The bullet holes in the Lubyanka courtyard had already been plastered over.
The trial was over.
The executions done.
The foreign press had published their revelations and left.
But inside the Kremlin, the real operation was only beginning.
In Stalin's office, the fire crackled beneath a portrait of Lenin.
Across from him sat Molotov and Kaganovich. Between them lay a red-inked decree.
"Effective immediately," Stalin said, tapping the paper, "Yagoda is relieved."
Molotov frowned. "He delivered Zinoviev and Kamenev."
"He delivered confession," Stalin said flatly. "Not conviction. The gardener let weeds grow. He's lucky I don't bury him in the soil he failed to till."
Kaganovich adjusted his spectacles. "Yezhov?"
"Loyal," Stalin said. "Hungry. Sharp."
He folded the document with care. "More useful than tired and comfortable."
At Lubyanka, Genrikh Yagoda stood before the sealed door of his own office.
A wax stamp crossed the handle.
Restricted – Authority Transferred
