The Charm School

by Nelson DeMille

  Hollis said to Poole, “I am not judging you. I’m only reminding you that you’ve all violated the Code of Conduct for prisoners of war by collaborating with the enemy. And, yes, so did I to an extent. As long as we all understand that, then we can move on to our next obligation under Article III of the Code, which is to escape. I don’t think two men in two decades is a very impressive effort.”

  Poole’s face reddened. “Colonel, I don’t think you can say—”

  “The colonel is right,” Austin interrupted. “The Russians have long ago eliminated those of us who refused to collaborate, and others of us have committed suicide, actively or passively. What you see left here, Colonel Hollis and Ms. Rhodes, are the traitors. That’s why we’re alive. And why Ernie Simms among others is dead. Correct, Colonel?”

  “Correct, General.”

  Poole stood. “Colonel, let me quote you some rules that apply to POWs. First—‘Even as a PO W, you continue to be of special concern to the United States; you will not be forgotten.’ Two—‘Every available national means will be employed to establish contact with you, to support you, and to gain your release.’” Poole said to Hollis, “Look me in the eye, Colonel, and tell me that my government has lived up to its obligation to us. Tell me we are not forgotten and forsaken. Tell me they don’t know we are here.”

  Hollis looked Poole in the eye. “If they knew you were here, Commander, they would have done something too get you out.”

  Poole stared at Hollis, then drew a deep breath. “Then let me tell you what we are doing here in lieu of escape. We sabotage the curriculum at every opportunity. And we justify staying alive by saying that if we could just live long enough to get one of us out, we could warn our country about this place. And there is some truth to that, Colonel. Because, as you see, this is not just a POW camp, and other rules prevail here. We’ve tried to maintain our integrity and our honor as officers. I can tell you for instance that not one man here has ever been found to be a stool pigeon. We can trust one another, and we’ve never accepted the friendship of a single Russian. It’s a very bizarre situation, and we try to deal with it as it evolves. General Austin has formed an ethics committee for that purpose.” Poole looked at Hollis and Lisa. “I hope you’re not here twenty years, but if you are, I hope you can maintain your own sense of duty and honor.”

  Hollis said, “You mean you’d like to see me eat my words.”

  “That’s right,” Poole replied tersely.

  Hollis stood. “Well, perhaps I will.”

  Lisa stood also and addressed Poole and Austin. “I… think from what I see and hear that you’ve done the best you could.”

  General Austin stood. “Well, we know we haven’t. And your friend knows that too.” He looked at Hollis and said, “The fall of Vietnam, Watergate, the surrender of the Pueblo, Iran-Contra, the shameful episode of the hostages in Iran, Lebanon, and on and on. We’ve witnessed from afar nearly twenty years of American disasters and humiliations. But we haven’t used that to justify our own shameful and weak behavior.”

  Hollis replied, “You don’t have to justify yourselves to me or to anyone except a duly constituted board of inquiry should you ever get home.”

  Austin’s mind seemed to have wandered, and Hollis wondered if he’d heard him. Then Austin said, “Home. You know… we all saw on tape the POWs coming home from Vietnam. We saw men we knew. Some of us even saw our wives and families who were there to unselfishly share the joy of other families whom they’d come to know through common grief.” Austin looked from Hollis to Lisa. “I don’t think there was a worse torture the Russians could have devised for us than to show us that.”

  Lisa turned and left quickly.

  Hollis walked toward the door.

  Poole said, “We also read about the continuing efforts to locate POWs, mostly by private groups and families, I should add, not our government. Do you know how frustrating that is for us? And why hasn’t anyone been clever enough to make some deductions? SAM missiles for American pilots. My God, the Russians and North Vietnamese were allies. How smart do you have to be to figure it out? Why hasn’t anyone thought we might be here? In Russia!” Poole studied Hollis’ face. “Or have they figured it out? And is Washington too worried about the repercussions to act? Is that it? Colonel?”

  “I can’t answer any of those questions,” Hollis replied, then added, “But you have my personal word that I will do everything in my power to get you all home. Good evening, General, Commander.” Hollis took the flashlight and left.

