World in Flames

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The Commandant for Kremlin or “Citadel” security is always a general, and he uses falconers to send their goshawks to attack and frighten away the hundreds of crows. If the crows were left alone, they would defecate on and otherwise disturb the peace and dignity of the seat of Soviet government.

The falcons in the Kremlin date back at least fifty years, the use of gunfire to rid pests from the Kremlin’s sixty-three acres is strictly forbidden, for in times of political unrest, as in the Gorbachev days when the Yeltsin-ites and other “anti-Soviet elements” were allowed to mass in Red Square, it was feared that even a single shot from within the Citadel might be interpreted by the masses outside as the signal of a new revolution. In wartime it becomes imperative that no shots be heard coming from within the seat of government and that therefore only falcons be used to kill pests.

As easily as he had shed his naval uniform for his civilian clothes, Robert Brentwood slipped a pillow beneath his new bride and immediately felt the difference — their bodies closer now, her fragrance rising, engulfing him as in a dream. But he knew anything could break the spell.

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