J.F. Kirwan - 37 Hours

‘Again, seriously, why is she still here?’ the colonel exclaimed.

‘Not a lizard,’ Bransk said. ‘A salamander. Some live underground in watery caverns. Not exactly blind, but they can survive in permanent darkness.’ He stroked his beard. ‘There is one who goes by this name. He has been in the shadows for years.’ His dark eyes bore into her. ‘You think he is the same client?’

She didn’t really know, but it seemed to fit. She nodded.

‘And how does that help us exactly?’ the colonel said, arms folded.

Nadia continued. ‘The client – let’s say it is this Salamander for now – wanted to attack the UK two years ago, via a nuclear strike. If it is the same man, then he now has a nuclear weapon to carry out the strike, to finish what he began.’

The colonel shrugged. ‘Nice story, but that’s all –’

‘Have there been any announcements by terrorist organisations, claiming what they’ve done? Any demands made, discreetly to the government, or even publicly?’

The colonel said nothing.

Nadia leaned forward, in his direction. ‘Because it’s the same client. The warhead isn’t for ransom, or as a political bargaining chip. He means to use it.’

No one spoke for a while, until Katya chipped in. ‘My sister can talk to MI6,’ she said. ‘By now they must have investigated every possible lead.’

Nadia stared at Katya, as if she was seeing a new side to her. But work with MI6? They’d imprisoned her these past two years. She raised an eyebrow and mouthed spasiba to her sister, hoping she’d pick up the sarcasm.

Sergei addressed the colonel, his tone conciliatory. ‘At the moment, the minute we land, we will both be taken into custody for questioning, because we have nothing to offer. I have lost a submarine; together we have lost a nuclear weapon. Our careers will be the least of our worries.’

The female lieutenant joined in. ‘Sir. If this Salamander has been operating undetected for two years, his influence may well reach inside the Kremlin. Imagine if you were the one to uncover him.’

Nadia was impressed. This woman’s career instincts were pretty slick.

The colonel reddened slightly again, then turned to Nadia. ‘Very well, Miss Laksheva. Tell us everything you know.’

She did, including the name of the man they would need to discreetly contact via a covert channel to MI6. Jake Saunders. The colonel’s aide said it would take a day to set up a telecom.

‘We will put you in military accommodation, our barracks –’

‘No,’ Nadia said. ‘The Radisson overlooking Gorky Park. And my money gets wired to my account before I talk.’

The colonel looked aghast. ‘You don’t even have an account.’

Katya smiled. ‘The banks open in four hours.’

‘Just do it,’ Sergei said.

‘Very well,’ the colonel said. ‘But you work for me, Nadia. As a consultant. And we have recently acquired files on your activities in Sebastopol three years ago.’

She swallowed. She’d been there on an op for Kadinsky. In order to save one of her team from being killed, she’d shot two guards. Very carefully, so they would live.

He folded his arms. ‘When the warhead is recovered, I can make those files go away. But if you fail…’

***

They gave her a decent room, a junior suite overlooking the park. Katya was on the same floor with Bransk. Sergei… She had no idea where he was. She wondered if he might come to see her, but imagined he’d have his hands full.

Someone at the door. Three sharp raps, then a quieter one, half a beat later. Katya . Nadia checked the eyehole anyway, then swung open the door. Her sister beamed.

‘Which first, ice cream or the swings?’

Nadia grabbed her jacket, and they headed for their favourite place in Moscow.

***

The sun lazed high in the sky, while they sat face to face at a small iron table on the boardwalk next to Gorky Park’s principal lake, watching the swans. People wandered past, a few single parents with toddlers, but mostly working people taking in the air during their lunchtime break: men in suits striding along at a brisk pace, women in twos or threes circuiting the lake more slowly, in deep conversation, and pairs of lovers dotted here and there holding hands or kissing.

She told Katya that one of the men on the sub seemed to know their father. Katya was dismissive until Nadia shared the part about missing her like the rain.

Katya’s features tightened. ‘He was just trying to bait you. Maybe he was Spetsnaz, knew Papasha in the old days. When they find the sub and his putrefied corpse, they can confirm it.’

Ah yes, the Yuri . Nearly a kilometre down, and the weather was still difficult back there. Sergei had said they’d have deep-sea divers in submersibles there within a week, depending on the weather. She had no doubt the colonel was using paperwork to cover his ass, hyping the intrigue around Salamander . Everyone loved a good conspiracy theory, especially Russians, for whom it was practically a religion.

‘Tell me about Bransk,’ she said.

Katya was instantly back on form, her eyes dancing as she talked about how they’d met at a diplomat’s party a year ago, how he seemed so serious, but was different whenever it was just the two of them. A high-flying businessman in the oil and gas sector, with mid-level contacts in the Kremlin. Another fairy-tale romance. Katya was a magnet for them. But Nadia was glad for Katya, especially after she’d had to endure five years with Kadinsky, and all that had entailed.

She took Katya’s hand again. ‘Ice cream time.’

As they meandered back towards the hotel, Nadia picked out the plain-clothes keeping an eye on them: two male, one female. Fine. She and Katya made one last ice cream stop, then they went to the bank, and an hour later she emerged richer and happier.

***

The call came through at ten p.m. on the mobile the colonel had given Nadia. It wasn’t Jake. It was his boss – and ex-lover – Lorne.

‘Where’s Jake?’

‘Unavailable.’

Nadia hesitated. ‘We think the guy who likes roses is back in the game.’

‘We?’

‘Me, Katya, and mother.’ As in Mother Russia.

There was a pause. The line sounded dead. Nadia waited. Thirty seconds. A minute.

Lorne came back. ‘Jake’s deepest dive,’ she said. ‘Your birthday.’

The line really went dead this time. Nadia clicked off her phone. It rang again. The colonel.

‘I need a flight to Kuala Lumpur,’ Nadia said. ‘Onward connection to Kota Kinabalu.’

‘What’s your final destination?’

‘I’ll tell you when I get back.’

‘Not good enough. They know where you’re going; we don’t.’

‘I’ll tell Sergei.’

The line clicked off. She called Katya, who answered the phone a little out of breath. Nadia told her sister she’d be away a few days, a week at the most, and that she’d come back to the hotel afterwards. Said she’d do some diving. Katya didn’t ask where.

After an hour, during which she watched some TV and remembered why she hadn’t missed it, her mind kept drifting to Sergei, his hands on her. She tried to dismiss it, but it had been two years. She started getting ready for bed.

There was a knock on the door. Two raps. She stole up to the eyehole and peered through, then opened it but stood with one hand on the door, the other one on the frame.

Sergei looked earnest. ‘Nadia, we need to talk.’

Her heart sped up. She tried to relax, then opened the door, and let him in. ‘It’s late,’ she said. An old song came into her mind – will you stay now? Two long, non-fucking years …

‘I’ll make it quick,’ he said.