Snow Wolf (44 page)

Lukin crossed to the wall map. "They're
not going to be much help to us anyway. Have the checkpoints turned up anything
yet?"

"Nothing except a half-dozen
deserters and a black marketeer. One of the deserters was shot and wounded
trying to escape."

"Excellent. At least we've done some
good for the state.

Tell me, do you think the Estonian
resistance might be helping our quarry?"

"It's possible, but they usually
confine themselves to the forests, and the nearest group we know of is a
hundred kilometers east of here."

Lukin crossed to the window and looked
down at the barrack square. A couple of dozen soldiers marched by smartly in
double file, and it was still dark outside.

He said without turning back, "Have
you ever read Tut-genev, Captain?"

Kaman shrugged. "I come from a
simple farming background, Comrade Major. Reading books wasn't half as
important as cows."

Lukin smiled. "Nevertheless,
Turgenev made an interesting observation. He used to say that when you're
searching for something, don't forget to look behind your ears as well."

"I don't understand."

"If you wanted to hide a couple of
enemy agents in Tallinn, where would you put them?"

Kaman scratched his chin. "Lots of
places. Parts of the old town go back to the fourteenth century and the place
is like a rabbit warren. Underground vaults and passageways from the days of
pirate smuggling. I'm sure there are cellars and tunnels there we don't even
know about."

"My point exactly." Lukin
thought a moment "And the outskirts of the town?"

Kaman hesitated, then shook his head.
"Too few people. And country folk would spot a stranger a mile off."
He smiled. "In that part of the world, people would talk if you part your
hair on the wrong side. Besides, half the population of Estonia are Russian
plants. They'd be quick to inform the militia of suspicious strangers."

Lukin nodded. "Very well, forget
about the rural areas for now." He pointed to the city map.
"Concentrate on the city and the old town. For now I want checkpoints and
roadblocks here, on all the main roads and the old entrance gates of the
citadel. Maintain radio links to the barracks and inform KGB Headquarters on
Pikk Street of our intention. These agents could have landed anywhere within a
twenty-mile radius, but my guess is they'll try to hide where a new face
doesn't look amiss. Anyone fitting the ages or descriptions is to be stopped
and their papers checked thoroughly. And I mean thoroughly."

"Yes, Comrade Major."

Lukin dragged on his tunic. "Arrange
an Emka and driver. And a mobile radio and maps. I'll be inspecting the
checkpoints personally at intervals."

"As you wish, sir." Kaman
snapped to attention.

As the captain turned to leave, Lukin
looked down at the tea and burnt toast.

"Kaman, a decent breakfast might be
in order. You can't expect a grown man to get through the morning on
this."

Kaman blushed. "I'll have the cook
see to it at once."

The ancient citadel of Tallinn had once
been part of the old Hanseatic League, an ancient port and trading fortress and
home to prosperous merchants and craftsmen, until the Russian Tsar had invited
himself in and turned it into a colony. Then Stalin, then the Germans, then
Stalin again.

Despite a long history of invaders, it
looked as if time had not touched the narrow medieval cobbled streets. Sunlight
splashed on yellow and blue pastel walls, and all around were oak-beamed inns
and houses, and gilded onion-domed churches.

As they walked along Pikk Street, the
main avenue that cut through the length of the town, Stanski looked in the drab
shop windows.

In a butcher's shop a single scrawny carcass
of beef hung from a solitary hook. In another shop window, a bored woman
arranged a couple of pairs of cheap rubber shoes. Stanski decided to try his
coupons, and when he bought a bottle of vodka in a shop off Pikk Street the
girl behind the counter took his coupon and money without batting an eye.

As they came onto Lossi Square, dozens of
attractive girls sat around on the park benches, their legs crossed, smiling at
passing uniformed sailors from the Soviet Baltic Fleet. Stanski noticed there
were numbers chalked on the soles of the girls' shoes.

"The girls are prostitutes from
Moscow, here for the sailors," Anna explained, smiling. "Prostitution
is against the law and a Gulag offense, but the militia can't arrest the girls
until they catch them soliciting by asking a price. So the girls write their
fee on their shoes and they're not breaking the law."

"All very civilized and clever. You
think they'd take coupons?"

Anna laughed. "Stanski, you're
crazy."

"The name's Bodkin, remember."

"And it suits you in those
trousers."

They came to a park on a hill at the top
of the town, with a view down to the sea. Despite the clear blue skies it was
freezing cold. Behind the park was some kind of large official residence, two
soldiers in uniform on guard duty outside. The park was empty except for a
couple of elderly ladies walking their dogs and a strolling soldier and his
girlfriend.

They found a bench and Stanski uncorked
the vodka and took a sip, then handed the bottle to Anna. "Here, put a
little sunshine in your heart."

She took a sip. Stanski was watching her
face and said, "Stalingrad. Tell me about it."

"Why do you want to know?"

"No reason. Just curious."

She looked out at the park. "It was
terrible. The savagery. The house-to-house fighting. The endless days and
nights without sleep. The intense cold. And always wondering if you were going
to have enough to eat that day, or if you were going to die. The shelling was
the worst. The noise went on for months, day and night. It got so bad even the
dogs would drown themselves in the Volga-they couldn't take any more." She
hesitated. "But it taught me how to survive. After Stalingrad, nothing
could really frighten you." Stanski said quietly, "What do you
believe in, Anna?"

She shook her head. "I think I stopped
believing in everything the day they took my daughter away."

"You never told me how Massey
intends getting her out."

"The same way he intends getting me
out, whatever way that is. Just as soon as he finds out what orphanage she's
in.