  He found Lisa on the path and saw she had been crying. He took her arm, and they picked their way down the dark log trail. They came back to the main road and turned right, back toward their cottage.

  Lisa composed herself and said, “You were cruel.”

  “I know that.”

  “But, why… how could you be so hard on men who have suffered so much?”

  “I can’t endorse what they’ve done.”

  “I don’t understand you. I don’t understand your code or your—”

  “It’s not necessary that you do. That’s my world, not yours.”

  “Damn you. Your world got me into this.”

  “No. The KGB got you into this.” He added, “There are a lot of wrongs to be righted here, Lisa. I’m not judge and jury, but I’m damned sure a witness. I know what I see and I know I’m not one of the criminals here. You keep that in mind.”

  She looked at him, and it came to her that he was very upset by the meeting. She said, “You saw yourself in their place, didn’t you? They were your people once. It’s not anger and contempt you feel for them. It’s pity, so deep you can’t comprehend it. Is that it?”

  He nodded. “Yes, that’s it.” He put his arm around her shoulder. “I can’t give them hope, Lisa. That would be crueler than anything else I could say to them. They understand that.”

  She moved closer to him. “Ernie Simms is dead and buried, Sam. Now you have to find peace.”

  35

  Halloween day dawned cold and frosty. Hollis got out of bed and went into the bathroom, a prefab unit usually used in apartment houses but now attached to their cottage off the bedroom. The tap water was barely warm, and Hollis guessed the propane water heater was having problems again.

  Lisa rose and put on a quilted robe over her nightgown. She went into the living room and built a fire, then into the galley kitchen and made coffee in an electric pot.

  Hollis shaved, showered, and dressed in one of the four warm-up suits he had been issued. He joined Lisa in the kitchen, and they took their coffee mugs to the living room and sat before the fire.

  Lisa said, “Tomorrow it’s your turn to do coffee and fire.”

  “I know.”

  “Did you sleep well?”

  “I suppose.”

  She asked, “Does it bother you that we sleep together without sex?”

  “No. But your feet are cold.”

  “Can we get a wood stove for this place?”

  “I don’t plan on staying.”

  “That’s right.”

  “I was thinking,” she said, “as primitive as this place is, it’s a palace compared to a peasant’s izba. We have an electric coffeepot, toaster, and hot plate, a refrigerator, indoor plumbing, hot water—”

  “Tepid water.”

  “Again?”

  “I’ll check it out later.”

  “It’s good to have a man around the house.”

  “To fix things.”

  “I’m sorry about the sex.”

  “Me too. But to be perfectly frank, I’m not much in the mood either. I think this place has suppressed my libido.”

  She looked at him with concern. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes. I don’t feel it anymore.”

  She put her cup on the coffee table. “Are you sure?”

  “Pretty sure.”

  She thought a moment. “Well… they can’t do that to us.”

  “It’s all right.”

&
nbsp; “No, it’s not.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t we go… back to bed?”

  “I’m not sure I can do you much good.”

  “You’ll be fine, Sam.”

  “Well… all right.” He stood, and they went back into the bedroom. Hollis looked at the icon, now hanging over the double bed. He said, “Is that an appropriate place for a religious painting?”

  “Oh, yes. The Russians put them anywhere. Like Catholics put crucifixes over their beds.”

  “If you say so.” He looked at the bed, and they both stood beside it awkwardly as if it were their first time. Lisa slipped off her robe, then standing beside the electric heater, pulled her nightgown over her head and laid it in front of the heater. She stood naked, the bright orange glow of the electric bars reflecting off her white skin.

  Hollis got out of his warm-up suit, and they embraced. He kissed her on the lips, then the breasts, then knelt and ran his tongue over her belly, down to her pubic hair, and touched his tongue to her labia.

  “Oooooh… my word… .” She knelt in front of him and they fondled each other beside the electric warmth. She said, “This guy’s as big as a billy club. You’re all right.”

