Road Of Bones

In any case, he didn’t think the hunters seeking Anuchin would be looking for her in saloons at breakfast time.

The first place that they tried had two early customers, both of them obvious holdovers from the previous night, well advanced in pursuit of oblivion. The second bar had better prospects—six in all—and two of them were relatively late arrivals, only warming up their shot glasses.

Anuchin donned a smile and approached the better-looking of the nearly sober pair, a robust forty-something character with gray hair showing underneath a yachtsman’s cap that had seen better days. Hell, make it better years. Bolan stood by while she confirmed the skipper could speak English, more or less, then led him to a table in the corner nearest to the tavern’s door.

“You want to go Nizhny Bestyakh, but not on ferry, eh?” The captain smiled. “Afraid someone will see you, da? Maybe a lovers’ getaway?”

“I see we can’t fool you,” she said, flicking a glance toward Bolan that was shy and bawdy, all at once. Some actress. “Naturally, we would expect to pay a premium for causing you such inconvenience.”

The skipper beamed. “I still remember love, you know,” he said. “But I must also eat and pay for fuel, eh? So…six thousand rubles?”

Something like two hundred U.S. dollars. Bolan nodded, told him, “Done,” and peeled off a dozen 500-ruble notes.

Their new best friend in town—Yevgeny Glushko—made the money disappear into a pocket and asked Anuchin, “So, when did you wish to go?”

“There’s no time like the present, eh?” she answered.

“You’re in luck!” Glushko declared. “My boat is fueled and ready. We can leave at once.”

“You have a car?” Bolan asked.

“Car? No car. I walk from pier.”

“Relax,” Bolan replied. “I’ll drive.”

Moscow: 3:22 a.m.

FOR BREAKFAST, Colonel Eugene Marshak had a glass of bacon-flavored vodka. He regretted that he had no eggs to go along with it, but since real food meant waking up his wife, he settled for another glass of bacon.

Waiting for the cursed telephone to ring.

He wasn’t drunk, couldn’t allow himself that luxury as long as loose ends in Yakutsk were threatening to weave a noose around his neck. Marshak’s superiors were watching him—perhaps a few of them were losing sleep, as well—and if he didn’t solve the problem soon, that task would pass to other, more capable hands.

Which meant the end of him, for all practical purposes. He likely wouldn’t be imprisoned, as was common in the bad old days, but being stripped of rank and influence was tantamount to social death. He would be unemployable, beyond some menial position. He would lose the Moscow flat, his summer dacha on the coast.

Mariska would most certainly abandon him, which might turn out to be the only bright spot in the whole disaster. She could leave with nothing, since there would be nothing left to steal, and Marshak could descend into an alcoholic haze without her shrill, incessant carping to disturb him.

Or he could assert himself, demand more of his soldiers in the field and solve the problem now, before it spun further beyond control.

The phone rang once, and Marshak scooped it up. “Yes!”

“I’m afraid there’s been another problem, sir,” Stephan Levshin told him.

“Why am I not surprised?” Marshak replied with acid in his voice. “Explain yourself.”

“I sent five men to watch the airport,” Levshin said. “The targets came, but managed to evade them.”

“Five against how many?” Marshak asked.

“Two, sir. The woman and a man.”

“Were shots fired?”

“I’ve contained it, sir,” Levshin said.

“Contained it how?”

“A silencer was used. The only damage was to the escaping vehicle.”

“So, then, at least this was a quiet failure, eh? Unlike the last one,” Marshak said.

Levshin had no response to that. The empty phone line hummed and crackled until Marshak spoke again.

“Do you at least have some idea of where they’re going? What they hope to do?”

“They must get out of Yakutsk to survive, sir,” Levshin said. “They cannot fly, which only leaves the road.”

“Which road?” Marshak demanded.

“Sir, there’s only one from here.”

Marshak considered that and understood. “To Magadan, is it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“A cold and lonely road, as I recall,” Marshak said.

“No escape, sir. That’s a promise.”

“Which you should be careful not to break,” Marshak advised.

There was more silence on the far end of the line. This time, it brought a smile to Marshak’s face. It felt good to intimidate subordinates, remind them of their proper place.

To stress his point, he declared, “I will be following your progress, Stephan. If it seems to me that you require further assistance, it will be provided.”

Levshin sounded nervous as he answered, “Sir, I’m confident that I can solve this problem with the staff on hand.”

“A staff reduced by careless losses, as it is,” Marshak replied. “If I decide to send you help, you’ll be advised.”

“Yes, sir.” A nice hint of dejection was audible in his voice.

“And, Stephan?”

“Yes, sir?”

“You realize that both of us are under scrutiny. If you fail, I am judged a failure.”

“Sir—”