Bruno was definitely surprised by the reports he had read after promoting his two closest friends to the rank of major and giving them a far more significant degree of control and responsibility in the war effort. The nicknames given to the two men couldn’t have been more different.
On the one hand, the war had certainly hardened Erich’s heart, rendering him incapable of remotely empathizing or sympathizing with another human life. His cruelty in pursuit of the Marxists was legendary, earning him the nickname “The Terror of Belgorod.”
Whereas Heinrich had almost certainly progressed in the exact opposite direction. It was a war, and things such as collateral damage, civilian casualties, and the displacement of millions of innocent people were natural consequences.
Despite being a soldier fighting in the war and commanding an entire battalion of men within the city of Tsaritsyn, where Bruno left him in charge after withdrawing from the Volga region, Heinrich had become known as a local “saint” by the people.
He went out of his way to use military resources to feed and house homeless orphans who had aged out of the church’s orphanages. In addition to this, he requested further aid for these humanitarian efforts from Bruno, who couldn’t help but jump at the opportunity for good PR.
As a result, Bruno reached out to the Kaiser, expressing Heinrich’s request and emphasizing why it was a necessary expense. Within a fortnight, supplies and personnel flooded into the country to feed and house the poor, displaced masses of Russia.
Bruno, of course, gave credit to the man responsible, and Heinrich earned the nickname “The Savior of Tsaritsyn.” Many began to refer to him colloquially as “Saint Heinrich the Caretaker.” Heinrich’s good deeds, however, masked the cruelty with which Erich hunted down the Red Army within his area of responsibility.
At least for a time. Certain actions couldn’t be concealed for very long. Sooner or later, someone would take notice and report it up the chain of command. Eventually, word reached Bruno that Erich had been killing informants who had come forward to expose their superiors in the Bolshevik Party and the Red Army.
As a result, Bruno summoned Erich from Belgorod to Saint Petersburg, where he was commanding operations of the Iron Division from behind the front lines. Insubordination was a crime treated in this day and age with a bullet to the skull.
Bruno had, for good reason, given an order to all his troops to show mercy to informants who came forward to betray their masters. The Tsar had not issued a pardon to these people, but it was expedient to the cause.
If Bruno was being honest, he didn’t really care that Erich was executing informants—not from a moral stance, at least. They were, after all, the most despicable of the Bolsheviks—those who refused to die for their cause and turned on their fellow rats the moment an opportunity arose to save their own hides.
If it were up to Bruno, these informants would receive the most horrific deaths imaginable as punishment for their moral failures. But that was assuming Bruno lived in a perfect world of his own imagination, where such actions had no adverse consequences.
Above all else, Bruno was a man of practicality. From that sensibility alone, Erich’s actions were counter to his grand designs. Firstly, violating the will of the Tsar while acting as a foreign agent was a good way to cause an international incident—one that would be a black eye on the German Reich for a long time.
Secondly, insubordination was intolerable under any circumstances, even if the cause was just. Killing Marxists was always just, but to do so without punishment would have severe consequences on the functioning of the army.
Luckily for Erich, his actions were reported to Bruno directly, as the witness who testified against Erich didn’t trust anyone else. Otherwise, this could have caused a serious headache for Bruno, forcing him to deal with Erich appropriately.
The punishment for insubordination in this day and age was usually execution by firing squad. But if Bruno executed Erich, the matter would become public. And if that happened, all his hard work to repair relations between the German Reich and the Russian Empire would crumble.
It was because of this, and not because of any affection Bruno bore for Erich as his longtime brother-in-arms, that Bruno decided to sweep the matter under the rug. Bruno was the kind of man who put duty before friendship or family. Honor compelled him to punish Erich, but practicality required him to do so discreetly.
That’s why Bruno summoned Erich to Saint Petersburg in private. Erich knew why he had been called and was not the least bit surprised to find himself alone with Bruno in his office.
Contrary to Bruno’s expectations, Erich had a smug expression on his face as they sat silently, drinking and smoking cigarettes. Bruno was about to ask why Erich was behaving this way when Erich pulled out his sidearm and handed it to Bruno.
It was fully loaded, and Erich’s words shocked Bruno.
“You called me here to deal with me after I murdered those informants, right? So make it quick. Best not to use your own weapon if you want this to look like a suicide…”
Bruno grabbed Erich’s sidearm, dropped the magazine, worked the toggle action to eject the round, and then reinserted it into the magazine before shoving it back into the gun. All of this was done so fluidly that it was clear Bruno had ample experience with the weapon. He then handed it back to Erich with a questioning look.
“You think I would kill you over spilling the blood of a few rats? Please, you should know me better than that. Perhaps if this had become public, I’d be compelled to take your life. But I will never kill a man for committing a just action unless I have no other choice.
Still, the way you act in the face of death worries me. Unfortunately, I don’t have time for such matters. I called you here to give you a warning.
Don’t ever let me hear of this again. If even the slightest whisper reaches my ears that you continue to disobey orders, I will personally hand you over to the Okhrana. And you and I both know what those sick fucks do to those who defy the Tsar’s will.”
Erich’s blood froze upon hearing Bruno’s sharp words. It was one thing to be prepared to meet a swift end via a 9mm to the dome, but to be handed over to the sadistic psychopaths in the ranks of the Tsar’s secret police? That was a level of ruthlessness only Bruno was capable of.
Erich knew that Bruno would do exactly that without remorse. He also understood Bruno’s hidden intent: Bruno didn’t care if Erich continued to kill informants, but he damn well better clean up his mess better next time. Otherwise, not even God could grant him a painless death.
Erich stuttered slightly while bowing his head, avoiding Bruno’s chilling gaze.
“I… I understand… I won’t mess up like this again…”
Bruno shifted his focus back to the documents in front of him, signing a request to transfer a prisoner to the sadistic psychopaths of the Okhrana. Whether this was intentionally prepared to intimidate Erich, or was merely a coincidence, Erich didn’t know. But the fact that Bruno had just condemned a man to such cruelty after threatening him with the same fate seared his words into Erich’s mind.
As Bruno dismissed him with a flippant tone, ignoring him entirely, Erich realized the gravity of the situation.
“That will be all, Major…”
Erich could only breathe properly once he had left the suffocating atmosphere of Bruno’s office. While Bruno had made it clear that Erich would only be punished if he got caught again, Erich was smart enough not to tempt death, especially when the consequences had been made so abundantly clear.
Thus, any mention of him murdering the informants of Belgorod was quickly swept under the rug. Neither the Tsar, nor his secret police, nor the Russian public, nor the Bolshevik revolutionaries would ever find out about it.
