Orest Stelmach - The Boy from Reactor 4

“You are carrying a concealed weapon,” Detective Novak said.

“It’s not a weapon. It is a cattle prod.”

“Do you herd cattle?”

“Do you value your career?”

Detective Novak smiled, walked up to Kirilo, and handed him the coat and the cattle prod.

“We’ve completed our search,” he said. “You’re free to go, as are your men.”

Kirilo stepped between Specter and Nadia and put his arm around her shoulder. “Come with me, dear. Let me give you a ride to your hotel in my Audi.”

Nadia wrangled out of his grasp and stepped forward. “Detective, may I get a lift to the station, please? I’m not with these men anymore.”

Detective Novak glanced from Nadia to the men and back to her again. He stopped chewing.

“I was going to offer to pay for the gasoline or any inconvenience,” she said, “but that would be an insult. So I can only say please.”

Detective Novak paused, resumed chewing, and smiled. He marched over to a police cruiser and opened the door to the backseat without saying a word. Motioned for Nadia to get in with a sweep of his right hand. After closing the door behind her, he stood before Kirilo, Misha, and Specter.

“I don’t want to see any of these vehicles following us to the station. The lady is no longer interested in your company. Is that understood?”

They didn’t answer.

“In fact,” Detective Novak said, glancing at one of his men with a clipboard, “check registrations for all these cars before these men leave.” He turned back to Kirilo. “For my report. To make it perfect. Because I value my career.” He winked.

He climbed into the passenger seat while another cop got in the driver’s seat. As he pulled away, Nadia snuck a peek out the window. Kirilo followed the car on foot for a few steps, as though letting her know they would be coming soon.

Specter stood tapping his cell phone. The motion suggested he wanted Nadia to call him later.

“May we take you to the Hotel Rus?” Detective Novak said.

“No, thank you,” Nadia said. “That’s very kind of you. If you wouldn’t mind… There is a destination… I’m leaving tomorrow, and I haven’t had a chance to see the new statue. The new statue at Babi Yar.”

THE COPS KEPT Kirilo, Victor, Misha, and the bodyguards in the warehouse for another hour. Kirilo fumed at the irritation until the cops finally left at 7:25.

“We have to stop her from leaving the country,” Kirilo said. “If she’s still here. Pavel, call the deputy minister of the interior. Get him on the line for me.”

Pavel pulled out his cell phone and stepped away.

“Who has a picture of her?” Kirilo said.

Misha pointed to Specter, who nodded.

“Good,” Kirilo said. “Get it to Pavel right away. I’ll see that the deputy minister gets it to Passport Control and that she’s held for suspicion of illegally entering the Zone of Exclusion. We don’t even have to make up a phony charge. It’s legitimate. The taxi driver confessed to it.”

“She has a head start,” Misha said. “She could be on a plane before they have her picture.”

“She won’t go to the airport,” Victor said.

Kirilo forced himself to look at his cousin. “Why do you say that?”

“She’ll be expecting us to be expecting her there. It’s how she came in. It’s the easy way out. It’s too big a risk, and she’s too smart to take it.”

“Then she’ll go by boat or by rail,” Misha said.

“It doesn’t matter how she travels,” Kirilo said. “She has to clear Passport Control somewhere, and we will either have that picture in time for her to be stopped or we won’t. Which is why we will pursue our other leads while we wait.”

“What other leads?” Misha said.

“We know from the taxi driver that she met with a zoologist. A man named Karel who conducts experiments in Chernobyl village. The deputy minister will get Pavel his home address, and we’ll go pay him a visit immediately. Meanwhile, the deputy minister will get us emergency clearance to enter the Zone of Exclusion tonight.”

“Chernobyl?” Misha said. “You’re going to Chernobyl? When? Tonight?”

“That’s where she went to see her uncle,” Kirilo said. “Damian Tesla is there, somewhere. He can tell us what we’re chasing after. And he might be able to tell us how she’s leaving the country.”

Misha fidgeted in place. “For real? You would go there? I mean, like, is it safe?”

“Of course it’s not safe,” Kirilo said, amused by the moscal ’s obvious fear.

Victor slapped his young protégé on the shoulder. “You don’t have to go, Misha,” he said. “I’ll go with Kirilo, and we’ll fill you in with whatever we find out. You can trust us. You know that.”

Misha blinked several times in rapid succession. He straightened his posture and balled his fists. “Fuck you, old man.”

As soon as he got the words out, Misha whitened. He raised his hand to cover his mouth, turned, and vomited on the warehouse floor.

Kirilo stepped back. Victor hadn’t been kidding, he realized. The Bitch really had poisoned the moscal .

“You okay?” Kirilo said.

“I’m fine,” Misha barked, face flushed. “Don’t you worry about me.”

As Kirilo passed him, Victor whispered under his breath, “Ten million divided by two is greater than ten million divided by three.”

The mere sound of the Bitch’s voice made Kirilo want to bite his ear off and spit it out in his face.

“I’m on hold,” Pavel said, cupping the phone with one hand.

Kirilo edged closer to Pavel, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Victor couldn’t hear him.

“Anything on Isabella’s whereabouts?” Kirilo said.

“No,” Pavel said. “I have calls in to all our contacts. The only thing I’ve learned so far is that the Timkiv twins may be helping him. They run a small crew in Odessa and were seen in Yalta by one of our men. They match the description of the two young men you saw outside your boat when Victor came aboard.”

“Good,” Kirilo said. “How can we squeeze them where it hurts? Are their parents alive? Are they married with children?”

“I don’t know about their family. I know they’re single. And they worship only money.”

“That is a church I’m familiar with. Let’s find their bishop. I’m sure I can threaten to disrobe him to reveal their location.”

NADIA ASKED DETECTIVE Novak to give her a quick tour of the park at Babi Yar so she could orient herself. He dropped her off two kilometers away from the ravine itself. She’d learned her lesson at the Caves Monastery: she wasn’t going to expose herself at the rendezvous point. She would approach the boy only after she saw him.

Nadia hoped the picture of him was recent and that she would recognize him. Of greater concern was her responsibility to help get him out of Ukraine. She could take care of herself under any circumstances. Of that she was certain. A teenage boy she’d never even met, however, was an entirely different matter.

She stepped out of the police cruiser at 5:43. After the car disappeared, she hid behind a tree and waited for a few minutes to make sure Kirilo or Misha hadn’t somehow followed her. When no one appeared, she slipped out of hiding.

Tall lampposts illuminated the tree-lined path that wove its way around the perimeter of the park. The air smelled of dew and worms. A young couple, their fancy backpacks identifying them as tourists, walked solemnly around the Menorah Monument. A family of seven stood at the ravine’s edge.