The boy seemed almost in tears again as he nodded his head. “Yes, sir. I wish it weren’t so.”
Mr. Polski could see how much this was tearing the young man apart. If there were a doubt, he would have known it. He sat forward in his seat. “”Petyr, do not blame yourself. There may be things going on that we do not understand,” he reassured the young man. “But I believe we need to look into this. I will talk to someone I know. If it is nothing, then all will be well. If not, well, then it is something we need to stop,” he said gravely. “Until then, the two of you need to promise me that you will tell no one about what you have seen. Not your schoolmates, not your friends, not even other members of the family. You need to act as if nothing has happened. This is important. If something is wrong, we do not need to warn them that others know. We also do not need to bring harm to ourselves. If this is something to do with the Russians, we could all find ourselves in very real danger. So we act as if nothing happened. The person I talk to will be able to sort this out and then do something about it without anyone getting harmed. Do you think you can do this?” he asked.
Petyr spoke up for the both of them. “We can try.”
Mr. Polski smiled. “Good. Now I suggest you two go down and sit on the bench like you usually do. Just leave things to me. I’ll let you know if we find out anything,” he said.
Petyr gave a sigh and the two stood and left the apartment. Polski’s face hardened to a frown. First of all, he was angry that something like this was being done in his country, but most of all, he was angry that it should happen to a young man he had become very fond of. Petyr had become like a son to the man and he was proud that Petyr had been able to shoulder such a burden. To be faced with the thought that his own father was a traitor to his country was clearly eating away at the boy.
Getting up from his seat, he moved to a small office he had arranged in the apartment. Scrolling through an old Rolodex, he found the name he was looking for and picked up the phone. After a few rings a familiar voice answered the phone. “Erich, it is Hector. I think I need your help.”
It was the fourth meeting between the NATO military commanders since Hammond had begun the job. Since that time, he and they had worked out a much more detailed plan on how to deal with the Russians should they invade one of the NATO nations. They were all sitting around a heavy oblong table in a large old style meeting room with oak paneling and ornate mirrors on the walls. General Eves LeMonde, Commander of the French forces had been a headache from the very beginning. According to him, the whole thing was doomed to failure unless the French were in charge. He also did not buy into the idea that the Russians would invade.
“This is a waste,” he said. “We are optimistic that all of this can be settled diplomatically. Our ambassador has personally met with Borodin and the negotiations are going well. Nevertheless, I do not think we would agree that everyone should fight on soil other than our own. To use up French troops in Poland or elsewhere would mean fewer available to defend our own borders,” he stated. It was obvious by his arrogance that he had little regard for the others in the room.
“So you would allow the rest of us to bleed while you remained behind your borders, hoping we will be successful,” said Sir Richard. “General, did you not learn anything from the last war? You did practically nothing to prepare because you figured your Maginot Line would be sufficient. We all know what happened. General, France has a marvelous army. On several occasions you have held exercises with the other NATO nations and it performed brilliantly. We need the force of that army, navy and air force to make all this work. You may be correct, that it will be worked out diplomatically, but we cannot take that risk. You see, we took such a risk, and Chamberlin came back with a slip of paper declaring peace in our time. We paid the price for that complacency. That is why we feel it is vitally important to make these moves and plans now,” he said calmly. Sir Richard was fed up with the stalling the French had been doing, but it wouldn’t be British to lose his temper, especially not now.
“Actually, I like the ideas Admiral Hammond put forward. They use what we had planned and added to them immeasurably. His ideas to use our technologies could be the turning point for all of this. Yes, it may be for nothing, but then a lot of war planning is just that,” said Dortmund. “We have actually developed a few drones of our own to be a part of this. It makes sense,” he said.
“If I may, Italy is almost on the sidelines in all of this, but we feel threatened just as much as the rest of you. For that reason alone, we will be providing our assets. We feel it is all or nothing,” said Admiral Giuseppe Lagonda, the Italian representative. “I have brought these ideas to my government and they are feeling confident that this is the best form of action.”
General LeMonde gave a Gaelic shrug. “Then who is to lead it? France feels that to have anyone but a Frenchman in charge might be detrimental to the diplomatic effort. We need someone with a steady hand and a sensitivity to the needs of all our European nations,” he said.
Sir Richard looked as if he might explode, but it was Roger Hammond who spoke. “General LeMonde, you are quite correct. We do need someone who is sensitive to the needs and goals of Europe. We need someone who is fair and just in their decisions. More importantly, we need someone who balances all these things and still gets the ultimate job done. That job will be to defeat the aims of any enemy, whether it is Russia or any other nation. But ultimately, that decision will be made by our political leadership. If it were left to us, we would probably argue until we were overrun. At this point, we need to go back to our leaders and let them know what we are planning, then they will need to meet and decide which direction we shall go, and who will lead us. We are all free to give our best advice, but they must make the choice or no one will be in charge. Do we all agree on this?” he asked.
The men and women in the room nodded. “It is all we can do. Let us all hope the decisions will be made before it is too late,” said General Alma Gutierro of the Spanish Air Force.
LeMonde nodded as well. “Oui, certainement,” he said. “Let the people with the authority do something for a change,” he said with a slight grin.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it has been a pleasure, once again,” said Sir Richard to close out the meeting. “We shall meet back here in two weeks’ time.”
The officers got up from the table and said their good byes. Sir Richard watched LeMonde leave the room then walked over to Hammond. “Roger, nice job with LeMonde. I was ready to bite the bugger’s head off,” he said.
“I noticed you getting upset, but we have more to deal with than egos. I’m hoping out leadership picks someone good to lead this effort. What about you?” Hammond asked.
“Posh. I haven’t the patience. Put me in charge of a fleet. Slogging around in the mud isn’t my cup of tea,” Sir Richard grunted. “Mind you, I hope that gal Richardson is with us. She’s top notch.”
“I agree. Claire can get the job done, but her place might be better at the head of her troops. I personally hope she’s head of the American Forces. That would give them something to think about,” Hammond said.
Sir Richard chuckled. “It might at that. Well, I must be off. There’s a plane waiting for me to usher me back home. What about you?”