A hundred meters from the dacha entranceLukin heard the sirens going off and his heart jolted. The shrill noise eruptedthrough the woodland air like the shrieks of a thousand wild animals in pain.

Klieg lamps sprang to life, illuminatingthe woods, beams of powerful light sweeping through the darkness, casting asilver wash over the snowy birch trees. Dogs barked; voices screamed orders.The forest seemed to come alive with light and noise.

Through the windshield, in the distance,Lukin could make out the dacha's green-painted gates, searchlights sweepingwildly through the trees as the sirens wailed ceaselessly.

He slowed the Emka. There was a ruttedlane off to the right and he pulled in and switched off the engine. His bodywas shaking violently, and his heart was racing.

He was too late.

He felt a lump rise in his throat and italmost choked him. He stumbled out of the car and filled his lungs with air,then he fell to his knees and vomited.

For a long time he knelt in the frozenwoods, no longer hearin- the wailing sirens and the noises in the forest, onlyhis own sobbing and the wild thumping of his heart in his ears as a painfulanguish flooded him, almost physical in its intensity.

There was a timelessness to everything,and then it seemed as if a dam burst inside his head, and when the screamfinally came, it came from deep inside him.

"Mischa!

The scream seemed to go on forever in thewhite darkness.

It had started to rain again.

The sky over Moscow darkened liketwilight, then a flash of forked lightning lit up the clouds and thundercracked and the heavens opened. Anna Khorev stood at the window and stared outthrough the sheeting rain toward the distant red walls of the Kremlin. When shefinally turned back she smiled, a brief sad smile.

"And there you have your story, Mr.Massey. Not entirely a happy ending, but then life rarely surprises us withhappy endings."

"It's a remarkable story."

She lit a cigarette. "Not onlyremarkable, but true. You're one of the few people to know what happened thatnight at Kuntsevo. It took almost four days for Stalin to die, but die he did.The drug caused him to have a hemorrhage, the bullet made sure he'd die. Andthere was nothing his doctors could do to save him. Of course, the irony wasthey were too afraid to lift a finger after what happened to their Kremlincolleagues."

"So the official version of howStalin died was a lie."

"The Kremlin claimed he diednaturally, of a cerebral hemorrhage. But you'll also read in some history booksthat the bodies of two men were taken from the dacha grounds the night Stalinfell fatally ill. It's not a widely known fact, but it's the one small grain oftruth that hints at something unusual happening that night. The bodies werethose of Alex and your father. But of course, there was never any mention ofthat. Some secrets are best kept just that-secret." I didn't answer for amoment, then I said, "Why did you tell me your story? Was it because youhad to?"

Anna Khorev smiled back. "Partlythat, I suppose. But perhaps I needed to tell someone and I'm glad we finallymet. What happened all those years ago has been such a secret part of my life.Perhaps too big a secret to keep all to myself until the day I die. And to behonest, now that I've told you I feel quite relieved."

She smiled again, and then a distant, sadlook appeared on her face.

"What about afterwards?" Isaid.

She sat down. "You mean whathappened to everyone? Oh, Beria I'm sure you know about. After Stalin's deathhe made his play for power and failed. He was accused, ironically, of havingbeen an agent for the West. But really he had made too many enemies who wantedhim dead. He was arrested in the Kremlin and shot soon afterwards. So he gothis just reward in the end. Some even said he was killed because he knew whathad really happened to Stalin, and his comrades in the Kremlin wanted to coverit up."

"So what happened after you escapedfrom Moscow?"

"Russia was in chaos for daysafterwards. With Romulka dead, our escape wasn't that difficult. We made it toFinland but there were problems, of course. The CIA, naturally, thought I andthe others might be an embarrassment if the mission was ever leaked ordiscovered. And Henri Lebel was fearful for his life when he realized he hadbeen in a small way party to Stalin's death. But Henri had been rather clever.After your father had first struck a deal with him in Paris he had transcribedall the details and sent them in a sealed envelope to his lawyer, withinstructions that the contents be made public if Henri ordered it, or if he orIrena were ever harmed. That way, he was insuring himself against the CIA evertrying to blackmail him into working for them again, or double-crossing him. Sothe CIA kept your father's promise. They arranged secretly through Mossad formyself and Sasha, along with Henri and frena, to live in Israel under newidentities. They thought we'd all be safer there and out of harm's way, if everthe KGB wanted to exact revenge on us, but thankfully that neverhappened."

She looked away, toward the window."Mossad was quite happy with things as they turned out. With Stalin dead,the purge of the Jews stopped, the camps were never completed, and thesurviving doctors were released. The Americans arranged a nice apartment forSasha and me in Tel Aviv and looked after us financially. I was warned never todisclose my real identity or divulge anything about the mission because itmight put our lives in danger. But the new rulers in the Kremlin never madepublic the fact that the mission succeeded, or even that it had ever existed.That would have been an embarrassment for them and would perhaps have caused awar nobody really wanted, least of all the Soviets, who were without a leader,and that suited Washington completely. Khrushchev eventually succeeded Stalin,and later denounced him for his crimes. No one went entirely unpunished for hisdeath, however. Not long after, the KGB systematically and brutallyassassinated a number of extremist Russian and Ukrainian immigrant leaders inEurope, probably in the mistaken belief that they were )n some way partlyresponsible. But whether the CIA pointed a finger at them or not, I've no wayof knowing."

"Why did the CIA claim my fathercommitted suicide?"

"At the time your father's death wasa problem for Washington. They had to cover it up somehow and without any ofhis colleagues becoming suspicious. The official explanation given was that hehad committed suicide while traveling in Europe. They said that after he hadbeen recalled to Washington from Munich he had been put on leave, for healthreasons. They claimed that he was depressed and unstable. The date they gavefor his death was before our mission began, so that no one might ever connecthim to what subsequently happened. It wasn't fair to the character of yourfather, of course, but it had to be done for the sake of security. And, ofcourse, no body was buried, just a coffin full of stones."

"What happened to Lebel andIrena?"

Anna Khorev smiled. "Henri opened aclothing business in Tel Aviv and they married and lived happily together untilHenri died ten years ago. lrena followed him soon after."

"And Yuri Lukin?"

For a long time Anna Khorev stared outsilently at the sheeting rain. There was a look of sadness on her face. Thenshe looked back.

"He made it to the train that night,much to the relief of his wife, but he was distraught, as you can imagine. Hehad found his brother after all those years, and then lost him again. When wearrived in Helsinki we were all debriefed for several days by Branigan. I neversaw Yuri Lukin again after that. I would have liked to very much. He was aremarkable man, Mr. Massey.