Free Snow Wolf by Glenn Meade

sunlight." He hesitated.
"The way things are between us and the Americans right now, some kind of
conflict looks inevitable. For almost two years now we've been working
frantically on our weapons program. And in the past six months since the
Americans exploded their first device the funds have suddenly become unlimited.
And then there have been the threats. Veiled, but there. To all of us, not just
the German scientists. Work harder, much harder, or there will be
repercussions. There has to be a reason, Grenady. We're racing against time.
Why? Is there something Moscow isn't telling us?"
    Kraskin stood up slowly. "There
won't be a war if the Americans see sense."
    "What does that mean? I'm a
scientist, I deal in facts. Give me facts, Grenady."
    Kraskin swung around and his words had a
savage ring. "The Americans think they own the fucking world. They think
they have some God-given right to control this planet, tell everyone how it
should be run. Well, we're not going to take that shit from them."
    Enger shook his head. "You can't
imagine what the next war would be like. These bombs we're working on, they are
not like the ones the Americans dropped on Japan. They're much more powerful.
Entire cities and their populations can be totally wiped from the map with one
explosion. In Nagasaki and Hiroshima people survived some ten kilometers from
the epicenter. With a thermonuclear explosion big enough, that isn't even a
remote possibility." Enger hesitated. "Besides, I'm not deaf,
Grenady, I may be a thousand miles from Moscow but I still hear the
rumors."
    Kraskin raised his eyes before he drew on
his cigarette. "And what rumors are they?"
    Enger hesitated. "That we're gearing
up for war. That Stalin wants the bomb completed fast, so he can drop it on the
Americans before he dies. They say he's taken to walking alone in the Kremlin
gardens, talking aloud to himself. That his behavior has become more erratic
and unpredictable. They say he trusts no one, not even himself. Doesn't that
worry you?"
    Kraskin looked sternly at Enger.
"And who tells you such things?" Enger said nervously, "They're
simply rumors, Grenady. But everybody here speaks of them."
    Kraskin's voice had a hint of menace.
"I think you'd be wise to ignore such rumors and not doubt Comrade
Stalin's mental health too loudly, my friend. There are people in Moscow who
might hear and start to doubt yours. Statements like that could have you locked
in a rubber room.. Or shoveling salt in a Siberian mine. Or worse."
    "Then just answer me this, They say
the purges are about to start again. That people are being arrested in huge
numbers and shot or sent to the camps. Especially Jews. Is it true?"
    Kraskin looked at Enger but left the
question unanswered. "You're a Party member and a valuable scientist. You
have nothing to fear."
    "I'm Jewish, Grenady. It concerns
me.". Enger's face darkened. "Something's in the air. I can sense it.
Please tell me what's happening." Kraskin said sharply, "I think
you're too long down in that bunker of yours talking to rumor-mongers. You'd do
better to concentrate on your work. Pay no heed to malicious gossip coming from
Moscow."
    There was a hard edge of menace in
Kraskin's voice, all reasonableness gone. He stubbed out his cigarette and
ended the discussion.
    "Come, it's getting late, we'd
better finish the inspection. I want to be out of this godforsaken place and
get back to Berlin."
    The blond-haired man stood at the window
of the apartment on the Kaiserdamm. It was cold outside, a bitter wind sweeping
the street. He heard the rumble of British Army trucks as they passed below the
window, but he didn't look down.
    He turned as the woman came in. She
carried a brownwrapped parcel tied with string and a doctor's black leather
bag. She placed them on the table and went to join him at the window.
    She looked at him.
    He had an air of stillness and of
isolation. Alex Stanski was tall, in his middle thirties, and wore a dark
double-breasted suit,