Snow Wolf (66 page)

She poured another vodka and swallowed it
before she said to Anna, "I don't know whom I'd rather face. This lunatic
friend of yours or the KGB. The man's as crazy as Rasputin."

She put her glass down and touched Anna's
arm. "What about you? are you all right?"

"Yes."

"You don't look it. You look like
death. Take a drink, it'll calm your nerves. Me, I'm that shook I'm going to
drink until I'm legless. You're going to need a bath and a change of clothes.
I've got some in the room at the back. I'll get them and heat some water."
When Irena went out, Stanski said to Anna, "Drink. Irena's right, you look
as if you need it."

Anna ignored the vodka. "Where are
we? Where is this place?"

Stanski told her. He had already
explained about Irena, but the atmosphere in the car as they drove to the dacha
had been charged and anxious, as if they each expected a roadblock or a police
siren at any moment, and they had hardly spoken. Now Stanski said,
"There's something wrong, isn't there?"

"I told you, I'm fine."

"Then why is it I get the feeling
something about you is different? I would have thought getting you out of the
Lubyanka was cause for a celebration. Instead, you look like someone's just
spoiled your evening."

As she stood there, Stanski saw a
lifeless look in her eyes and said, "Tell me what's wrong."

"Lukin told me you came to Moscow to
kill Stalin. Is that true?"

Stanski didn't reply.

For several moments she stood there,
looking at him, and then she said, "if that's true, you're insane."

"Wrong man. It's Stalin who's
insane. And yes, I came here to kill him."

"You could never do it. It's
impossible. You'd simply be wasting your own life."

"Best let me be the judge of
that."

Anna was going to continue, then
hesitated. Stanski said, "There's something else, isn't there'? Did Lukin
hurt you? Is that it?"

"He didn't lay a finger on me."

"You know you almost got us killed
tonight? You can't trust Lukin. How could you be such a fool? You should have
let me shoot him when I had the chance."

"He didn't deserve to die like
that."

He looked at her and laughed harshly.
"I can't believe you're saying that. The man tries to kill us and you're
defending him."

"Lukin took me to see Sasha."

He saw the pain in her face and suddenly
put down his glass. "Tell me."

She told him everything that had happened
since he had lost her in the woods.

When she had finished, Stanski said,
"So that's why you were with him in the car? Listen to me, Anna, there's
only one reason Lukin Would have allowed you to see Your daughter, and that's
to make you talk."

"There was nothing I could tell him
to help him find you. I think Lukin knew that all along, even when he took me
to meet Sasha. What he did tonight any man in his position who loved his wife
would have done ... Lukin thinks she'll be punished too for what you did. He
had to try and stop you."

"Listen to me, Anna. Lukin's no
different from any of those other KGB bastards. He tried it on with you with a
sob story and hoped you'd fall for it and you did. You should have let me put a
bullet in him when I had the chance." He shook his head. "He was
playing games with you, Anna. Playing games to get you to trust him. And even
if he meant what he said about saving you from a firing squad, what sort of a
life would it have been for your daughter, imprisoned in a camp?"

He saw her struggle to hold back her
tears. His hand reached out and touched her face.

"Anna, I'm sorry. If there was
something I could do to get Sasha back I would, but it's too late for that and
too dangerous, and even if I knew where she was you can be sure after tonight
Lukin will have her closely guarded. I can't take the risk of trying to rescue
her, it would only jeopardize what I came here to do. And it's come too far to
let that happen."

She turned away, a flood of grief on her
face. Stanski went to touch her again but she pushed him away, and he saw the
tears at the edges of her eyes.

"I can't give up now, Anna, not when
I'm so close. And if Lukin thinks I'm finished he's got a surprise in
store."

Anna looked back at him. "You're
being reckless. You know what you intend is impossible. Stop before it's too
late."

He smiled, but the smile never reached
his eyes. "Definitely too late for that, Anna. Irena will drive you to a
railway station outside Moscow before it gets light. There's a Goods train
leaving for the Finnish border and you'll both be on it. A man named Lebel will
look after you. Irena will tell you everything when the time comes. I'm truly
sorry about Sashia."

He looked at her face and she knew he
meant it. He turned toward the kitchen door. "Where are you going?"

"To get some air. Maybe you need to
be alone."." As he opened the door, Anna said, "You know you're
dead if you stay in Moscow?"

Stanski pulled up his collar. "Like
they say, the seeds of what we'll do are in all of us. Maybe that's my fate. I
mean to finish what I started. And no one's going to stop me now. No one. Least
of all Lukin."

And then he turned and was gone out of
the door.

The man had driven halfway down the unlit
street in the van and pulled in under a tree. It was deserted and the dachas on
either side were in shadow. He removed the binoculars from under the passenger
seat and stepped out into the snow.

It took him almost ten minutes to find
the address in the darkness. Five minutes later he had found his way around to
the back of the property and came out in a clump of trees at the rear of the
dacha. He saw the yellow glow of an oil lamp burning behind the downstairs
CURTAINED window and he smiled to himself.

He settled down in the freezing woods.
The binoculars were pretty useless without any light, and he trained his eyes
on the dacha, scanning the curtained windows for- any sign of movement.

As he sat there he suddenly saw the back
door open. In the flood of light that !filled the doorway a man stepped out
onto the patio and closed the door after him.

He lifted the binoculars. It was too dark
to see the man's face clearly and he swore to himself. Then a light flared in
the blackness near a woodshed as the mien lit a cigarette, and he locked onto
the figure and saw the face clearly for an instant and froze.

