The Last Romanov (Under Editing)

Plan of Attack

No amount of planning and practicing his explanation could prepare Sasha for the cold, disappointed, almost angry looks on Virtanen's and Maria's respective faces.

    "This had best be good, Kozlov," Virtanen said as he sat down at the table in the basement of the church, with Maria soon to follow. "We already have a plan to eliminate Anastasia from the equation: I don't see what good another plan is going to do."

    "And I think she's getting suspicious of me leaving the palace by myself all the time," Maria said. "This needs to stop. Now."

    "And it will," Sasha promised. "In fact, so will Anastasia's rule."

    Virtanen looked between Sasha, Nadezhda, and Arttüri. "Are all three of you in on this? Nadezhda, I thought that you agreed with the plan Maria and I set out. Didn't you think that going slowly would be the best way to go about things?"

    "I did, but... there's no guarantee that the slow way will even work," Nadezhda said. "Sasha's plan, though, will work. As long as everything goes to plan."

    "As long as everything goes to plan," Virtanen echoed. "And if it doesn't go to plan, all of us will get executed. And if I get executed, Finland is going to get involved. Russia will be waging a war on two fronts, and every citizen in Russia will suffer for it."

    "You don't even know what their plan is," Arttüri complained. "You should listen to it: it's pretty good, I think."

    "Don't think about how Arttüri feels about this plan," Sasha said quickly: he could tell that he'd just about lost Virtanen with that mention of Arttüri's unwelcome stamp of approval. "The three of us have worked hard on this. We listened to you while you explained your plan; now, you need to listen to ours."

    Virtanen gave him a look, then sighed.

    "Alright: we'll listen," Virtanen said.

    Maria shot him a look. "And what about our plan?"

    "I doubt I'll like this one," Virtanen said, "especially knowing that Arttüri had a hand in it. But, as you seem rather passionate in it, I'll listen."

    "That's the spirit," Arttüri said.

    "And you don't have to worry about him," Sasha promised. "Arttüri won't be involved in this, at all."

    "Hey-"

    "Keep going," Virtanen said.

    Sasha nodded, pulling out the travel itinerary. "Arttüri, here, has already done his job: he was able to get Anastasia's travel itinerary for an upcoming trip to Salekhard to visit the troops. We're going to assassinate her while she's on the move."

    "And who does this involve, exactly?" Virtanen asked. "You and I both know that I can't travel to Salekhard: she's going to get suspicious."

    "Nobody's going anywhere," Sasha said. "It'll just be me."

    Everyone turned to look at him as if he had something crawling out of his ears. Of course, they were. He hadn't told anyone-not Nadezhda, not Arttüri-about it. Not until then, anyway.

    "What do you mean, you're going alone?" Virtanen asked.

    Sasha raised an eyebrow. "So, you suddenly care who's going?"

    "Do you really think we'll let you do this?" Virtanen asked. "This is too dangerous, Sasha: if you do this... you aren't going to come back."

    "Why the hell do you think I'm not letting anybody else come?" Sasha asked.

    They stayed quiet for a few moments. He had a point, of course.

    "The train is going to make a stop in Yekaterinburg so she can watch them demolish the Ipatiev House and start breaking ground on a church to honor the memory of the royal family," Sasha explained. "I'll get there before her, and I'll shoot her. You guys are going to stick around here, and you're going to take over, here. No matter what, we should still be able to take the throne."

    "And how are we supposed to hold the city?" Virtanen asked.

    "That's where the rest of us come in," Nadezhda said. "We'll have three targets of assassination on that day: General Horacek, Air Marshall Novak, and Commander Zelenko."

    "What about Admiral Kirilov?"

    "When will he be back in the city?" Nadezhda asked.

    "Next Saturday," Maria said. The very day Sasha was supposed to assassinate Anastasia.

    "Four targets, then," Nadezhda said. "To all be taken out at the same time, or as close to the same time as possible. Once they and Anastasia are gone, Dagmar Feodorovna will have no opposition to the throne."

    "I still see a problem with this plan," Maria said. "You can't leave me be."

    Sasha frowned. "What do you mean?"

    "It'll be obvious to every man, woman, and child in Russia that this is an attempt to take out the line of succession," Maria said. "And if I'm not hurt in this attempt, it'll be even more obvious that I had a hand in this. If the military is to remain under Romanov control, it must look like I was a target, as well."

    Sasha nodded. "Make that five targets, then."

    "Four and a half," Arttüri said.

    Everybody turned to look at Arttüri.

    "What?" He asked, shrugging. "We don't want to kill Maria, do we? Therefore, she's only half a target."

    Sasha couldn't help but roll his eyes. "We need two more assassins, then: we've got Nadezhda and Arttüri, so far. Who else do we need to get?"

    "I can talk to Nadya," Virtanen said.

    Maria turned and looked at him, surprised. "Simo, we aren't really doing this, are we?"

    "I... think Sasha might be right," Virtanen said. "We're moving far too slow. And I think it's a sound plan: they've included anyone else that might want to take the throne in Anastasia's absence."

    Maria sighed. "Alright. But this plan of theirs isn't going to work unless we get two more people. And frankly, I'm not sure that I like the idea of trusting Arttüri, here, with a gun. And the lives of other people. And the death of one man."

    "Thanks, Maria," Arttüri said. "Now that I know that we're speaking honestly-"

    "We're not," Virtanen clarified quickly. "We're not speaking honestly." He looked back at the rest of the group. "As I was saying, I can talk to Nadya. She hasn't been well, but I think she just needs a... healthy way to reduce her - erm - stress."

    A healthy way to reduce her stress?

    "What do you mean, a healthy way to reduce her stress?" Sasha asked.

    Maria and Virtanen both looked at each other, then back at Sasha and Nadezhda.

    "I... think it would be best to show you rather than try to explain it," Virtanen said carefully.
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Hello, everybody, and happy Tuesday! I hope that today and the week in general have treated you guys well, so far.

So, I've got some housekeeping for you guys, today. You guys will be getting a whopping 5 chapters today! Why? Because I finished writing this story, and because we were breaking personal records on the hotlist left and right this week. So, I'll be doing the dedication on the 5th chapter, and I'll be revealing some information about the project coming after the final chapters of "The Devil of Whitechapel" get posted that I think you guys will love if you love this story.

As always, be sure to vote and comment, and stick around: there's more excitement coming your way, today :D