Apotheosis, page 7
Her squad nodded and the general snapped off another salute before turning on his heel, already shouting orders to his exhausted lieutenants.
SIX
The Road to Minsk
Janek wiped dust and sweat from his brow with tired relief. They had travelled day and night for the better part of a week, at times detouring kilometres out of their way to avoid Yuskevich patrols sent from Minsk, taking only short stops near sun-up and sundown, but they had finally arrived at Rundāle Palace just as autumn was beginning to stain the leaves of the beech trees golden. Marianna was driving the truck currently, her face set with an expression of concentration, while Zsolt napped in the window seat, snoring softly. Janek nudged him awake as they rolled up to the main gate, before stretching his own jaws with a wide yawn. Marianna rolled down the window to nod at the Matoušek vampire standing behind the gatepost, who opened the gate and waved them through – the visitors were expected, having been intercepted by patrols earlier. She parked the truck in a gravel area beside the palace and killed the engine. As they climbed down from the cab, Anton Horak came to greet them.
“Welcome back to Rundāle Palace,” he offered.
Marianna shook his proffered hand. “Thanks, Anton.”
As they turned toward the palace, Anton continued. “I have received a report via radio that Ana has arrived in Bialystok with a battalion of soldiers. Tomaz has been integrating another battalion into our defences around Brest.” The doors swung open wide in front of them. “I was recalled from Bialystok after Tomaz arrived in Brest, as I will be leading the assault on the Yuskevites in Minsk.”
Their footfalls clomped loudly on the tiles as they marched toward the great hall where Lord Matoušek held court. As they entered the chamber, Tomas Černý announced them to the gathered court. They presented themselves before Lord Matoušek and bowed.
Ondřej Matoušek took in their travel-weary appearance and greeted them solemnly. “Welcome again, and congratulations to the Ardisi on the successful Dnieper campaign.” He nodded toward Anton Horak. “Anton will be leading two companies of soldiers along with his newly refitted squad to take Minsk, and I was hoping that you would be willing to place yourselves under his command for the duration of that operation. In any case, please feel free to rest and regather your strength for a few days here in the palace prior to making your decision to join him or return to Odesa.”
Janek bowed again before replying. “We would be more than happy to aid our friend Anton. Acquiring uncontested control over the corridor from Odesa to Riga for our alliance is of prime importance to the Ardisi, and taking Minsk is the final task left in achieving that objective.”
Ondřej nodded. “You have our thanks. I will leave Anton to show you to our guest quarters,” he finished, signalling that the audience had come to an end.
The Ardisi stepped backward a couple of steps before turning on their heels and following Anton toward what Janek hoped would be comfortable beds.
Anton gestured toward the pins on the map. “The Yuskevich forts in Polotsk, Hlybokaye, Begoml and Minsk effectively cordon off north-east Belarus from our patrols. If we can neutralise the first three, we can circle around Minsk and capture the strategic towns of Viciebsk and Orsha, allowing us to prevent the Yuskevites from reinforcing Minsk from either St Petersburg in the north or Moscow in the east.”
Anton’s squad were nodding. Janek knew Pekka and Maksim from their previous operations together, and he recognised the twin assassins Adela and Eliska also, who had joined the squad at the behest of Sofija Balodis, however the final member of the squad was unknown to him. Anton had introduced her as Anita Nemekova, and Janek could tell that she was an experienced warrior, but aside from a brief greeting, she had so far said not a single word.
“The plan is to move in force to Hlybokaye from Vilnius, then proceed directly to Polotsk from there, leaving only a small rearguard force to hold Hlybokaye. We will then split our forces into two: one company of soldiers will go to Viciebsk and Orsha – which we expect to be only lightly defended – and dig in there to deter Yuskevich reinforcements; the other company of soldiers will head with us south and then west through the Biarezinski Biosphere Reserve and take Begoml.” Anton pointed to each objective on the map as he spoke, and the vampires did their best to commit every road and hill shown on the map to memory. “With Minsk isolated, we can begin our final push. Pekka and Maksim will lead operations in the wilderness around the city to find and neutralise snipers and other soldiers, then Adela and Eliska will infiltrate the city and begin assassinating any hostiles they encounter. Within a week, we should have reduced the operational capabilities of the enemy to the point where our company of soldiers can easily take the city. Any questions?”
