskin beamed. "Excellent. I'm glad
to hear it."
    Enger stood up, as if still bothered by
something, and crossed to the broad glass window that looked down onto the vast
complex below.
    The place never ceased to amaze Enger,
even after spending two years there. The Nazis had started work on the
underground complex ten years before, intending it as a V2 factory, but the
Russian advance into eastern Prussia had ended all that. Now it was one of the
most secret and advanced research facilities in East Germany, the entire
operation sited underground, doing away with the need for camouflage above
ground Lebel.
    Beyond the office, glass lights blazed
overhead. The whole area was swamped in daylight. Metal boilers and
air-conditioning conduits ran along the walls for almost half a kilometer. Here
and there men sculked about in white coats.
    Enger looked down at the amazing scene
for several moments before turning back.
    "I left the details you requested in
the file on the desk, Grenady. I trust they meet with your approval?"
    Kraskin picked up the folder. When he had
finished scrutinizing the progress sheets inside he turned back to Enger.
    "You've done well, Sergei. The
German scientists, they seem to be outperforming themselves." Kraskin
grinned. "It's amazing what the threat of being sent to a Gulag will
do."
    He smiled at Enger. "You look like a
man who has the weight of the world on his shoulders. If it's not the project,
what is it? Come, Sergei, let's hear whatever's on your mind."
    Enger hesitated. "But could I be
frank, Grenady? Could I really speak freely?"
    Kraskin laughed. "If you're asking
me are these rooms bugged, the answer is no. I made a point of deeming you a
special case."
    "I'm indebted, Grenady."
    Kraskin waved a hand dismissively and
half smiled. "Nonsense, what are friends for? Say what's on your
mind."
    Enger removed a soiled handkerchief from
his pocket and dabbed his brow. "You've no idea what it's like here. The
constant hum of the machines, the conditioned air. I don't know bow the Germans
stood it. I'm glad my work here is almost at an end."
    As he sucked on his cigarette, Kraskin
said, "So how much longer before your part of the operation is
completed?"
    "The way it's going, a lot earlier
than we thought. Borosky and the other scientists will be arriving in the next
few weeks to link the various projects together."
    "So how much longer?" repeated
Kraskin.
    Enger shrugged. "A month, maybe
sooner. Our initial tests have been very promising. And the test site in the
Caucasus is nearing completion. I've also read our latest reports of the
Americans' progress sent from Moscow. We're going to be ahead of them. Their
explosion in the Pacific was small in comparison to the one we intend. Really
it was only a triggering device the Americans detonated. I can almost guarantee
we'll be the first to explode the actual hydrogen bomb."
    "I'm very pleased to hear that,
Sergei. I'll make sure to mention your diligence in my report."
    Enger paid no heed to Kraskin's
statement. His voice suddenly softened and he said, "Do you think there's
going to be a war, Grenady?"
    Kraskin laughed. Enger looked at him in
amazement. "What's so funny?"
    "is that what's been bothering
you?"
    "It had crossed my mind. You have to
admit it's being talked about."
    Kraskin grinned. "And what makes you
think there's going to be a war, my friend?"
    "Damn it, Grenady, it doesn't take a
genius to figure it out."
    Enger nodded back toward the underground
bunker. "I've been living down there for the past two years like a mole,
not a scientist. Days go by when I don't see