Page 254 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

Daniil poured water into a plastic tumbler. "It will be one of the most daring things they've ever printed."

"So they're going to publish?"

"Yes."

She wished she could tell Vasili. But he would have to find out on his own. She wondered if he was able to get the magazine. It must be available at libraries in Siberia. "When?"

"They haven't decided. But they don't do anything in a hurry."

"I'll be patient."

*

Dimka was awakened by the phone. A woman's voice said: "You don't know me, but I have information for you."

Dimka was confused. The voice belonged to Natalya. He threw a guilty look at his wife, Nina, lying beside him. Her eyes were still closed. He looked at the clock: it was five thirty in the morning.

Natalya said: "Don't ask questions."

Dimka's brain started to work. Why was Natalya pretending to be a stranger? She wanted him to do the same, obviously. Was it for fear that his tone of voice would betray his fondness for her to the wife beside him in bed?

He played along. "Who are you?"

"They're plotting against your boss," she said.

Dimka realized that his first interpretation had been wrong. What Natalya feared was that the phone might be tapped. She wanted to be sure Dimka did not say anything to reveal her identity to the listening KGB.

He felt the chill of fear. True or false, this meant trouble for him. He said: "Who is plotting?"

Beside him, Nina opened her eyes.

Dimka shrugged helplessly, miming: I have no idea what is going on.

"Leonid Brezhnev is approaching other Presidium members about a coup."

"Shit." Brezhnev was one of the half-dozen most powerful men under Khrushchev. He was also conservative and unimaginative.

"He has Podgorny and Shelepin on his side already."

"When?" said Dimka, disobeying the instruction not to ask questions. "When will they strike?"

"They will arrest Comrade Khrushchev when he returns from Sweden." Khrushchev was planning a trip to Scandinavia in June.

"But why?"

"They think he's losing his mind," said Natalya, and then the connection was broken.

Dimka hung up and said shit again.

"What is it?" Nina said sleepily.

"Just work problems," Dimka said. "Go back to sleep."

Khrushchev was not losing his mind, though he was depressed, seesawing between manic cheerfulness and deep gloom. At the root of his disquiet was the agricultural crisis. Unfortunately, he was easily seduced by quick-fix solutions: miracle fertilizers, special pollination, new strains. The one proposal he would not consider was relaxing central control. All the same, he was the Soviet Union's best hope. Brezhnev was no reformer. If he became leader the country would go backward.

It was not just Khrushchev's future that worried Dimka now: it was his own. He had to reveal this phone call to Khrushchev: on balance that was less dangerous than concealing it. But Khrushchev was still enough of a peasant to punish the bringer of bad news.

Dimka asked himsel

---