Janek shook his head; the plan seemed sound to him, and no-one else had questions either.
“Alright,” Anton said, “gather your things, let’s move out.”
The squad began loading a truck with squeeze pack blood rations, canteens of water, tents, ammunition and weapons while Anton briefed the captains of the two companies of bonded human soldiers. Thirty minutes later, with the sun just beginning to rise, they were on the move south toward Vilnius, from where they would turn east and begin the almost 200-kilometre march to Hlybokaye. Janek found himself once again seated next to Adela – who once again ignored him studiously – and across from an amused Eliska. Shrugging slightly at the aloofness of his new comrades, Janek decided to try to nap during this first leg of the journey: it was safely within Matoušek territory, so he needn’t stay alert for danger, and he knew that sleep would be hard to come by once they left Vilnius.
The sun was high in the sky when the convoy reached Vilnius. It consisted of ten trucks and five light utility vehicles, as well as three motorcycles, transporting almost 300 soldiers and their equipment. As the vehicles rumbled to a stop, Anton poked his head into the back of the truck containing the squad of vampires and asked them to dismount. Once they were joined by the two captains who commanded the human soldiers, Anton laid out his plan for the approach to Hlybokaye.
“We have three motorcycles, which are off-road capable. There are a dozen places along the road to Hlybokaye where enemy soldiers may be lying in wait with RPGs, and we know that they have a strong patrol presence in the area west of Svir Lake. I’d like to send each motorcycle out with two of you on it, taking back roads and going cross-country, to scout the lay of the land and kill any soldiers around the main road.” Anton pointed at Pekka and Janek. “I’d like you two to take point, leaving immediately. Then, Maksim and Anita will take another motorcycle out, swinging slightly further south. Marianna and Zsolt, you will go last, paralleling the main road, but to the north.” When named, the vampires each nodded. “You’ll have two days and a night to sweep both sides of the road from here to Hlybokaye, then the rest of the convoy will roll in tomorrow night.”
Janek grabbed his pack from the truck and strapped it on over his fatigues, then grabbed Pekka’s pack also before heading over to where Pekka was refuelling one of the motorcycles. Once Pekka was done, Janek began strapping Pekka’s pack to the rear equipment rail then jumped onto the pillion seat behind him. Without saying anything, Pekka started accelerating up the road toward the enemy. Pekka was a man of few words; Janek appreciated that about him.
Five kilometres out from the crossing over the Neris River, Pekka pulled off the road and drove far enough south until the motorcycle was completely hidden in dense shrubbery. They pulled to a stop and dismounted. It was nearing midday, and Janek felt the weakness deep in his bones. He knew that Pekka would be similarly handicapped, but they were both supremely talented woodsmen and trackers, and despite the brightness dulling his senses, Janek was confident that they would be able to spot and kill any human soldiers nearby before they could raise the alarm, let alone fight back. Pekka motioned off toward the south-west, and Janek understood that he wanted to head in that direction until hitting the river, before following it northward up toward the main road, and even further, to detect and kill any enemy who might be guarding that strategic crossing. Nodding his agreement, they gathered their things and began making their way silently through the forest.