Stalin's made so many orphans, and there
are so many orphanages in Moscow, Jake said it's going to take time to find
Sasha. Some of the children are often given new names, to make them forget
their backgrounds and their parents. But he promised me he won't fail."
She paused. "And you, what do you believe in?"

He took in her figure and smiled faintly,
and Anna said straight-faced, "Besides that? If you don't believe in
anything, then what would please you?"

He thought for a long time. His face
looked more serious. "What would please me? To be able to walk in my
father's garden again. To smell the scent of apple trees and cherry blossoms.
To be with my parents and brother and sister once more."

:"You're such a strange man,
Alex."

"In what way?"

" You're a killer. And yet you talk
of the scent of apple trees and gardens. Or maybe you're just a typical
Russian. Sentimental when you drink vodka for a memory that can never be
recaptured." He laughed and said, "Or maybe I'm just trusting you
enough to let you get close."

She saw something vulnerable in his eyes
then, and as he offered her the bottle she shook her head.

"I think I've had enough. Any more
and you'll have to carry me back."

When he looked away over the town she
studied his face. The words he had spoken had obviously affected him. There
were no tears, but there was a tightening around his mouth and a distant look
in his eyes, as if what he had said of his past had been painful to remember.

She wrapped her scarf tightly around her
neck and stood. "I think it's time we were getting back. Gorev will be
worried."

Stanski looked up. "Anna..

"What?"

"Do you have any regrets after what
happened last night?"

She thought for a moment, then shook her
head. "No regrets." Her hand reached out and a finger gently brushed
his lips. "It's been a long time since someone had their arms around me. A
long time since I felt so secure and safe and wanted."

"And did you want me?"

"Maybe I've wanted you since the
first day I saw you. Only I didn't want to admit it." She smiled.
"Women can be like that, you know. It's a kind of foolish pride."

He stood and kissed her. "So, do you
really think I'm crazy?"

There was a kind of childish innocence to
the question that suddenly made her feel very tender toward him. She smiled
faintly.

"Perhaps just a little. But then all
of us Russians are."

Gorev, his face pale, looked from Stanski
to Anna as they sat in their bedroom. The innkeeper had ushered them upstairs
as soon as they returned.

"Bad news. I had a visit from the
local militia sergeant."

Stanski said worriedly,"What did he
want?"

"To see the inn's guest register.
Luckily I hadn't written in your names. When he saw the ranks of the two KGB
officers in the register he left. We're in the clear for now but it doesn't
look good."

Gorev wiped his hands anxiously on his
grimy smock. "According to Erik, the army and militia are setting up
roadblocks everywhere. They're watching the bus and railway stations and the
airport with great interest. It seems almost everyone's papers are being
checked. Apparently, some KGB major arrived here from Moscow last night to take
charge of the operation.

His name's Lukin, and barrack rumor has
it he's working directly for Beria. Erik says he's got everyone on their toes.
The militia shot one man already at the railway station. A deserter, poor
bastard."

"Did Erik know exactly why this
Major Lukin was in Tallinn?"

"That's the really rich part. Erik
heard he's looking for two agents who parachuted in last night. Apparently, a
Mig disappeared and crashed off the coast. A foot patrol was sent out onto the
Baltic ice last night. This morning they found the wreckage, and another of a
light aircraft that had crashed mid air into the Mig. No doubt it was the
aircraft that dropped you.

That explains why the army and militia
are swarming all over Tallinn like flies on shit."

Stanski went noticeably white. He looked
at Anna. There was a shocked look on her face. He turned back to Gorev.

"But how could this Lukin have known
about us?"

"Search me. Maybe some yokel found
your buried parachutes. But he does and that spells trouble for all of
us."

Stanski saw Anna's face pale.

Gorev said quickly, "My intention
was to put you on the train for Leningrad, but that's out of the question now
with the station being watched. Even the buses are being stopped and checked,
and the airport is definitely out, security will be too tight." Anna said
anxiously, "What can we do?"

Gorev stroked his beard nervously.
"God only knows. Normally our resistance people in the forests would hide
you. But getting you through the roadblocks would be too difficult and their
nearest camp is too far. I doubt Erik could try to borrow the truck again, that
would be tempting luck too far. Besides, this Lukin seems to have commandeered
every available vehicle and man at the barracks. And even if I got you to our
resistance there are risks involved. The boys may not welcome your company
right now; they get enough flak from the Reds as it is."

Stanski slammed a fist on the table in
frustration.

"Damn it to hell!" Gorev said,
"Erik tells me they'll start house-to-house searches if they haven't found
you both by tomorrow."

Anna glanced at Stanski, a look of
indecision on her face, and I then she said, "What do we do?"

' Either way, I'm on this ride to the end
of the tracks. But if you want to take your chances alone trying to hide out
with the partisans, I'm sure Gorev will oblige and I won't stop you."

She thought for a moment, then shook her
head. "No, I stay with you."

"Then there's no choice at all,
really. We have to move. We haven't a chance in hell staying here."

"But that doesn't seem possible. How
can we get out of Tallinn?"

"You could try the sewers under the
old town, but you'd be asphyxiated by the fumes before you got ten
meters."

"Where do the sewers lead?"

"To the edge of the old town. But
after that where do you go? And Erik says the Reds are everywhere."

"It could be worth a try."

Gorev shook his head firmly. "Forget
it. We used the sewers once to hide weapons from the Germans. The gases killed
two of our men and another died from blood poisoning. A couple of sniffs of
that foul air and you'd be on your backs in the mortuary. And even if you did
manage to stay conscious, most of the tunnels lead to under the KGB
headquarters. You take the wrong turn and you'd save this Major Lukin the
effort of finding you."