Andrew Kaplan - Scorpion Winter

“She’s missing. I’m working with Iryna Mikhailivna Shevchenko. She asked me to help,” Scorpion said, watching them.

“That sooka suna! I knew something would happen!” the woman said, looking at the young man.

“Zatknysya!” Don’t say anything, the young man said, coming over. “Kto vy?” he asked Scorpion. Who are you? “Are you politsiy?”

“I’m a journalist. I was doing a story on the election. I need to talk to Alyona, only she didn’t show up at work and no one’s seen her. Iryna is worried. Do you know anything?” Scorpion said in English.

“Me? I not know nothing,” the young man said.

“She didn’t come for play last night,” the waitress said.

“Are you her drooha?” Scorpion asked, meaning her friend.

Ekaterina shrugged. “We are actresses both. Last night she is supposed to come for play. He call her cell, her flat,” jerking her head toward the young man. “No answer. Nichego. ” Nothing.

“You didn’t seem surprised when I told you she hasn’t come in,” Scorpion said, gesturing for her to sit. “Why not?”

She hesitated a moment, then glancing at the young man, sat down at the table. Scorpion watched both of them. He could see something in the young man’s eyes warning her not to say anything.

“ Nichego. It is nothing. Sometimes I exaggerate. I am actress,” she said, trying a smile, but her eyes weren’t smiling. She looked scared, Scorpion thought.

“When you said sooka suna- son of a bitch-who were you talking about?”

“Why you want to speak with Alyona?” the young man asked.

“She’s missing,” Scorpion said. “She may be in danger. That’s all I can tell you.”

“This is politika? Is this opasno… you understand, dangerous?” the young man said.

“ Ochen opasno, ” Scorpion said. “It is very dangerous. Who is the sooka suna?”

“I knew this would happen!” Ekaterina said. “I warn her, but she is afraid!”

“Be quiet! Say nothing!” the young man hissed. “We don’t know him,” indicating Scorpion.

The waitress said something fast in Russian that Scorpion didn’t catch, though he thought he heard the word pamagat, help. He held up his cell phone.

“ Zdyes, here. Talk to Iryna Shevchenko yourself. I think Alyona is in danger. I think you already know that. Who’s the sooka suna?”

The young man looked at the phone. “Is her droog, her boyfriend,” he said finally, coming over and joining them. He lit a cigarette, his fingers yellowed by nicotine. The girl nodded.

“Is this her fiance?”

Ekaterina nodded again. “His name is Sirhiy. Sirhiy Pyatov. He is electrician. At first when she knows him, she is happy. But he gets drunk, beats her. She tries to leave, he puts knife to her throat, here,” touching her neck, “telling her if she leaves he will kill her. I tell her you should not stay, but she says afterward, he is so sweet, like little boy. He kisses her, tells her he didn’t mean it. One day she comes to do play, her face is like balloon, blue, here,” touching the left side of her face. “I put heavy makeup on so everyone doesn’t see. She wants to do play, she says.”

“He is Syndikat guy,” the young man said. “Mafia, you understand? He tells me like is good thing, thing to be proud of. Three weeks ago he comes to cafe, buys Nemiroff horilka for everyone. Happy, yes? He tells me he has big deal going, but is secret. Shhhh! He does not come back after that.”

“And Alyona, she says nothing,” Ekaterina added. “But she is worried.”

“Scared?”

She nodded. “Yes. Sirhiy is big guy. Scary guy.”

“Is politika. Is Syndikat. Is best to be scared,” the young man said, glancing over his shoulder at the TV, which was showing a riot in the streets. There were scenes of Cherkesov supporters with signs reading HET ZLODIY KOZHANOVSKIY! Down with the Thief Kozhanovskiy, attacking students with clubs. The bloody face of an unconscious young man filled the screen. The camera pulled back to show his lifeless body, head dangling as he was carried away by friends.

“Turn up the TV,” Scorpion said.

The young man went over and turned it up. The announcer rattled in rapid Ukrainian over images of riots and groups of men, workers and students on both sides shouting and waving banners and clubs.

“What’s he saying?” Scorpion asked.

“He say Cherkesov is making groups to ensure voting is fair,” Ekaterina said, her eyes wide. “He say they will be at every voting place. Kozhanovskiy say Cherkesov is try to intimidate voters. Students is also forming groups for Kozhanovskiy. There is fighting in Kyiv, in Kharkov, Donetsk, Odessa, all over.”

“It’s bad,” Scorpion said.

She and the young man nodded. “I never see this,” she said, and shivered. The announcer’s voice stopped and the TV went to a commercial. The young man took the remote and turned the volume down.

“When was the last time you saw Alyona?” Scorpion asked.

“This morning, about eleven,” Ekaterina said. “She came to the cafe. She says she cannot be in play anymore. She is crying, shaking like a leaf. I ask her, is it Sirhiy?” She looked at Scorpion. “But she says, is more than Sirhiy. ‘He has put me in the middle,’ she says. I ask her what is happening, but she says not tell to anyone. She must run, hide. I ask where she will go. She does not answer. I ask if she has place to go. She says something I do not forget. She says, ‘I try, but I think is too late.’ I try to stop her, but she run away.”

Eleven o’clock, Scorpion thought with a pang. Less than an hour after he had spoken with Gabrilov at the Russian embassy and Gabrilov had called Alyona’s cell. While he was talking with Iryna, Alyona was making a run for it.

“Do you have her address?” he asked.

She nodded, then wrote it down on a piece of paper and gave it to him.

“Do either of you want to come with me? It would help,” he said.

She started to say yes, standing up, then looked at the young man.

“We should stay out of this,” he said. She looked down at her feet and nodded.

“Is her picture up there?” Scorpion asked, pointing at the photos on the wall.

Ekaterina went over to the wall and pointed.

“This is Alyona,” indicating a pouty blonde, a Slavic Marilyn Monroe type.

“Can I have it?” Scorpion asked.

She took the frame down and handed it to the young man, who took the photo out of the frame and handed it to Scorpion.

“What you do?” the young man asked.

“Try to find her. See if I can help,” Scorpion said, taking a last taste of the borscht and a swig of beer. He tossed some money on the table, pulled his overcoat on and got up.

“Alyona is good girl,” the young man said, reaching for the half-finished beer. “Don’t take too long.”

A lyona’s apartment building was in a working-class neighborhood on a hill near the Central Station. Boots and galoshes had tracked a path through the snow by the entrance. Trash lay half buried in piles of snow on the curb, and as Scorpion got closer, he spotted what could have been droplets of blood. Although it was early afternoon, it was already growing dark. The wind had come up. Except for the occasional passing car, the street was deserted, locked in winter. He studied the building. Its windows were frosted over, the shades drawn, silent. He wasn’t looking forward to what he might find.

It only took a second with a credit card to open the building’s front door lock. The door was frozen shut and he had to lean his shoulder into it to crack the ice and open it. The hallway was dim, with fading floral wallpaper that looked like it had come from another era. From one of the ground floor apartments came the indistinct sounds of what could have been a TV game show. He checked the names on the mailboxes. Alyona’s last name was Kushnir. He saw it with a hand-lettered Пыатов for Pyatov scrawled over it, nearly obliterating KUSHNIR. It was like a metaphor for how Pyatov had taken over her life, Scorpion thought, heading up the stairs.