The man put down his binoculars and
picked his way back through the woods to the van. It was five minutes later
when he drove into the nearest town and found a public telephone.

He went to stand under the rusting metal
canopy and inserted a coin and dialed the number. It took @,., a long time
before the phone was lifted at the other end. "Boris?"

"Da. "It's Sergei. I think I've
found them."

Moscow.

Nadia came out of the kitchen with a
bottle of vodka and two gllasses. Her hands were trembling.

Lukin said, "You really think you
ought to drink?"

"I need it. So do you."

"Perhaps I should call you a
doctor?"

She shook her head. "One patient is
enough for tonight. Sit down, Yuri."

There was a firmness in her voice Lukin
hadn't heard before, He sat on the couch and she poured two glasses and came to
join him.

As Lukin sat there, he felt numb inside.
What had happened was a nightmare. They had left Pasha at the office of a
Mongol doctor he knew. A bullet had chipped his shoulder bone but the wound
wasn't life-threatening. The doctor had given him a shot of morphine and
cleaned the wound, then Pasha had called Lukin aside.

"Go home, Yuri. I'll call you when I
get out of here. Look after Nadia. She looks pretty upset."

"You're sure you'll be all
right?"

Pasha lifted his arm and grimaced in
pain. "I'll just have to learn to drink with my left." Lukin knew the
humor was forced.

He consulted the doctor.

"He's lost some blood," the
doctor said, "but I know this lunatic. He'd live through anything. What
about you and your wife? You both look shaken."

Lukin didn't want to complicate things
further. The less the doctor knew the better. But he had him examine Nadia in
the next room.

When the doctor came back he said,
"Your wife's pretty distressed. Because she's pregnant, I've given her
some mild sedatives to help her relax. Make sure she takes them. Do you want to
tell me what happened?"

Lukin shook his head. "She wasn't
hurt?"

"There's no sign of any physical
injury. She just needs to rest. What about you?"

"Just make sure Pasha's taken care
of. And if anyone asks, you were told his wound was an accident."

Now Lukin put his head in his hand as he
sat on the couch. He felt drained, exhaustion and stress foggin- his brain.

"Drink this."

He looked up. Nadia handed him the glass
of vodka.

When he had swallowed @" a mouthful,
she sat beside him. "Tell me what's going on. Tell me why that man
kidnapped me." She looked at him. "What happened to your hand?"

Lukin heard the anger in her voice as she
stared at him..

"You'd better tell me everything,
Yuri. Because if you don't I'm packing my things and leaving. My life's been
put in danger. And the life of our child."

"Nadia , .." He went to touch
her but she pushed him away.

He understood. At first, her reaction was
fear and shock, now anger, because he had put their lives in danger.

He shook his head helplessly. "Nadia
... regulations don't permit me ..

"I mean it, Yuri. After tonight you
owe it to me to tell me everything. And to hell with your regulations. What if
that madman hadn't released me when he did?"

"I would have tried to follow
him."

"That was still putting my life in
danger."

"Nadia, there was no other way ..

"Tell me the whole truth. or so help
me, Yuri, as much as I love you, I'm leaving you. Who was the man?"

Lukin saw the look on her face and knew
she meant it. He put his glass down very slowly, took a deep breath and let it
out.

"An American assassin. His name's
Alex Stanski. He's also known as the Wolf. He's in Moscow to kill Joseph
Stalin."

Nadia turned white. She put down her
glass, disbelief on her face.

Lukin told her everything. When he had finished,
Nadia stood up and said, "Oh my God."

"After tonight the situation looks
hopeless. When Beria learns I've released the woman he'll have me arrested and
shot. It won't matter that I did it because your life was in danger. To Beria
that's no excuse. Duty comes first. And he'll see you as an accomplice who
should be punished." He saw the look of anguish on his wife's face and
said, "Nadia, you wanted the truth and I've told you."

"I ... I don't believe this is
happening."

He felt the perspiration run down his
shirt. "Listen to me Nadia. No matter what way you look at it I'm dead and
you're in danger. It's not going to take long before Beria learns the truth.
Tomorrow at the latest I want you to leave Moscow. Go somewhere you stand a
chance of not being found. Somewhere far away. The Urals. The Caucasus. I'll
arrange false papers. You take every ruble we have. It's your only hope. If you
stay, you'll be shot or sent to a camp. This way at least you stand a
chance."

"I'm not leaving you here
alone."

"You have to, if only for our
child's sake."

"And what will you do?"

"I stay in Moscow. If we leave
together there wouldn't be any mercy shown. But if I stay there's a chance
Beria won't trouble himself about you."

Nadia seemed to crack then, and Lukin saw
the flood of tears before her arms went around his neck and he pulled her
close.

"No tears, Nadia. Please ... "I
won't go without you,"

"Then think of our child."

She pulled away from him, sobbing. Lukin
stood. Seeing her like this was killing him.

"Tell me what happened this morning.
What did Stanski do to you?"

Nadia wiped her eyes. "He came to
the door and forced himself in. He put something over my mouth and I blacked
out. When I came to he had a gun to my head. He said he'd kill us both if I
didn't do as he said. I thought he was some escaped madman."

"Did he hurt you?"

"No."

"Tell me what happened after he took
you outside." She told him and Lukin said, "When Stanski took you to
the car, was he alone?"

"No, there was someone waiting in
the driver's seat."

"Who?"

"I couldn't see. I was still drowsy.
As soon as I got in the backseat he blindfolded me. The next thing I knew I was
in a room somewhere. That's all I remember."