Prologue Read Online Free PDF

colluding with deVere, but I really don’t know since he’s single and his social life tends to be rather, ah, colorful. Difficult man to keep up with, being former Special Ops and all.”
“Balkan Wars?” Natasha asked. “Did the former United States fight in the Balkan Wars? I thought that-”
Rostov ’s snort interrupted her. “What was left of the old United States sent a force of volunteer military adventurers. It made no difference.”
“I see.”
Click, click, click . Igor showed a few other department members, all under appropriate surveillance and none suspected of anything other than working for tenure or research grants. “Not like the old days of the gulag,” Igor said a bit wistfully, “when we had the Jews and other dissidents to watch. Those were the days.”
Click. The screen went white. “Any questions?”
“None right now.”
Rostov nodded as he turned the lights back on. “I expect they’ll come fast and furious once you’re in the field. One thing about deVere…”
“Yes?”
Rostov put his hand to his lips, searching for the best way to put this. “Professor deVere has an animosity against the Soviet Union . He doesn’t only resent us, they all resent us. He hates us. The file doesn’t explain it, and that worries me. I can deal with what I understand. But I have no idea why deVere has this visceral hatred of the Soviet Union .”
“He lived in New Hampshire before the Second Revolution,” Natasha said. “His family were farmers. There must be something in his history to explain the abnormality.”
Igor snorted again. “His extraordinary abilities in math and science were detected while he was young, and he was sent to the best schools. His family were members of the old Democratic political party. Of course, having been Democrats in New Hampshire was probably enough to have made anyone feisty. Sometimes these things really do have simple explanations, but to hate us so…well, it would appear that he has no justification for hatred of the Soviet Union after all we did for him.”
Natasha nodded. “I’ll see what I can find. Now if you’ll excuse me–”
Igor shook his head. “Sit down.”
She looked up at him. He closed the blinds and locked the door. He sat across from her and looked into her eyes. “Comrade Nikitin, why is the Northeast District allowed to exist?”
“The Soviet Union believes in allowing people the right of self-determination, and we never compel anyone to–”
Igor waved his hand, cutting her off. “Skip the propaganda.” He stood and stepped back to a large map of the American S.S.R. mounted on the wall behind his chair. Natasha noted that all 37 Communist states of the A.S.S.R. were shaded in deep red. The three semi-autonomous zones were colored light blue.

Without looking back at the wall, Igor tapped his finger in the middle of the map, landing on Kansas . “We give the people here what they want,” Igor explained. “They are indeed allowed their ‘self-determination’ as you phrased it. We have learned a lot about governing other peoples since the 1930s, you know. That’s why we are called neo-Soviets. We let them teach Creationism in their public schools and ban the teaching of evolution. They want to outlaw abortion? We tell them we value life too and let them. We let them have their silly prayers in their schools. What do we really care? They see us as the protector of their values and believe we are on their side. They appreciate the security and peace that we have given them for over 40 years. They are loyal citizens.”

Igor drew a deep breath. “But the districts are troublesome. Of course there are hooligans everywhere, but they are especially concentrated in these districts, which is why we do not annex them. You know as well as I do why the Northeast District exists as an autonomous entity, when we could annex it before lunch tomorrow. Same reason the rest of the Free Enterprise Zones do, Great Lakes states and the West