Sidney Sheldon - The sky is falling

«Where do I register?»

The woman shook her head. «No register. You pay now. One day.»

Dana felt a new sense of alarm. A hotel in Russia where foreigners didn't have to register? Something was very wrong.

The woman said, «Five hundred rubles.»

«I'll have to get some money changed,» Dana said. «Later.»

«No. Now. I take dollars.»

«All right.» Dana reached into her purse and took out a handful of bills.

The woman nodded, reached out, and extracted half a dozen of them.

I think I could have bought the hotel with that. Dana looked around. «Where is the elevator?»

«No elevator.»

«Oh.» A porter was obviously out of the question. Dana picked up her bag and started walking up the stairs.

Her room was even worse than she had anticipated. It was small and shabby, the curtains were torn and the bed unmade. How was Boris going to contact her? This could be a hoax, Dana thought, but why would anyone go to this much trouble?

Dana sat on the edge of the bed and looked out of the unwashed window at the busy street scene below.

I've been a bloody fool, Dana thought. I could be sitting here for days, and nothing —

There was a soft rap on the door. Dana took a deep breath and stood up. She was either going to solve the mystery now or find out that there was no mystery. Dana walked over to the door and opened it. There was no one in the hallway. On the floor was an envelope. Dana picked it up and carried it inside. The piece of paper inside saidVDNKh 9:00 P. M. Dana stared at it, trying to make sense of it. She opened her suitcase and took out the guidebook she had brought. There it was, VDNKh. The text readUSSR, economic achievements exhibition, and it gave an address.

At eight o'clock that evening, Dana hailed a taxi. «VDNKh. The park?» She was not sure of her pronunciation.

The driver turned to look at her. «VDNKh? Everything closed.»

«Oh.»

«You still go there?»

«Yes.»

The driver shrugged and the cab leaped forward.

The vast park was in the northeast section of Moscow. According to the guidebook, the lavish exhibitions had been planned as a monument to Soviet glory, but when the economy fell, funds were cut off, and the park had become a decaying monument to Soviet dogma. The grandiose pavilions were crumbling and the park was deserted.

Dana stepped out of the taxi and took out a handful of American money. «Is this—?»

«Da.»He grabbed the bills and a moment later was gone.

Dana looked around. She was alone in the freezing, windswept park. She walked to a nearby bench and sat down and waited for Boris. She remembered how she had waited at the zoo for Joan Sinisi. What if Boris —?

A voice from behind Dana startled her. «Horoshiy vyecherniy.»

Dana turned, and her eyes widened in surprise. She had expected Boris Shdanoff. Instead, she was looking at Commissar Sasha Shdanoff. «Commissar! I didn't expect—»

«You will follow me,» he said curtly. Sasha Shdanoff started walking rapidly across the park. Dana hesitated an instant, then got up and hurried after him. He walked into a small, rustic-looking café at the edge of the park and took a seat at a back booth. There was only one other couple in the café. Dana crossed over to his booth and sat down.

A slovenly waitress in a soiled apron came up to them. «Da?»

«Dva cofe, pozhalooysta,»Shdanoff said. He turned back to Dana. «I was not sure you would come, but you are very persistent. That can be dangerous sometimes.»

«You said in your note you could tell me what I want to know.»

«Yes.» The coffee arrived. He took a sip, and was silent for a moment. «You want to know if Taylor Winthrop and his family were murdered.»

Dana's heart began to beat faster. «Were they?»

«Yes.» It came out in an eerie whisper.

Dana felt a sudden chill. «Do you know who killed them?»

«Yes.»

She took a deep breath. «Who?»

He raised a hand to stop her. «I will tell you, but first you must do something for me.»

Dana looked at him and said cautiously, «What?»

«Get me out of Russia. I am no longer safe here.»

«Why can't you just go to the airport and fly away? I understand that foreign travel is no longer forbidden.»

«Dear Miss Evans, you are naive. Very naive. True, it is not like the old days of communism, but if I were to try what you suggest, they would kill me before I even got close to an airport. The walls still have ears and eyes. I am in great danger. I need your help.»

It took a moment for his words to sink in. Dana looked at him in dismay. «I can't get you—I wouldn't know where to begin.»

«You must. You must find a way. My life is in danger.»

Dana was thoughtful for a moment. «I can talk to the American ambassador and—»

«No!» Sasha Shdanoff's voice was sharp.

«But that's the only way—»

«Your embassy has traitors' ears. No one must know about this but you and whoever is going to help you. Your ambassador cannot help me.»

Dana felt suddenly depressed. There was no possible way she could sneak a top Russian commissar out of Russia. I couldn't sneak a cat out of this country. And she had another thought. This whole thing was probably a ruse. Sasha Shdanoff had no information. He was using her as a means to get to America. This trip had been for nothing.

Dana said, «I'm afraid I can't help you, Commissar Shdanoff.» She got to her feet, furious.

«Wait! You want proof? I will give you proof.»

«What kind of proof?»

It took him a long time to answer. When he spoke, he said slowly, «You are forcing me to do something I have no wish to do.» He rose. «You will come with me.»

Thirty minutes later, they were going up the private back entrance to Sasha Shdanoff's offices at the Bureau for International Economic Development.

«I could be executed for what I am about to tell you,» Sasha Shdanoff said when they arrived. «But I have no choice.» He made a helpless gesture. «Because I will be killed if I stay here.»

Dana watched as Shdanoff walked over to a large safe built into the wall. He spun the combination, pulled open the safe, and took out a thick book. He carried it to his desk. On the front of the book it said in red letteringKlassifitsirovann'gy.

«This is highly classified information,» Commissar Shdanoff told Dana. He opened the book.

Dana looked closely as he slowly started to turn the pages. Each page contained color photographs of bombers, space launch vehicles, antiballistic missiles, air-to-surface missiles, automatic weapons, tanks, and submarines.

«This is Russia's complete arsenal.» It looked enormous, deadly.

«At this moment, Russia has more than one thousand intercontinental ballistic missiles, more than two thousand atomic warheads, and seventy strategic bombers.» He pointed to various weapons as he turned the pages. «This is the Awl…Acrid…Aphid…Anab…Archer…Our nuclear arsenal rivals that of the United States.»

«It's very, very impressive.»

«The Russian military has grave problems, Miss Evans. We are facing a crisis. There is no money to pay the soldiers, and the morale is very low. The present offers little hope, and the future looks worse, so the military is being forced to turn to the past.»

Dana said, «I—I'm afraid I don't understand how this—»

«When Russia was truly a superpower, we built more weapons than even the United States. All those weapons are sitting here now. There are dozens of countries hungry for them. They are worth billions.»

Dana said patiently, «Commissar, I understand the problem, but—»

«This is not the problem.»

Dana looked at him, puzzled. «No? Then what is?»

Shdanoff chose his next words carefully. «Have you heard of Krasnoyarsk-26?»