A Matter of Honour/Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less [antikvár]

CHAPTER ONE THE KREMUN, MOSCOW May 19,1966 **It's a fake/* said the Russian leader, staring down at the small exquisite painting he held in his hands. "That isn't possible/* replied his Politburo colleague. **The Tsar*s icon of St George and the Dragon has been in the Winter Palace at Leningrad under heavy guard for over fifty years.** 'True, Comrade Zaborski,** said the old man, **but for fifty years we*ve been guarding a fake. The Tsar must have removed the original some dme before the Red Army entered St Petersburg and overran the Winter Palace.** The head of State Security moved resdessly in his chair as the cat and mouse game continued. Zaborski knew, after years of running the KGB, who had been cast as the mouse the moment his phone had rung at four that morning to say that the General Secretary required him to report to the Kremlin - immediately. "How can you be so sure it*s a fake, Leonid Ilyich?** the diminutive figure enquired. "Because, my dear Zaborski, during the past eighteen months, the age of all the treasures in the Winter 3