It didn’t take long until the burbling sound of water led them to the river. At this time of year, it was shallow and slow enough to easily cross by swimming, despite the frigid autumn temperature, which they did. Shivering, they followed the curve of the river. They walked for almost an hour, stopping periodically to listen for sounds that might betray the presence of an enemy soldier. Eventually they came to a bend in the river, taking it almost directly west, and knew they were now near the road to the tiny village of Alchouka. Pekka’s movements became even more stealthy – moving from tree to tree, listening often for sound – and Janek mirrored his movements, trusting Pekka’s instincts and knowledge of the disposition of the Yuskevites in this part of Belarus. Mere minutes later, they saw a small building with signs of habitation at the road junction. Pekka pointed down the road toward the river crossing and raised two fingers, before pointing at the building and showing five fingers, then one finger and making a sleeping motion. Janek nodded his understanding: they would have to kill the five soldiers and the sleeping vampire quickly and silently, destroy their radio, and then find and kill the two soldiers watching the bridge. Janek unholstered his suppressed Glock 19 pistol, and Pekka unclipped his silenced Heckler & Koch MP5. They split up, stalking wide of the building and studying it for a few moments, using hand signals to communicate.
The door of the building opened and a Russian soldier stepped out to smoke a cigarette, leaving the door ajar behind him. As he leaned forward slightly, hands cupped, putting flame to cigarette, Pekka shot him once, the bullet passing through his head, killing him instantly. Immediately, Janek sprinted toward the building, his footfalls obscured by the sound of a falling body, and shouldered open the door, guns already sweeping from right to left, searching for targets and spraying bullets. He shot six times, killing the four human soldiers who barely had time to gasp in shock before death claimed them, stepping further into the room with Pekka right behind him. Two double bunks rested against one wall, and a Yuskevich vampire hissed in fury and fear as he rolled out of the lower bunk – only to be met by a barrage of fire from Pekka’s MP5 and falling to the floor in a blood-soaked heap. Janek and Pekka searched the interior thoroughly to ensure that no enemies were hidden under furniture, then destroyed the communications equipment, before exiting the building and heading on silent feet toward the bridge.
A foot trail of crushed grass led to a small bivouac on a wooded hillside overlooking the bridge over the Neris. One soldier was prone under some shrubs, looking down the road through a scope on his sniper rifle, while another soldier with an AK-47 was patrolling the area. Pekka motioned for Janek to wait in the shadow of a tree near to where the patrolling soldier would pass, while he stalked on ahead toward the bivouac. Janek drew a knife from a sheath on his belt and waited patiently until the footfalls of the patrolling soldier grew closer, then turned swiftly and jammed it into the soldier’s neck, while ripping the gun from his grip with his other hand. The knife made a wet, tearing noise as it pierced the soldier’s larynx, and blood began spurting blood in thick, red pulses from the severed arteries, raining crimson droplets onto the leaf litter at their feet. The soldier tried to grapple for the knife with weakening fingers but collapsed gurgling to the ground after a few short seconds. Janek dragged the body into some dense scrub, then headed toward the bivouac himself. Pekka was waiting, blood covering his mouth and chin, and handed Janek the sniper rifle, a Dragunov SVDM, before shouldering the RPG and turning and jogging southward toward their motorcycle. Janek followed silently. This first engagement had gone perfectly, but he knew that there would be many engagements like it over the next two days, and as they became more exhausted, the potential for mistakes would increase. He knew that his survival would depend on maintaining the utmost concentration despite his growing exhaustion, but at the same time, he relished the challenge, and so it was with a small, dangerous smile on his face that he followed his companion southward.
They used their radios to contact each other and organise a rendezvous halfway through the second day. They were in Varapaeva, a short distance from Hlybokaye, and between them the three groups had slaughtered scores of soldiers, including a handful of vampires, in the countryside surrounding the road to Hlybokaye. By now, the alarm would well and truly have been sounded, but with luck it would be too late for any reinforcements to arrive. They were all covered in dirt and blood, and thoroughly exhausted. There had been no time to sleep, and a lot of their work had been done during the daytime, sapping them of energy and strength. Fortunately, none of them had been killed, and only Zsolt had been injured: he had caught a bullet with his shoulder and wouldn’t be much use for a few days until his body had knit itself back together. Maksim greeted Pekka cheerfully, slapping him on the back, before asking, “What’s the plan now?”
