(2 of 7)
"Vasily Ivanovich," I said, "you'd better call Semichastny at the KGB. They'll take care of everything."
"I can't go to Semichastny. He's an active participant in the plot, along with Shelepin, Podgorny and others. I wanted to tell all this personally to Nikita Sergeyevich. He's in great danger."
"Call back in a few days. He'll be back soon."
"I may not be able to do that. It was only by chance that I got access to this special phone and managed to be alone in the room. Perhaps you can listen to what I have to say and then tell Nikita Sergeyevich about our conversation."
I didn't know what to do. If he was crazy, he would torment me with groundless suspicions. But what if he wasn't crazy? Maybe I'd better meet him and find out. "All right. Give me your address. I'll come this evening and you can tell me everything."
"No, no! It's dangerous to talk there. Do you know the Central Committee apartment building on Kutuzovsky Prospekt? Tell me what your car looks like, and I'll be waiting for you."
"I have a black car -- license 02-32. I'll be there in half an hour."
Sergei and Galyukov drove to the woods outside Moscow. Galyukov explained how he had overheard several of Ignatov's telephone conversations with Brezhnev and Podgorny. Though Galyukov had caught only snatches, he was convinced they planned to oust Khrushchev before November.
We'd been walking for almost two hours. As we were saying goodbye, Galyukov said, "Sergei Nikitovich, call me only in an emergency, and don't say anything on the phone beyond arranging a meeting. My telephone is bugged -- I'm sure of it."
All this was not just unusual but scary and unreal. On the way back into town, Galyukov and I were relieved to see that there was no one tailing us. How naive we were. His fear that his own phone was bugged was only part of the truth. The lines into Khrushchev's apartment were also bugged, so my meeting with Vasily Ivanovich was traced from the first step to the last.
When Father returned to Moscow, I was hesitant about telling him everything I had heard. What if all this was just an invention of a stranger who was talking nonsense about members of the top leadership -- many of whom I had known since my childhood in Kiev and had many times been to our home? "You know," I began, "something unusual happened while you were away. It may be nonsense, but I can't keep it to myself."
Father heard me out without saying anything. When I finished, he said, "You've done the right thing to tell me. Tell me again, who did that man mention by name?"
"Ignatov, Podgorny, Brezhnev, Shelepin."
Father thought for a moment. "No, that can't be. Brezhnev, Podgorny, Shelepin -- they're completely different people. Ignatov -- that's possible. But what can he have in common with the others?"
The next day, when Father returned from the Kremlin, he started right in: "It looks like there's nothing to what you said. Mikoyan, Podgorny and I were coming out of the Council of Ministers, and I told them what you'd said. Podgorny simply laughed it off. 'How could you even think such a thing, Nikita Sergeyevich?' But just in case, I asked Mikoyan to meet with this man ((Galyukov))."