  “What a relief.”

  She looked at him sternly. “You conned me out of my clothes.”

  “Not me.”

  They rose together and lay in the heavily quilted bed. Hollis got on top of her, and she guided him in, then wrapped her legs around his back. She whispered, “Sam… it was silly of me… this is what I needed… your love.”

  “This is all we’ve got here, Lisa.”

  “Sam, I want to live. We need more time together… it’s too soon to have it end.”

  “Yes, it would be too soon. I love you, Lisa. Remember that.”

  They moved slowly, unhurriedly, like people who know they have many hours to themselves but not many more days, like servicemen on leave from a war, as Hollis recalled, when time was measured in minutes, and each minute was full of self-awareness and small pleasures never before experienced or appreciated.

  Lisa’s hands ran smoothly and slowly along his neck and shoulders down to the small of his back, then up his spine. Hollis cupped his hands under her buttocks and brought her up as he forced his groin down deeper into her. He came and his spasm brought her to climax.

  They lay still, listening to the absolute quiet of the room, their breathing, and the blood pounding in their ears.

  Lisa held him tight. “Our victory.”

  * * *

  They jogged along the main road. Other joggers, mostly men, passed them in either direction. Everyone waved. Lisa said, “Friendly group. Just like Sea Cliff on a Saturday morning. But where are the women?”

  “Russian women don’t jog, I guess.”

  “Right. I never saw one in Moscow.”

  They turned right on the main road and walked a few hundred meters. Lisa asked, “Where are we going?”

  “To call on Burov at home.”

  “You can go without me.” She turned, but he took her arm. Lisa said, “I will not call on that man’s home.”

  “He’s asked us to stop by.”

  “I don’t care. Don’t you understand? Try to put yourself in my place, as a woman. Do you want me to be graphic? He stood there in that cell while the matron gave me a very thorough search.”

  Hollis nodded. “I understand. I’ll tell him you’re not feeling well.”

  “Why do you want to go there?”

  “I have a job to do. I have to see whatever I can see.”

  “But for what reason?”

  “I don’t know exactly, but I don’t want to be unprepared for whatever is going to happen.”

  Lisa stayed silent a moment, then turned and walked toward Burov’s house.

  The main road ended at a wide turnaround on the far side of which was a guardhouse, a tall razor-wire fence, and a wire gate. Two KGB Border Guards watched them approach. One of them unslung his rifle and cradled it under his arm. “Stoi!”

  Hollis and Lisa stopped and one of the guards walked toward them. “Go away!” he said in English. “Go!”

  Hollis said in Russian, “We have an appointment with Colonel Burov. I am Colonel Hollis.”

  The guard looked them up and down, then said in Russian, “Are you the new Americans?”

  “That’s right. Though my Russian is somewhat better than yours.”

  The guard glared at him, then turned and went back to the guardhouse, where he made a telephone call. He motioned to Hollis and Lisa, and they passed through the gates onto a blacktopped path, just wide enough for a vehicle. Adjacent to the guardhouse was a kennel where six German shepherds roamed inside a wire mesh enclosure. The dogs immediately began barking and pawing at the mesh.

  Hollis and Lisa continued up the path. Burov’s dacha was set among towering pines that had been thinned out to let some light pass through to the house and grounds. Tree stumps dotted the carpet of brown pine needles and cones.

  The dacha itself was a two-story clapboard structure with somewhat contemporary lines and oversize windows. Parked in a gravel patch beside the house and enclosed in a newly built carport was the Pontiac Trans Am. Hollis walked up to the front door and knocked.

  The door opened, and a KGB Border Guard motioned them inside. They entered into a large anteroom that held the guard’s desk, chair, and a coatrack.

  The guard showed them through to a large pleasant living room with knotty-pine walls.

  Burov stood in the center of the room wearing his uniform trousers, boots, and shirt but no tunic. “Good morning.”

