“They intended to take us back to war in any case? All that time… despite their words of appeasement… the ceding of territory… the casualties, millions of dead… regardless… come what may… German provocation… they wanted war again? Holy Mother.”
“Yes, Holy Mother indeed. Now, we have the bomb… and they have the bomb… and we’ll all annihilate each other unless this is ended.”
“How?”
Kaganovich laughed softly.
“That’s the question, Tatiana. There seems little way to do so without… well…”
“Removing them?”
“Removing… yes… in some way…”
“Killing them?”
“Yes. There would seem to be no other way.”
In the other the room, the listeners held their breath.
“To save the Rodina, kill the General Secretary and sue for peace?”
“We just sued for peace, a peace that saw us retain Polish territory and other advantages. That peace has just been shattered by some means as yet unclear to us. Who can say if that it wasn’t our doing? I certainly know that, no matter what, our leader intended to take us back to war once his pet project was fully functioning. So I cannot deny… you cannot deny that this latest attack actually wasn’t actually orchestrated by our leadership?”
“There were no indications!”
“There were no indications of any attack… by them… or by us.”
Nazarbayeva’s mind was in a whirl as it was assaulted by new words and thoughts.
‘You have a son and a husband in uniform still… will they too be killed in such a cause?’
Kaganovich sensed his moment.
“What else can we do, Tatiana? What would you have us do?…What would you do?”
The verbal barrage overwhelmed her momentarily.
“To save the Rodina… the Motherland… you do what needs to be done.”
She pushed her empty glass forward in expectation of a refill, and the NKVD general obliged.
“So, the question is, would you join any group that put the Motherland first, and looked to rid the Rodina of the present leadership?”
The question was huge and elicited no answer.
Kaganovich became very aware of the growing presence of the Tokarev automatic in his drawer.
“There must be another way, Comrade General.”
“Perhaps there is. Let me know if you discover it, Comrade Nazarbayeva.”
He returned the bottle to the drawer, and left it open enough to ensure that the pistol could be out in a moment.
“So, what will you do? Will you betray us? Me?”
“No, Comrade Kaganovich. I will not. What purpose would that serve? If things are as you say… as they seem… then we must protect the Rodina… but I find it hard to believe that the lust for personal glory and such has brought is to this. I’ll think more on this, but I will not betray you, but neither will I be a party to violence against the General Secretary.”
“Not betray us, you mean… it’s not just me.”
“No… VKG to name but one. Who is VKG?”
“He’ll reveal himself in good time, I’m sure.”
1000 hrs, Monday, 17th March 1947, Colonel General Kaganovich’s office, the Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.
“So, do we kill her or do we hope she comes on board?”
Khrushchev shrugged in peasant fashion.
“If she doesn’t see it our way, we have no choice.”
VKG nodded but stayed silent.
He did not want Nazarbayeva’s blood on his hands but, in real terms, they were already tainted with the blood of thousands so one more innocent made little difference.
“You know her better than we do. We take a risk every second we sit here, but she is central to our plans. With her we can achieve everything and seize power. Without her… well… we would need to rethink so much.”
“And that’s important, Comrades. It’s not just a question of removing the bastards… they must be replaced by the right leadership… namely us.”
VKG nodded and added his own comment.
“And we know that with Nazarbayeva’s help we can achieve this.”
Kaganovich conceded both statements.
“So, more pressure. Is it time?”
The two others pondered the question.
“Are we ready to go?”
Khrushchev’s enquiry was aimed at the military man.
“No, but we can adapt and seize any moment. I can order the Moscow Military District to act whenever I need.”
Kaganovich reminded them of his own objections.
“If we use her now, we may lose control over the situation. She is as likely to go off like a rocket as join us in carefully laid plans.”
They understood his often-stated position.
“We must retain control over the situation… but we need her… she must be committed and controlled. The seeds have been sown today. She’ll be watched, and any hint of betrayal will result in her instant removal… my men have specific orders on that. The stakes are high but we still have time… I think. “
“And you assure us she won’t decide to betray us?”
He answered Khrushchev’s question with a shake of his head.
“No… but I assure you that if she decides to do so, she’ll die before she manages it.”
VKG made his decision.
“Then we’re agreed. We wait?”
In unison, they voiced their agreement.
“We wait.”
Nazarbayeva completed her briefing for the GKO without mention of the going-on in Kaganovich’s office, or of her contact with Ramsey.
Her need to tackle Stalin direct on matters relating to Raduga had long since taken second place to her professional needs to equip her leadership with the best information possible.
In concert with Beria, she repeated the intelligence view that there was no hint of any action on the part of the Allies, a rare agreement between them.
But, none the less, the Allies had attacked.
‘Appeared to attack…’
Her hints at some issue with the Germans again received support from Beria, but were scoffed at by the General Secretary, who lambasted his Intelligence officers for their lack of ability.
Others had been removed, or worse, for lesser offences, Stalin reminded them both.
None the less, neither was relieved nor sanctioned, which in itself gave Nazarbayeva food for thought.
‘Was it you, General Secretary, eh? Is that why you laugh at the German issues, eh? Is that why you only chastise us, eh? Because you know it was you?’
The presence of armed NKVD guards in the briefing room was a new occurrence, based upon a recommendation from Beria, who suspected there might be treachery afoot.
In honesty, Beria always suspected treachery, but Kaganovich had been quite insistent, so handpicked men were now permitted to attend such meetings, men with selectively deaf ears and alert eyes, ready for any sign of trouble.
One of them had been ready to gun Nazarbayeva down the moment she opened her mouth, but she had stayed true to her word.
However, she still had her own needs, again agitated into life by Stalin’s behaviour, and the words tumbled from her lips.
“Comrade General Secretary. I have a question.”
“By all means, Comrade.”
“Raduga. Is it still running in any way?”
“No.”
Stalin looked her straight in the eye with his best paternal and reassuring look.
“You know it was closed down. Research continues of course, but the operation is defunct. Now, I’ve an important meeting. Is that all?”