emerald green and white, flew through the air and landed safely. 'That you can see, that is?' he finished.
'Don't think so, sir.'
'Make as sure as you can. I don't want to be seen going in there, when the time comes. Stay out of sight. I don't want GRU interested — we are not interested in Rodin ourselves. Got it?'
'Invisible men, sir, me and Mikhail.' Priabin heard a distant chuckle. Mikhail was at the camera's viewfinder or the surveillance glasses on their tripod
'Keep it that way,' Priabin replied dryly, putting down the receiver. He tapped at his teeth with his thumbnail. A moment of irritation on Katya Grechkova's pale, freckled features, as Priabin looked up at her. 'What's all that?' he asked.
'Kedrov, sir.'
He waved his hand almost dismissively. Grechkova was punctilious in her respect for his rank. It had taken months to persuade her that it was largely unnecessary, entirely unsought. He watched the dog get up, stretch, idle its way as if propelled by the wagging of its tail over to her, who fondled its shaggy hair, stroked and patted it. The dog licked her hand.
Then she looked up, as if caught in some dereliction of duty. Priabin saw the vulnerability that normally remained private. She had an estranged husband in the army — this military district, but at army headquarters in Alma-Ata. Had the husband ever seen that small, vulnerable look? She was in the process of obtaining a divorce. Priabin was certain, and relieved, that she carried no torch for her commanding officer. Though he liked her.
'Anything new?' His tone was detached, but not without interest, though he had come more and more to persuade himself that the solution to his problem lay with Valery Rodin. Who knew everything about
'It's not confirmed, sir. Sorry — it seems the GRU may have discovered his hiding place a few hours ago. No, he wasn't there,' she hastened to reassure.
Suddenly, Kedrov was the infinitely desirable, captive. The GRU mustn't get hold of him before he did.
'Thank God,' he breathed. 'Where?'
'An abandoned silo complex. He was camped out there, as far as I can discover. But he must have heard them and got away. It's here, sir. Only gossip, but it sounds likely to be true.'
'What else have we got?'
'Not much.'
She tossed her head after frowning over a summary sheet on her lap. She stood up and passed him the documents, tapping at the top sheet, running her unpainted nail down the list it contained. She placed the file on Kedrov over the picture of Rodin.
The second Soviet couple had finished their routine. Good marks for technical merit.
'Hm…..' Priabin studied the digest of reports on Kedrov— friends, acquaintances, hangouts, social habits, sexual involvements. There really was very little that was new. It was the file of an agent who had disappeared; a spy there seemed little more to learn about. 'Not much, is there?' he commented finally, lifting the file nearer to him so that the picture of Valery Rodin was once more revealed.
'Sorry,' Katya replied, as if being personally blamed.
Rodin's features stared up at Priabin. Just a matter of time now, he thought, and felt the impatience vie with the sense of danger. Was he being reckless? Did the danger attract as much as the hope of a solution? I'll get the bastards, Viktor, any way I can, he swore silently, reaffirming a purpose, clouding his self-doubt.
'Can't be helped,' he murmured. He flicked over the pages of the file. Drinker, occasional lecher, cinema buff, hi-fi enthusiast, bird-watcher — his hobbies seemed to offer little or no illumination. 'No, there's nothing here.' He sighed.
Concentrate, he instructed himself sternly. You have to find him before the GRU — time's running out, if they're chasing close behind. If they find him first, whatever he knows or doesn't know, you'll be right in the shit! They'll find out you knew all about his activities and never let on.
'Is anything wrong?' Katya asked.
He looked up abstractedly. 'What?'
'Is anything wrong?' she repeated. She pursed her lips as she saw his face become secretive, closed. 'You look worried.'
'I just wish we could find him, Katya. We have to, before those goons in GRU do the job for us. If they even suspect that we were on to him and let him get away — you can imagine the consequences in
'Why are they looking for him?'
'Presumably, just because he's missing from his work. Let's hope it's nothing more.' He shook his head.*'They can't know anything, not yet.' He stood up and thrust his hands into his pockets. Then he crossed to the window. The booster was almost out of sight now. A snaillike hump in the distance, without real shape or identity, way beyond the assembly building that still contained the shuttle and the laser weapon. Sunlight gleamed on metal; everywhere. 'He could be anywhere out there,' he murmured. 'But where?'
'Don't they always run to somewhere they know?' Katya prompted.
'Mm?'
'To feel safe?'
'Oh, yes, that's the theory anyway.' His attention had moved from the main assembly complex and the railway leading toward the distant scrawl of gantries that marked the launch site, toward the chimney smoke that was shaded like charcoal scribble along the horizon above the serrated silhouette of Tyuratam. Rodin was there, he thought; he has the key. I know where to find him. 'Yes, they do,' he repeated. But not Rodin — he doesn't feel safe in his flat, just abandoned.
Impatience seized him once again, and he turned abruptly to Katya. She was looking at him, awaiting orders. He wanted to ignore her and leave at once, but her gaze seemed to prevent him. He must attend to the matter of Kedrov. He sighed and threw up his hands.
'Well, my lady, have you any suggestions?' he asked good-humoredly. Katya wrinkled her nose as if she suspected patronage in his familiarity.
'I — well…'
'Come on,' he chided, 'just because I've been slow on the uptake and have only just realized you've got an idea. Out with it. Don't be coy.'
'I'd like to look at the abandoned silo, and try to assess how much he'd prepared the hiding place.'
'All right. Unless it's staked out or sealed off by GRU. Now— why?'
'If he'd had it in mind for weeks, then there might be another place somewhere else just like it. The GRU will be busy searching every other abandoned silo and underground complex.'
'And get to him first? They've got the troops to do it.'
Katya shook her head. 'He's not stupid. He wouldn't use two hideouts that were exactly the same.'
'So — where and what?'
'Hide — hideout,' she replied mysteriously. Her pale cheeks were slightly flushed; self-congratulation and excitement. She was clever, intuitive, thorough. This was one of her little leaps in the dark. He smiled, encouraging her to explain.
'Well, it's flimsy, but—'
'Come on, Katya, forget the false modesty. You don't believe that for a moment.'
'Bird-watching. Something he took up about a month or so ago, that's all. His latest hobby. Soon after he started using the transmitter to talk to the Americans, as far as we can tell.'
'Yes? Go on.' Priabin felt an unfocused excitement. It sounded like nonsense, but…
'He'd never shown an interest before that. There are maybe a dozen or more applications in his name for passes into prohibited areas.'
'To assist his spying?'
She shook her head vigorously. 'Not in the marshes, it wouldn't. Mostly that's where he wanted to go. The reason he gave was ornithology. Time and again — ornithology.'
'Well? You searched his flat. Did you find his books, notes, and sketches?'
'Yes.'