Pekka grunted, before peering west toward Vilnius. “The convoy won’t arrive for another five hours. We should get some sleep, then spread out and surround Hlybokaye to provide intel about troop movements to Anton.”
The newest member of Anton’s squad, Anita Nemekova, spoke up. “Something is strange,” she observed. She spoke perfect Russian but with a thick Baltic accent. “I expected to see more patrols, and patrols with dogs, and more than just a single vampire squad spread out over this large area. Where are they all?”
Janek nodded; it was a very good question. The conflict around Gomel would still be raging, and they would have reinforced it with the soldiers available around Minsk, however he would have expected Yuskevich troops from Moscow to have been dispatched long ago, bolstering the ranks of their Belarussian covens.
“Perhaps the Sibirsky have taken advantage of the situation to launch an invasion of the Volga basin?” Marianna offered. “Most of the Yuskevich food production comes from that region, and they would have to protect it or risk annihilation.”
Maksim made a happy noise. “That does make sense,” he agreed.
Pekka grunted again. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. Keep your eyes and ears open tonight. For now, get some rest. We move out in two hours.”
The battle for Hlybokaye was short but bloody. The enemy had ample warning of what was approaching and were holed up in strongly fortified buildings throughout the town. Anton had slipped several platoons of soldiers around the town, cutting off any escape and preventing any enemy reinforcements from entering the town. After that, it required vicious street-to-street fighting to take the town, with soldiers using RPGs and grenades to destroy defensive positions before clearing each block of enemy soldiers with small arms fire.
Janek had waited out the battle in the hills nearby, but once the last screams were silenced by short bursts of fire from assault rifles, he jogged down toward the town to report to Anton, and to hopefully find a warm and dark bed in an undamaged building to sleep for the rest of the night. He knew that in the morning, he and Pekka would ride out again toward Polotsk, and they would once again walk the knife’s edge of adrenaline and exhaustion to kill without being killed. Then the Matoušek army would take Polotsk as they had taken Hlybokaye, then they would have to do it all again to take Begoml while half the army travelled east and south to occupy Viciebsk and Orsha. It would be a long and dangerous week. The only comfort to him was that it seemed as if Marianna might have been right about the Sibirsky, as there had been no sign of any Yuskevich reinforcements from either the north or the east, although he worried it might be a ruse to make the Matoušek overextend. He shrugged inwardly as he entered the town: such worries were for another night; tonight, he would worry only about finding a decent place to sleep.
SEVEN
Mayhem in Minsk
A week later, Janek found himself in Drazdy Forest Park on the outskirts of Minsk in the late afternoon. Minsk had regular dog patrols, and Janek was trying to count how many dogs they had. He knew that if Adela and Eliska were to sneak into the city, the dogs needed to be dealt with first. He was perched in a tree, using the scope of the Dragunov SVDM rifle he had acquired previously to look for movement, and quickly saw what he had been expecting to see: a black and tan Dobermann Pinscher with a human soldier performing a patrol route. He had seen this particular dog twice before during the past two days of observation and, based on his own observations and those of Pekka, Marianna, Maksim and Zsolt elsewhere around the city, he was now confident that the Minsk coven only had ten trained dogs that they rotated for patrols. He kept watching, and a hint of movement arrested his attention suddenly: the patrol was being shadowed by a Yuskevich vampire.
He didn’t get a good look at the vampire, as they moved stealthily from cover to cover. Janek wondered whether he had simply missed this movement on other occasions, or whether these daytime vampire patrol shadows were a new defensive development. He shrugged slightly; while it did vastly increase the danger he was in, it didn’t change the fact that the dogs needed to be killed as the highest priority. He moved the scope back to the dog, and noticed that its posture was now alert, looking straight back toward him, muzzle high in the air. The wind must have shifted direction. Without hesitation, Janek pulled the trigger of the Dragunov twice, killing the dog, then leapt from the tree and sprinted toward the dam wall over the Drazdy Reservoir.
