Thinking about that, Fairchild had used that box to move her entire ship in time, and then asserted that the hunt for the key aboard Rodney must have been the reason for that. So her key would lead Argos Fire to a place where she might find another. Interesting. And she had that mysterious box where they could all be collected together…. Then what?
The prevailing wisdom was that these keys secured hidden doors that protected time fissures created by the Tunguska event. Those doors were all locked, so why would it be necessary to gather all the keys into one place—into that box, where a clever recess was embedded in a hidden drawer to hold each one. Was that just for safekeeping, or did it have some other purpose?
All these things went round and round in his head, as confusing as they were helpful. He had only a part of this puzzle, but somehow, he thought the quest for these keys would reveal much more. Yet Kamenski seemed convinced that it could not be Kirov that would undertake that quest. They had to go home, but how could they do so while still leaving Volkov here, let alone Orlov?
“Well?” Karpov pressed him. “What’s it going to be, Mister Fedorov? Are you siding with Volsky and Gromyko on this? Will you stand with me? Help me convince them that we simply cannot leave here, not now, not yet; not while there is so much left undone, and Volkov is at large here.”
Fedorov shrugged, his eyes on the desktop, heart heavy as he realized Karpov was correct. They could not leave now—at least not without dealing with all the other loose ends that would be left behind, and chief among them was Ivan Volkov.
“What could we do about him?” he said slowly. “Is there any way we could get to him?”
Karpov smiled. “Ah,” he said. “Assassination? Don’t think I haven’t considered that. He’s very well protected. Believe me, I captured his Chief of Security during one of those Zeppelin raids he staged at Ilanskiy. In fact, I almost bagged Volkov himself. This man, Kymchek, has been very cooperative in revealing the security layers Volkov has around him. Remember, Volkov was a Captain in Russian Naval Intelligence, so he’s very clever; very cautious. Could we get to him with an expert marksman… Perhaps. It would certainly be worth a try. Historians probably wondered why no one could take out Hitler. Oh, they tried, but there must have been countless opportunities where a man with a rifle might have changed the course of WWII.”
“Alright,” said Fedorov. “I’m convinced that we just can’t pull up anchor and take a risk shifting now with Kirov, and I think I can convince Volsky and Gromyko as well.”
“Excellent!” said Karpov. “Now you’re talking. I had hoped you would see reason, and you did not disappoint me.”
“Hold on. Let me finish. Yes, you’ve convinced me we cannot simply leave—at least not now. We’ll have to see to all the other loose threads here first, and get them resolved. Some of the work has already been done. There was a brigade of modern British troops that fell through in southern Egypt. I was there when it happened.”
“Tyrenkov got wind of that,” said Karpov. “Yet we don’t have the details. Fill me in.”
“It occurred when Russia targeted the BP facilities at Sultan Apache in southern Egypt. As we both know, a nuclear event can rupture time, and it certainly did, but for a reason that I have yet to disclose.”
“Still keeping secrets?” said Karpov, wagging a finger.
“It comes back to Tunguska—all of it,” said Fedorov. “You remember that mission I ran against Ilanskiy?”
“Certainly. That wasn’t very sporting of you, Fedorov. It took me nearly a year to rebuild that railway inn and staircase.”
“Sorry, but I was possessed with the thought that Ilanskiy represented a grave threat. It still does. Only our restraint has prevented us from doing something catastrophic. Well… On that mission, we got lost in a storm, and were hovering low looking for clues to get back on course. Orlov was down in a sub cloud car and he saw something on the tundra below. We stopped to investigate, and found it was just one of those cauldron sites that they tell stories about back home.”
“Ah yes,” said Karpov. “The mysteries of Siberia. It’s all nonsense.”
“Not quite,” said Fedorov. “Orlov found something there, and I think it was a fragment from the Tunguska Event. He had it with him when we were in the desert, and very near the site of Sultan Apache when that incident occurred. I think that object had much to do with opening that fissure that sent the British 7th Brigade through from our time. Yet it’s irrelevant now. There was another incident at Tobruk. I learned that from Tovey when I contacted him on the secure radio set.”
“Yes, Fedorov. As long as we’re confessing things here, I was listening in on that conversation as well.”
Fedorov shook his head. “You certainly are devious, Karpov.”
“No more than you, Fedorov.”
“Very well, then you already may know that the Brigade, as they called it, is gone. That Tobruk event ruptured the continuum again, only this time I think something more got through—one of our own goddamned missiles. I’m not sure how it happened, but it did.”
“Interesting,” said Karpov. “You realize what that means, don’t you? That future Volsky is so keen on getting to may be up in flames when we get there, if we ever do.”
“I’ve certainly thought about that,” said Fedorov. “So Kinlan’s Brigade is gone, though a small force was not there when it happened. Churchill ordered it to the UK on the funnies—that’s what they call that replenishment fleet.”
“Yes, yes, I’ve heard this.”
“Argos Fire will leave voluntarily, and take on all the crews from the funnies, which will be destroyed here.”
“And I’ll handle Takami,” said Karpov. “Gromyko is also welcome to lend a hand.”
“That leaves only Volkov, so we need to seriously plan a mission to take that man out—not on the back stairway at Ilanskiy, but in the here and now. If you agree to that, commit your resources to it, then I think I can get Volsky and Gromyko to side with us.”
“Done,” said Karpov with a smile. “I’ve been planning it for some time, and now we can all pool our assets to see that it gets done.”
“Then that leaves us with Orlov,” said Fedorov.
“Yes… Orlov. That son-of-a-bitch is at it again, isn’t he? Why don’t you work on that problem. I’ll handle Volkov with Tyrenkov and my brother.”
That brought the last straw to Fedorov’s mind. “Now that you mention him,” said Fedorov.” I think that will be the final problem we’ll have to solve.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your brother… He can’t remain here either, and I have no way of knowing what might happen if the two of you try to shift forward.”
Karpov was silent for a moment, thinking. Then he looked Fedorov in the eye. “If we do this—shift forward—where in God’s name do you think we’ll end up? Did Kamenski talk about that?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but I think he meant for us to return to our native time—to 2021.”
“Yes, but which 2021—from which meridian? Will we arrive back on the time line where we first started? Will we reach the future we may be building now on this altered meridian? Was that where Gromyko shifted in from with Volsky? Did you hear what he said? Volsky has a third layer of memories in that old head of his. He said he was just sitting at his desk at Red Banner Fleet headquarters when in walked Kamenski. How could he be doing that, when we both know he was supposed to be aboard Kirov? That means that timeline was not the original one we came from. It was a third world.”