Orest Stelmach - The Boy from Reactor 4

“I can’t wait,” Nadia said.

“How do you know my father?” Adam said.

“Know father from gulag . From Sevvostlag. Father save Sharlam’s life. Sharlam remember. Sharlam help boy.”

“Did you do business with my father?” Adam said.

“Yes, business. Government hire Evenki to manage horses at gulag . Sharlam in charge of oat supply for horses at Sevvostlag. Father buy oats from Sharlam. Yes, business.”

“Oats,” Nadia said. “For food. I understand the rations were horrible.”

“One bowl soup, two pieces bread for dinner. When bring soup, if thin, prisoner cry. If thick, prisoner so happy, cry more. Many tears in gulag . But father no buy oat for food.”

Nadia frowned. “No?”

“Then why?” Adam said.

“To burn so other prison gang leader no get. Estonian, Lithuanian prisoner much bigger. Bigger prisoner die first in Sevvostlag. Portions same no matter what size. Father burn oats so other gang leader no get, die first.”

A moment of silence passed.

“How did my father save you?” Adam said.

“Guard find out. Sharlam sentenced to death. Father paid guard to let Sharlam escape. Sharlam remember. Sharlam always remember.”

In Kolyma, the taiga is infinite, signs of life rare. Time is measured in distance. Nadia alternated shifts with Sharlam. She drove four hours for each of his twelve. She tried to persuade him to let her do more, but he refused. His concern for her and Adam’s safety and their need for speed were the only reasons he agreed to allow her to drive.

Sharlam knew precisely which outposts had food and bottled water and, more important, 92 octane fuel. Their first stop was Khandyga, 380 kilometers past Yakutsk. Subsequent stops included Ust-Nera, Susuman, Ust-Omchug, and Palatka.

They suffered five flat tires and one broken windshield when a windstorm felled a branch onto the buhanka. Adam stayed quiet through the trip, returning to his hockey magazine time and time again.

The two thousand–kilometer trip took two and a half days. Sharlam dropped them off with a tearful hug a quarter mile from their destination at 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, May 2. Nadia and Adam were sore, hungry, and exhausted.

They were near an airport on the outskirts of the administrative headquarters of the Russian Far East, four hours ahead of schedule. It was a port town on the Sea of Okhotsk and the gateway to Kolyma, where most gulag prisoners had been processed.

The town was called Magadan.

“IT SEEMS YOU have some influence in Russia,” Deputy Director Krylov said. “The director told me to give you full cooperation.”

“We’re old friends,” Kirilo said. “We went to university together. We’re always on the lookout for the best interests of our countries, the way neighbors and brothers should be.”

In addition to Deputy Director Krylov, Kirilo, Victor, and five other men sat at a large rectangular table at the Magadan headquarters of the FSB, the Russian Federal Security Service and successor to the KGB.

After quick introductions, it was clear from their titles that the first four were the deputy director’s lackeys. The fifth one, however, wore an everyday olive military uniform with a single gold star on the insignia on his shoulder.

“This is Major General Yashko of the Russian Ground Forces from the Far Eastern Military District,” Krylov said. “Your exact command, General? Forgive me; in all this excitement, I’ve forgotten.”

“The Fourteenth Independent Spetsnaz Bridage in Ussuriysk.”

“Special Forces,” Kirilo said.

“Yes,” Major General Yashko said with a dismissive smile. “To catch a woman and a child.” He enunciated slowly and precisely to convey his disgust with his assignment.

“You’d be surprised how elusive American women can be,” Victor said. “Especially if they’re from New York. I see them outside my apartment on the sidewalk chasing their dreams every day. They move so quickly. One second they’re there. Then you blink. And they’re gone.”

Major General Yashko measured Victor and smirked. He turned to the deputy director. “Who is this little man?”

“He is with me,” Kirilo said. “Do I need to get the director and the general on the phone and ask them for reassignments?”

“No, you most certainly do not,” Krylov said.

He turned to a wall with twenty television monitors featuring live video feeds. Some showed passengers wheeling suitcases and checking in, while others offered wide-angle views of piers and ships.

“We have security monitors at Sokol Airport,” Krylov said. “Arrival, check-in gate, security, luggage, departure. There are five international flights departing this evening from Magadan. We also have security monitors along the pier. There are three ships leaving this evening. We have agents all over the airport and the pier.”

“But you’re not certain she’s even in Magadan,” Major General Yashko said, “are you?”

“We’re certain she’s either in Magadan or is on her way,” Kirilo said. “She’s getting local help, so she could be coming in slightly off the grid. On a parallel road of some kind.”

“Passport Control is on full alert throughout Russia,” Krylov said. “It is impossible for her to get out of Russia legally.”

“Then she will get out of Russia illegally,” Victor said.

Shortly thereafter, two shapely assistants came in with lunch and coffee.

It was 12:00 p.m. on Friday.

“THE PLAN FROM here on out…” Nadia said. “Adam. It’s dangerous.”

“No,” Adam said. “The plan is good.”

“It’s really dangerous and unnecessary.”

“No, it’s necessary.”

“The man who’s chasing us is Ukrainian. He’s powerful in Ukraine. Not in Russia. If he were, he would have caught us by now. Let me buy tickets for the flight to New York tonight.”

“No.”

“Actually, it’s New Jersey. United Airlines. It connects through Los Angeles.”

“No. You don’t understand how it is here. Russia, Ukraine, the other Soviet countries—they’re all independent, but they’re still linked. They’re linked by bad governments. We follow my father’s plan. He may be dying, but he’s still smart. He’s never told me a lie.”

“I’m not saying he’s not smart, Adam, but he’s not here now—”

“My father’s plan. We stick to my father’s plan.”

“Adam—”

“No.”

Nadia looked across the street at the airport and sighed. She checked her wrist, forgetting it was bare. “What time is it?” she said.

“Twelve thirty.”

“Okay. We stick with the plan. God help us.”

Four trees stood in front of the modest peach-yellow cement terminal. The grass along the front hadn’t been cut for a year. They entered through a pair of rusty steel-framed glass doors. Two weathered men in plaid shirts and jeans were buying Fanta sodas from a babushka at a small convenience shop. A fourth old man, with his back to Nadia, was chatting up a woman in a uniform at the check-in counter. When the woman glanced at Nadia and Adam, he turned.

He looked like a tunnel rat made of sinew and bone, with a fair Russian complexion. Gray stubble covered his sunken face. A cigarette hung on the edge of his lips. After glancing at Nadia and Adam, he pulled a small white envelope out of his coat pocket and handed it to the woman. After peeking inside the envelope, she turned away. He approached with the swagger of a younger, albeit equally short, man.