The Righteous Arrows by Brian J. Morra

Author:Brian J. Morra
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Koehler Books
Published: 2024-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

PART THREE

THE RIGHTEOUS ARROWS OF RETRIBUTION

I will heap calamities upon them and spend my arrows against them.

—Deuteronomy 32:33

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

A MAZE OF HATE

General-Major Ivan Levchenko, GRU, Soviet Air Defense Forces

Moscow, Russia, USSR

27 September 1986

“What are you thinking about?” Boyka says in her soft, melodious voice. I’m spooning her warm, luxurious body. We’ve made love for the last hour—a blissful, long homecoming session. What am I thinking about?

“Young Zhukov, I suppose.”

She turns over to face me and puts my right hand on her breast. “Zhukov? After we’ve been fucking for an hour? I know the war has changed you, but you haven’t become a homosexual, have you?” She looks at me, her eyes fierce and accusatory.

“What? Good God, Boyka. Of course not. No.”

She grins at me and squeezes my hand—the one holding her breast. “Well, I’m relieved. But, why Zhukov? Is he in trouble? You told me he is on a special assignment.”

Goddamn it. I did tell her that on the phone from Bagram. “Well, yes, but he has run into some trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?

God knows. “Yes, well . . . we had a problem on a mission and Zhukov was captured.”

Boyka sits up in bed with a start. “Captured! He’s been captured! When? When did this happen?”

Jesus . . . “It happened several months ago. We think we know who is holding him, and we believe that he’s alive. One of my colonels is negotiating his release.”

Boyka’s face is contorted with anger. “You lied to me! You said he was on special assignment. The truth is that he’s been missing all these months. We hear the stories here in Moscow about what happens to our captured troops.” She turns her face away from me in shock over the truth of Zhukov’s plight and from hurt because of my lie.

“I’m sorry, Boyka. I didn’t want to worry you. I should’ve told you the truth.”

She turns sharply to face me. “Worry me? Worry me? I’m terrified. I can’t sleep. I think of you in that awful place with those awful people. You don’t understand what it’s like to be left behind while you are facing dangers that I can only imagine—and my imagination is quite vivid, I assure you.”

I hug her and kiss her long hair. My God. What this war is doing to us.

“The war is changing you, Vanya. I hear it when we talk on the phone. I see it in your face now that you are home. And, to think that you must go back there so soon. It’s more than I can handle. I’ve always supported you in your career and been happy to do so, but this is all too much.”

What do I say? She’s the only thing in this world that I truly love, and I am hurting her. Afghanistan is an insidious specter menacing our marriage. “I understand, Boyka. I’ll have a full home leave in January—I’ll be home for thirty days. We’ll enjoy the holidays together.”

My wife rises, puts on her dressing gown, and goes to the large window next to her dresser.

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