Snow Wolf (59 page)

The woman went visibly pale. She studied
Stanski for several moments, then looked out nervously into the street.

"Come inside."

She led him into a large kitchen at the
back. There was a stove lit in one corner, and beyond the kitchen window
Stanski saw a long broad garden dotted with withered fruit trees and bare
vegetable plots.

The woman said anxiously, "You're
here two days early. And there were supposed to be two of you? I was expecting
a man and a woman."

Stanski looked at her. She was undeniably
handsome. She had a full figure, generous hips and breasts. She wore nail
varnish, and the long nails were perfectly manicured, her eyebrows plucked and
darkened. He noticed she wore no wedding ring.

"I'm afraid there was a problem. My
friend didn't make it."

The woman said hesitantly, "What
happened?"

Stanski told her but didn't go into
detail or mention Lukin. He saw the look of fear on the woman's face and said,
"Don't worry, she knew nothing about you."

"Are you certain?"

"You have my word you're safe."

He looked at the woman. He realized he
was more nervous than he thought and that made him suspicious. He noticed the
concentration camp numbers tattooed in blue ink on her wrist, then he saw a
framed photograph on the wall. It showed a man in a colonel's uniform. A hard
and ugly face that looked like it had been beaten with rifle butts.

"Who's that?"

"My husband, Viktor. He was killed
during the war."

"I'm sorry."

The woman laughed, then looked at the
photograph with contempt.

"Don't be. The man was a pig. I
wouldn't have cut him down if he was hanging. All I ever got from him was a
widow's war pension and this place after he died. I only keep his picture there
to remind myself how lucky I am without him. Every anniversary I get drunk and
spit at it. Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

"Sit down. I'll make you
something."

The woman busied herself cutting several
thick slices of bread and sweaty goat's cheese. As Stanski ate ravenously she
heated a pot of soup on the stove, then poured them each a glass of vodka and
joined him at the table.

"You look like you've been to hell
and back."

"I guess that's close enough."

"Eat and drink some more. Then I'll
heat some water for you to wash and shave." The woman wrinkled her nose.
"You smell worse than a cattle train. Give me your jacket and shirt for a
start. There's some old things of Viktor's somewhere that should fit you."

"If the KGB took my friend to
Moscow, where would they have taken her?"

The woman shrugged at the question.
"The Lubyanka prison. Or Lefortovo. But most likely the Lubyanka, because
it's part of KGB Headquarters. Why?"

Stanski didn't reply as he removed his
jacket and shirt and stood there bare-chested as he handed them over.

"You're certain I'm safe here? What
about the neighbors?"

"Perfectly safe. Most of the dachas
around here are never used in winter. They're owned by army officers and Party
officials." The woman smiled. "And if anyone asks, you're my cousin
come to visit. Whether they believe it or not is another matter, but they won't
bother us."

"I'll need transport."

The woman crossed to the stove and poured
thick soliyanka soup into a bowl and placed it in front of Stanski, cut more
bread and poured another vodka for him.

"There's an old Skoda under a
tarpaulin in the woodshed. Viktor brought it back from Poland in '41, along
with a mistress and a bad case of syphilis. The car still works perfectly well
and the tank's full."

"Can you drive?"

The woman nodded, "I was a driver in
the army during the war. I sometimes take the Skoda into the city."

"Can you show me around
Moscow?"

"Will it be dangerous?"

"I doubt it. Just a nice leisurely
drive to help me get my bearings. You have a map of the city?"

"An old one, from before the
war."

"That'll do fine."

The woman stood. "I'll get the map.
Have your soup before it gets cold."

"One more thing."

The woman looked at his face and Stanski
said, "What do I call you?

Madame Dezov?"

Her eyes took in his bare chest as she
laughed. "You? Anything you want. But lrena will do for now."

Moscow. February 28th, 2 Pm.

The small park off Marx Prospect was
empty that afternoon.

With its ponds and landscaped gardens and
wooden pavilions, the park had once been a favorite haunt of Tsar Nicholas
until the KGB had decided to acquire it for their own private use. Tall birch
trees protected it from the prying eyes of passers-by and the wrought-iron gate
was constantly guarded by an armed militiaman.

Lukin was sitting in the BMW outside when
he saw the Emka pull up in front of the gate.

Two plain-clothes KGB men climbed out of
the back. Anna Khorev was handcuffed to one of them. Someone had given her a
man's overcoat and it hung loosely over her shoulders.

Lukin climbed out of the BMW and crossed
to the men. "You can take off the handcuffs. That'll be all, I don't need
you any more." When the handcuffs had been removed the two men left. Lukin
saw the confusion on Anna's face. In the oversized coat she looked vulnerable.
He nodded to the militiaman to open the gate, then looked back at her. "Come,
let's walk."

Silver birch trees lined the narrow walks
and the place was peaceful apart from the faint hum of traffic. As they
strolled toward a pond, Lukin pointed to one of the wooden benches. "Let's
sit, shall we?"

He brushed away a dusting of snow and when
they had sat down he looked at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Why have I been brought here?"

"Anna, I told you my job is to find
Stanski dead or alive. I'm going to be honest with you and tell you so far our
searches have turned up nothing. He could be dead, of course, but I believe
he's still alive. He's a very resourceful fellow. By now he could even be in
Moscow. You're the only one who can help me find him. I told you I'd give you
time to consider your situation. But I have to be frank and tell you my
superiors are becoming impatient. They want answers and they want them fast. If
I can't get you to talk, then they'll use someone who will. The kind of brute I
told you about."

