The journey was short and mostly uncomplicated, the only problem he ran into was a shortage of food, but that could be solved with his hunting spear… he soon caught something. Once there, he met with some of his old friends that he used to go hunting with. He spent a few days getting to know them again, and then told them his plan.
A few were unsure. “But what about the Americans? They’re much stronger than us! What could we do against them?” this of course got the usual laugh and cheer of agreement.
“The Americans are weak. You take one person away and they’ll give you anything you want. That person is, of course, the President. We kidnap him, they give us what we want.” Dmitri answered, with about as much facial expression as a dead man.
“Kidnap the President? How?” Vadim Pissov, one of Dmitri’s best friends and probably the most prominent in the group, asked. The rest of them were more serious now, maybe they didn’t believe him before, thought he was joking. “It’s impossible! How can we even get close?”
“I have a plan. I’ll tell you closer to the time.” Dmitri said. He was smart enough not to tell Vadim. If he told Vadim his plan, what would there be to stop Vadim killing him and taking the glory for himself? Friendship doesn’t matter when it comes to glory. Dmitri knew Vadim was like him… searching for more power. They had both been like that since they were kids, growing up in the snow-ridden wastelands of Russia.
And so they set out to find an army to help them. They asked around, discreetly of course, just directing the subject towards Russia’s private armies. The only one anyone talked about was the one led by a man claiming to be Ivan Ravinoff, Dmitri’s father, who had supposedly died in Afghanistan. They all claimed to have hunted with him at one point, most of them were just boasting though; some of them had never even hunted in their lives. Apparently, this army could be found somewhere in Tajikistan, fighting against some anti-Russian guerrillas, and according to some people, getting slaughtered.
It took them a few weeks to get to the Russian-Kazakhstan border, but it was quite easy. There was no-one asking them where they were going, and food is, not surprisingly, very easy to catch when you have a band of seven trained killers. They had all decided against going through China, mainly for the obvious reasons like Communist rule etc. The border was, however, hard to cross. They were forced to go through the mountains, which weren’t too hard, but Oleg got hypothermia.
The group rested for a while in a village near the mountains. The people in the village were nice, and even provided them with cooked meat and good alcohol. After a few weeks they heard that Ivan Ravinoff would be in a nearby town soon, on his retreat from Tajikistan, so they made their excuses and left.
They got to the town easily, there was a half decent road to it and they even managed to hitch a lift on a truck convoy carrying something to the town. Dmitri suspected it was weapons for someone, as no one needs model aeroplanes on this scale, even if there is a shortage! However, no one said anything, as they seemed like nice enough people just doing their job, and they needed the lift or they wouldn’t get there before Ivan left.
All this spare time meant that Dmitri could only think about one thing. His father. Is it true? Is it him? He had mixed emotions about the whole thing. He was angry, if it was his father, he had left him, if it wasn’t, then someone was impersonating him. At the same time though, he was exited about the possibility of meeting his father again. What would he be like though? Would he have changed? It was a long journey to the town, so Dmitri caught up on a bit of sleep.
When he woke up, they were there. The town was infested with soldiers! They were in every doorway, on every street corner! Where were all the civilians? No time for that. They had to find Ivan. Once out of the trucks someone who looked like a sergeant immediately questioned them, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“I am Dmitri Ravinoff! We are here to see my father! Take us to him!”
“I am sorry, comrade, but Ivan speaks to no one.” The sergeant replied, not seeming worried about the big people with knives in any way, until one of those knives happened to clip a bit of his ears off anyway. He walked off and beckoned them to follow, “Okay, okay, I will take you to him, he won’t be pleased though…”
Ivan was in the tallest building in town, with his office right at the top. It wasn’t very well kept… there were army rations lying everywhere, the plaster was falling off the walls, a few of the windows were broken, there was even a letter opener on the floor.
“Father? Is that you?”
“Dmitri. This is a surprise.” Ivan replied, while turning to face Dmitri on his swivel chair in the classic, slower than necessary style, to reveal his disfigured face.
“But you died! I saw your body!”
“No! That was your uncle! It was him that brought you up! After your mother died, I couldn’t handle it, so I gave the baby away. Maybe that was a mistake. Maybe it wasn’t. Your uncle was the one that died in Afghanistan. I survived… just about.” Ivan said, pointing at his face.
“You’re not him? Why? How could anybody do this?” Dmitri was unsettled by what his father had just told him.
“You’ll understand someday. Anyway, enough of this, why are you here? Why have you sought so hard to find me?”
“We need your help.” Vadim stood in for Dmitri, who just looked like he was trying to work everything out, “We need your army.”
“Whatever for? Why do you want my help? What do you plan to do?”
“Take Alaska for Russia!” Vadim said triumphantly, as though they already had.
“I’ll have no part in it. It’s crazy! Dmitri will inherit the leadership of this army when I die, you’ll just have to wait or find someone else.”
“Why? Mother Russia needs glory! You’re doing pathetically here! You’re being slaughtered!” Vadim shouted, “You could be glorious! If you help us, all of Russia will praise you!”
“No! I will not do it!” Ivan shouted back.
“Then you must die!” Dmitri shouted, while grabbing the letter opener and shoving it into his father’s throat.
“Why?” Ivan managed to mouth while blood was pouring out of his neck.
“For everything you have done to me! You must die for your sins! You were never my father! You killed him didn’t you? My so-called uncle? He was more of a father than you ever were!”
“I’m sorry…” Ivan croaked out with his last breath.
“I lead this army now! Let’s go tell everyone the good news! People will remember us! Russia will be glorious!”
WILL DMITRI KILL THE AMBITIOUS SERGEI? WILL THEY TAKE ALASKA FOR RUSSIA? WILL THE AMERICANS JUST SLAUGHTER THEM? WILL THE ARMY FIND OUT WHAT DMITRI DID? WILL THEY CARE? WILL MOTHER RUSSIA RUN OFF WITH THE MILKMAN AND LEAVE FATHER RUSSIA TO RAISE THE KIDS ALONE? WHAT WILL THEY HAVE FOR TEA? WILL I EVER STOP ASKING QUESTIONS?
FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON… RAVINOFF!