by Sam Eastland
‘Will that be all, Comrade Stalin?’ Pekkala glanced at the steam curling up from the food on the table.
‘As a matter of fact, it will not. There is something that I need to know.’
‘Yes?’
‘If you had walked into this room fifteen seconds later, I would be dead now. You knew that, but you walked in anyway.’
‘Yes.’
‘Why did you let me live, Pekkala, after all I’ve done to you?’
‘Do you really want the answer, Comrade Stalin?’
There was a long pause. ‘No,’ said Stalin. ‘On second thought, maybe I don’t.’ Without another word, he hung up the phone. For a moment, Stalin looked around his study, at the red velvet curtains, the picture of Lenin on the wall and the old grandfather clock standing silent in the corner, as if to reassure himself that everything was as it should be. Then he opened a drawer in his desk, removed a can of sardines in tomato sauce and peeled back the top with a small metal key. He took off his jacket‚ rolled up his sleeves and tucked a large grey handkerchief into his collar. But before he began his meal, Stalin lifted the headset, with which he had been listening to the conversation in Pekkala’s office. He had waited for the precise moment when they were sitting down to eat before ordering Poskrebychev to place the call. Now, as Stalin heard the sound of cutlery on plates, he slipped one of the greasy, headless sardines into his mouth. While he chewed, he felt the soft bones crush between his teeth. Pausing to lick the tiny, glistening fish scales from his fingertips, Stalin imagined he was there among them in that cosy little room, sharing the warmth and the laughter.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the following:
Walter Donohue, Deborah Rogers, Will Atkinson, Katherine Armstrong, Alex Holroyd, John Grindrod, Lisa Baker, Hannah Griffiths, Mohsen Shah and Christian House.
About the Author
Sam Eastland lives in the US and the UK. He is the grandson of a London police detective.
Also by Sam Eastland
Eye of the Red Tsar
The Red Coffin
Siberian Red
The Red Moth
First published in 2014
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2014
Typeset by Faber and Faber Ltd.
All rights reserved
© Sam Eastland, 2014
Cover images © javarman/Shutterstock; Silas Manhood; Lightspring/Shutterstock
The right of Sam Eastland to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–28147–3