  Hollis ignored him and looked around. The furniture, he saw, was all Russian but not the junk that the masses had to live with. Everything in the room looked as if it had been lifted from the lobby of the Ukraina Hotel—stolid, made-to-last lacquered furniture of the 1930s; what might be called art deco in the West, but what the Russians officially called Socialist Realism and the people called Stalinist. Adorning the walls were oversize canvasses of uncommonly handsome peasants, happy factory workers, and Red Army men prepared to do battle. The only thing missing from this 1930s time capsule, Hollis thought, was smiling Uncle Joe himself or at least a photograph of him.

  Burov followed Hollis’ gaze. “As you say in America, they don’t make it like this anymore. In recent years we’ve sacrificed quality for quantity. There are many who long to return to the time when shoddy goods and bad buildings were punished by firing squad.”

  “There are probably less extreme methods of quality control,” Hollis said dryly. “Are you a Stalinist then, Burov?”

  “We don’t use that word,” Burov replied. “But certainly, I admired the man if not all of his methods. Please, sit.” Burov motioned to the far side of the room where there was an ancient Russian porcelain stove with a wood fire in it, the only antique piece in the room. Hollis and Lisa sat in armchairs whose frames were black lacquered wood inlaid with stainless steel.

  Burov motioned to the Border Guard, who left.

  Lisa said, “If I had to guess your taste, Colonel Burov, I would have said this was it.”

  He smiled doubtfully.

  She focused on a large canvas of peasants harvesting wheat, well-built men and women with grinning ruddy faces and flowing red bandannas. She commented, “I didn’t see anything like that in the countryside, and I suspect the artist never did either.”

  “That is what we call the ideal.” He sat on the matching sofa across from them. “So how have you been faring?”

  Hollis replied, “We’re in prison. How do you think we’re faring?”

  “You are not in prison,” Burov said curtly. “Tell me then, what do you think of our school so far?”

  Hollis said, “I’m impressed.”

  Burov nodded as though he already knew that. He looked at Hollis. “First order of business. Your physical assault on Sonny Aimes.”

  “Why don’t we first talk about the physical assaults on Ms. Rhodes and mys
elf by Viktor, Vadim, and you?”

  “That was not assault. That was official business, and as it happened before you entered the world of the school, it cannot be discussed. Why did you hit Sonny? Because he insulted Ms. Rhodes?”

  “No, I was on official business.”

  “I make the rules here, Colonel Hollis. I’m very strict about law and order. And very fair. I’ve given students jail time for fighting, harassing women, stealing, and so on. I shot a student for rape once. If this place is to work, there must be law and order. Unlike America.” Burov added, “If you decide to stay on here, I will conduct a full inquiry into the matter and see who was at fault.”

  Lisa said, “The Landises were not at fault. We put them in a difficult situation. It was between me and Sonny. The man is a pig.”

  Burov smiled. “Yes. He was a fine boy before he started seeing American movies.” Burov laughed.

  Lisa stood. “Good day.”

  Burov motioned her back to her seat. “No. Please. Enough verbal jabbing. I have things to discuss with you.”

  Lisa sat reluctantly.

  Burov looked at Hollis and Lisa for some time, then said, “You’ve probably heard a few things about me and how I run this camp. And you’re probably wondering what makes me tick. That’s what you people wonder about when you meet a strong personality.”

  Hollis said, “Yes, and when I meet an abnormal personality I try to guess at the type of psychosis that is affecting his brain.”

  Burov smiled thinly. “Don’t delude yourself into thinking I’m crazy. I’m not. I have developed here the finest espionage school in all the world, Hollis. Every premier and each member of the Central Committee and the Politboro for the last ten years knows my name.”

  “That’s not always an advantage,” Hollis reminded him.

  “So far, it has been. But I’ll tell you what motivates me. Two things. One, my deep abiding hate for the West, which I think you know. And ironically, it is only since I have had to deal with hundreds of Americans that I’ve grown to hate them, hate their culture, their filthy books and magazines, their shallow movies, their selfish personalities, their total lack of any sense of history or suffering, their rampant consumption of useless goods and services, and above all, their plain dumb luck in avoiding disaster.”