At the embassy

An excerpt of my 21st book and thriller.

At the embassy

A Two Edged Sword

An excerpt

Three Russian senior officers were sitting in the ante room of the ambassador's office in the Russian embassy in Damascus; they were Major General Abdulov the head of the Russian delegation to Syria, his deputy Brigadier General Vassiliev, General Major Belov the Russian air force commander in Syria. They had a light chat with the bespectacled middle aged male secretary, and waited to be called in quite a perturbed atmosphere the three of them, They did not know why they were invited to see the ambassador, it could be a particular warning or a regular briefing, or an unpleasant scolding by the defense ministry through His Excellency the ambassador.

They fidgeted on their seats a bit nervously, and kept trying to hide their low feelings as much as they could from the experienced ambassador's secretary, which must have witnessed many others behave in the same manner, each time they were called to have an audience with the ambassador.

But hardly ten minutes passed and they heard the ambassador's voice on the intercom, telling his secretary to usher them in.

'I've haven't much time left for our meeting, so I'll be straight to the point, and as short as possible.' The ambassador opened up while cleaning his spectacles he put the cleaned spectacle back over his eyes, and went on with his short monologue.

'The foreign ministry has declared a cease fire with the rebels in the northern district, including the towns of Haleb and Idlib and those towns' surroundings. Well it's not written and signed on a document; it's just an oral declaration of the agreement with the rebels; so you're supposed to carry on with the airstrikes, but not at the same intensity of course. The defense ministry counts on your judgement and experience, which means you'll have to act according to the battle field development.' He looked down on the document spread on his desk before his eyes, and read it again a few seconds and then resumed quoting the defense ministry's instructions.

'We expect a detailed report on the results of our efforts up till now, and on casualties and expenditure of ammunition and fuel; the air force squadron will submit its report to Major General Leonid Stankovich Abdulov, and you'll have both reports ready up to next Thursday. The ministry expects to receive the detailed reports before this weekend, which means not later than the coming Friday.'

General Abdulov sneaked a meaningful glimpse at his deputy and General Belov, and then turned his attention back to the ambassador.

'Well that's it gentlemen, oh and my secretary will give you the letters from your beloved ones, which arrived yesterday night with the diplomatic mail.'

As they came out the secretary handed Abdulov's deputy one batch of letters and another one sent to the air force squadron men to General Belov.

They thanked him, descended to the embassy's underground parking lot and boarded General Abdulov's car to save fuel. They sat on the car's rear seat the three of them, with General Vassiliev in their midst.

The chauffeur switched on the car's engine and they set off on their way to their camp's office. They did not speak all along the ride, despite their urge to discuss several issues. But the chauffeur's presence prevented the possibility of free discussion.

As soon as they entered the empty office General Belov turned to his two comrades, while they were still in mid settling down next to the broad desk.

'I'd like to consult Leonid about the reports; I wouldn't like to submit a different one.'

'Sure Vladia that's exactly what me and Boris thought just before we picked you up, on our way to the embassy; but as all our reports until now were not coordinated beforehand, what's in your opinion could be the reason to do it?' Abdulov asked while taking out three glasses and a bottle of vodka from the desk's drawer. He poured the booze into the three glasses and passed it to his two comrades, with the traditional blessing: 'Nazdrovie'. They emptied the first glass, and General Belov explained what bothered him.

'I've had a few words with my helicopters' squadron commander at the end of the two first days of our air support to the Syrian ground forces, and he told me that his pilots said that the Syrians are not taking advantage of the Arial support.'

'You mean the Syrians don't assault the enemy right after the efficient airstrikes? Well me and Boris had the same reports from our tactical instructors. They tell us that when an assault command is given, they don't dare to leave their posts and they fire their weapons behind protective covers. They expect us to do the job for them, and the Iranians aren't better than them it seems…'

'Yes that's exactly the problem, so what do you suggest Leonid?'

'I say let's send the ministry the regular report, with the little that we've done up till now; we must remember that our stay here in Syria is a political act, and whatever the fighting results are and will be doesn't matter much.'

© Haim Kadman 2016 - all rights reserved.

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