"You're wasting your time. I told
you already. I can't help YOU."

"Can't or won't? You know the people
who helped you on your journey to Moscow. And there may be other things you
know that could offer me some clue that could help me find Stanski."

"I have nothing to say."

"Anna, I'm asking you to think
again. Even if Stanski is alive and in Moscow, it's impossible for him to
succeed, The Kremlin or Stalin's villa can't be breached. And make no mistake,
sooner or later Stanski will be caught. It would be better for your sake if you
played a part in that by helping me. I know you won't break easily under
pressure. Anyone who has suffered as you did has to have nerves of steel. But
in the Lubyanka cellars even a strong woman would talk eventually. These people
have drugs, implements of torture. They've made braver and more stubborn people
than you confess to crimes they didn't even commit." He hesitated, then
shook his head. "I don't want you to have to suffer that. It's not worth
it, Anna. Not for someone who's going to be caught eventually."

Something in the tone of Lukin's voice
made Anna look at him. That same look of compassion was discernible in his soft
brown eyes.

"Do you mean it when you say you
don't want me to be hurt?"

"Of course. I'm not a beast, Anna.
But if I don't succeed, you'll be tortured and hurt. Much more terribly than
you can imagine."

"Then if I asked you to kill me to
save me from that pain, would you do that?"

"You know I couldn't do that."

"You know what - I think'? I think
you just want me to believe that you're half human. And that way you think I'll
confide in you and talk."

Lukin sighed and stood. He took a deep
breath before he looked down at her. "My father, you know what he used to
say? Begin with the truth. He was a principled man. Perhaps far too principled
for this life. I've tried to begin with the truth. I've tried to tell you what
will happen if you refuse to talk. You know that your position is impossible.
But there may be a future for you if you help me."

"You know I won't be set free."

"True, but any alternative to death
is a welcome one."

"What alternative?"

"If you help me, I'd ask the
prosecutor to consider penal servitude in the Gulag instead of a death sentence
when your case comes to court."

For a long time Anna said nothing. She
looked out at the trees and the snow on the ground, then she looked back.
"Have you ever been in the Gulag, Major Lukin?"

" No."

"Then you've never seen what goes on
there. I think if' you did you'd know that death is a better alternative.
There's nothing but brutality and hunger and slow death. You're treated worse
than an animal. I can't tell you what you want to know because I really don't
know where Stanski might be if he's alive. Whether you believe me or not is up
to you but it's the truth. And even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you. Your
friends in the cellars can do what they want, but the answer will be the same.
As for those who helped us they knew nothing of Stanski's plans. To tell you
their names wouldn't help you find Stanski, but simply expose them to suffering
and death."

"But you can still reveal what you
planned to do when you reached Moscow. You can still tell me their names."

"I'll only tell you one thing. Go to
hell."

Lukin saw the angry defiance on her face
as she turned away.

"I'm sorry it's come to this. I
admire your bravery but I think you're being a foolish woman. Foolish because
your bravery is unnecessary and foolish because you have a choice. Help me and
I will try to help you. It may mean having to face a life sentence in a camp,
and that's not pleasant, I agree, but it's surely better than the
alternative." He paused." I But whatever your decision, I want you to
have this moment.'

She looked up at him and frowned.
"What do you mean?"

Lukin nodded to the militiaman at the
gate. A moment later Pasha appeared. A little girl clutched his hand. She was
very pretty. She wore a red winter coat and a woollen hat and gloves and tiny
brown boots. She looked about her uncertainly.

When Lukin turned back he saw the shock
reaction on Anna Khorev's face. Disbelief and confusion, a look of both joy and
pain. Her cry shattered the silence of the park.

"Sasha! "

The little girl started at the sound of
her name and her face looked a mask of confusion. She stared over at her mother
uncertainly, then her lips trembled and she began to cry.

Pasha let go of her. Anna ran to her
daughter and swept her up. She smothered her in kisses, touched her face and
stroked her hair, washed away all the confusion the child felt, until finally
the little girl had stopped crying and her mother held her tightly.

For a long time Lukin stood there
watching, until he could bear it no longer.

He looked at Anna. Her wet eyes met his.

He said, "You have an hour. Then we
talk again."

Stanski unfolded the street map and
stared out beyond the Skoda's windshield as Irena drove.

The broad boulevards of Moscow were
jammed with yellow trolley buses and covered trucks spurting black clouds of
exhaust. Droves of small Enika taxis whizzed by, and a few shiny black
limousines, Soviet officials sitting stern-faced beside their drivers.

Irena drove the little gray Skoda
erratically, paying no heed to the icy slush that covered the streets as she
wove in and out of the chaos of traffic. It was anything but a leisurely drive,
but Stanski noticed that most of the other vehicles seemed to be driving just
as carelessly.

lrena explained that because most cars
had no heaters, drivers often drank vodka to keep out the cold.

The pavements seemed crowded with a
million different faces: Russians and Slavs, dark-eyed Georgians and yellow,
flat-faced Tartars and Mongolians. When they reached the Arbat, the old
merchant district of the city, Stanski saw the golden domes and cupolas of the
Kremlin in the distance. Waves of raw plastered apartment blocks lay beyond in
the suburbs on either side of the Moscow River.

They drove around the city for another
half-hour, Stanski referencing the streets to the map, until Irena said,
"Now what do you want me to do?"

"Drive to KGB Headquarters on
Dzerzhinsky Square and drop me off." frena looked at him in disbelief.
"Are you crazy?"