passing out.
Hauser toppled to the ground like a felled tree. His head was lying on its side, only a foot from Benjamin's own. Benjamin could see a dark red stain spreading across the ground, under Hauser's head.
And then Benjamin knew he was hallucinating.
Because, as his vision narrowed even further, he saw Samuel Wolfe bending down over him. And in this hallucination, Wolfe was dressed all in white, like a ghost.
Or an angel.
CHAPTER 50
Benjamin woke up. He tried to raise his head, but it felt enormously heavy.
He looked down. He was covered in blankets. His shoulder felt like a truck had run over it.
He looked around him. He recognized the log walls in the bedroom of Boris's cabin. On a small cot against the wall he saw Boris lying unconscious, a white bandage around his head. Blood was seeping through the bandage.
Benjamin could hear voices coming from the other room.
He felt woozy and weak, but he forced himself to sit up. His left shoulder throbbed. It was wrapped in thick bandages and strapped against his side with a blue nylon sling.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Immediately he felt dizzy and collapsed back down on the bed. But then he tried it again and managed to stay standing. Then, walking slowly and leaning against the wall, he made it to the door and opened it.
Boris's tiny living room was positively crammed with people.
The first one he made out was Natalya, as she stood up and came toward him, a look of concern in her eyes.
'Benjamin!' she said. 'You should be lying down.'
She came to him, but he shoved past her, pushing her arms away.
Nikolai Orlov was sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace. He smiled at Benjamin, said ' Privet, Mr. Wainwright,' and stood up and came to stand next to Natalya.
Somewhat groggily, he turned from Natalya and Nikolai to the rest of the room. In a chair with his back to Benjamin was Anton Sikorsky. He turned around, looked at Benjamin. 'Ah,' Anton said, 'you're alive. Good.' And then there was the third person, standing next to Anton.
It was Samuel Wolfe. And he appeared to be completely substantial, not at all the ghost-or angel-of Benjamin's hallucination.
He was still wearing a white snow parka and white nylon pants.
'Hello, Benjamin,' he said. He walked forward. 'Let me be the first to congratulate you. And now, please, sit the hell down.'
Natalya led Benjamin-he grudgingly allowed her to take his arm-to a worn overstuffed chair in the corner and pushed him down into it. She bent over him and examined his shoulder.
'Is it bleeding?' she asked. 'Did you tear the stitches?'
'No,' Benjamin said, looking at her. 'And why exactly do you care?'
Finally Natalya's composure was shattered. She started to cry, at the same time yelling at him in Russian. Benjamin couldn't tell what she was saying, but if it was an apology, it was a very strange one, indeed.
Nikolai stepped over to him. 'She was only protecting me, Mr. Wainwright.'
'Protecting you? And he,' pointing to Anton, 'gave them Jeremy's computer. What the hell is he doing here?' Benjamin looked around the circle of faces. 'Would someone mind telling me what's going on?'
'First, we should toast your courage,' said Nikolai. He went to the shelf with the rows of clear bottles of Boris's homemade vodka.
'I don't suppose you have any scotch there,' Wolfe said doubtfully.
'Only vodka,' Nikolai said.
While Nikolai poured drinks for everyone, Natalya brought Benjamin some pills, handed him a glass of water. He took them without a word, then looked at his shoulder. 'How long-,' he began.
'Eight hours,' Wolfe said. 'But I think you'll live. The bullet went clean through. And Natalya is quite the amateur physician.' He accepted a small tumbler of clear liquid from Boris.
'Nuclear disaster nurse training,' she said, fussing over Benjamin's shoulder. 'You need a real doctor, and soon.'
'How…,' Benjamin started. He went dizzy again for a moment, recovered. 'How did Hauser know?' He looked at Natalya again, his eyes hard. 'You?'
'No,' Nikolai said, handing him a glass of vodka. 'Was me who betrayed you.'
Benjamin was speechless.
'Let's everybody sit down,' Wolfe said. 'You've got some catching up to do.'
'But first, toast,' said Nikolai. He lifted his glass up, looked at Benjamin, said, 'To Benjamin. Za uspekh! ' and tossed off his drink. The others followed suit, but Benjamin looked at his skeptically.
'Go ahead,' said Nikolai. 'Vodka contains most amazing healing powers.'
Benjamin tossed his back, too. It burned his throat, but the dizziness passed and his head felt clearer. Maybe, he thought, there's something to this healing powers stuff after all.
Nikolai circulated among them, refilling their glasses.
'Now,' Wolfe said. 'You probably have some questions.'
'A few dozen,' said Benjamin, 'For instance-'
'What am I doing here? Benjamin,' Wolfe began looking quite serious, 'let me start by apologizing. I'm sorry I had to deceive you. I know you thought I was in Edith's lab when it exploded. I wanted everyone to think that, and if you believed it, well, it would make the sleight of hand more convincing.'
'I thought you were dead, ' Benjamin said with some pique. 'Why couldn't you let me know you weren't?'
Wolfe leaned back in his chair. 'I know you're not military, Benjamin, but let me explain it this way. The best way for a fighter pilot to shoot down his adversary is from behind, on his tail. And the best way to get on his enemy's tail is while that enemy is chasing somebody else's tail, focusing his attention forward.'
'So I was a decoy?' Benjamin said, with obvious distaste.
'Not at all,' Wolfe said. 'Everything you did was vitally necessary. And something I couldn't have done myself. They never would have let me get this far. Hauser would have been unchained a lot sooner. As I told you at the Foundation, they were letting us serve as the hounds, to chase out the fox. The fox being Leverotov's journal, if it existed. I'm not sure they believed it did. But with me out of the picture, they gave you your head, let you pursue the leads.' He tossed off his vodka, absentmindedly held out his glass for Nikolai to refill it. 'And while they were pursuing you, I could pursue them. '
'You mean, you were following me the whole time?'
'I knew you would go to D.C. and look up either Anton or Natalya, or both. And I knew you would visit the library. Meanwhile I could keep a watchful eye on you, make sure they didn't press too close. But you were a shade too clever and nearly fouled that up.'
'What do you mean?'
'A friend of mine was keeping tabs on you in the Library of Congress. That was a nice trick you did, giving him the slip.'
'That was your friend?' Benjamin said with alarm.
Wolfe nodded. 'That panicked me for a while, when he called and said you'd disappeared. I thought maybe Hauser had reeled you in after all. But that didn't make sense; you hadn't made contact with Ms. Orlova yet.'
'Then you didn't know about Nikolai's 'relics'?'
Wolfe shook his head. 'No, nobody did. Not even Fletcher. They were the key nobody knew existed. Except Nikolai.'
'And I didn't know what lock they are key for,' Nikolai said. 'Each of us has piece of puzzle, but nobody has whole puzzle.'
