The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

Orlov-Morozov sitting at the side table shuffling papers. “Come in, Volodya,” he said quietly. “ViliorGavrilovich was taken to the hospital. It’s possible that he had a heart attack. Do you need asignature for your cable?”Volodya placed the materials on the desk in front of Orlov-Morozov. “How is ViliorGavrilovich?” he asked.“I just returned from visiting him in the hospital. I don’t know. I’m not a doctor.”Having read and corrected punctuation in the text, the deputy resident was about to sign the cable.His silver fountain pen hovered above the paper. He looked over his glasses at Volodya. “Anythingelse?” he asked.“Please read this,” Volodya said, pointing to the three reports which stirred him up.Orlov-Morozov began to read slowly; not a muscle moved on his face. After he finishedreading, he signed the cable prepared by Volodya that contained only positive responses toyesterday’s revolution. Then he said quietly: “These reports are very good. Save them. We willwork on them. You understand that if we load up our leaders in Moscow with this kind of analysis,their heads will burst. Besides, Ivan Ivanovich is arriving here on May 2.”“Why should we be concerned about the state of our leaders’ heads, or about IvanIvanovich?” exploded Volodya. “Ohh, Ivan Ivanovich!”The heart attack of the chief, the inability to send the Center good reports from trustedsources, and, more than anything, the news of the arrival of Ivan Ivanovich, had shaken him. Hedidn’t sleep all night, and, interestingly, was not sleepy. “I will go home and get drunk,” decidedVolodya.“Do you need me now?” he asked his boss.“Get out of here and relax,” responded Orlov-Morozov, apparently having guessed his105