Now Lukin shook his head. "Forgetregulations. You turn back when I tell you. You have enough fuel?"

"For another two hundred kilometers,but-"

"Then keep flying. Shout if you spotanything."

The pilot started to protest, but then hesaw the grim look on Lukin's face and returned to his controls.

Lukin looked down at the map on his knee.He had a small reading light in his hand and he flicked it over the map whilehe continued to glance down at the highway. There was a column of tanks movingsouth, their lumbering gray shapes like giant metal snails in the twilight.

The news had come back from Leningrad tenminutes after Kaman had made the call. There was no Captain Oleg Petrovsky withthe ]4th and definitely no winter maneuvers in Novgorod. Lukin's instinct hadbeen right. But damn, he should have followed it at the checkpoint.

The inn where Zinov had stayed had beenvisited by the KGB, but the place was locked and the owner nowhere to be found.The men had broken in but a quick search of the premises had produced nothing.There was only one other name on the inn's register, a captain named Bukarin.Lukin would just have to wait and see if either the captain or the innkeepershowed up.

By his own calculations, the Emka had tobe somewhere close up ahead. Even traveling at eighty kilometers an hour, themaximum distance the car could have traveled was two hundred kilometers.Allowing for traffic, more likely a hundred and fifty. That put them about fiveminutes ahead.

Lukin considered that the colonel drivingthe Ernka could have taken a minor road, but that was unlikely. No roadworksblocked the main highway, and the minor roads were clogged with militarytraffic. The pilot had already swooped low on several Emkas, come alongsidethem in the darkness, disbelief on the faces of the passengers as thehelicopter hovered alongside to get a closer look at the occupants. But so far,no sign of the colonel's car. Lukin still couldn't figure if the KGB man hadbeen an innocent dupe, or whether he was part of it.

He looked down at the highway again.Empty. They had passed the last column of tanks minutes ago. He shouted to thepilot. "You have a searchlight under the fuselage?"

The man looked back and nodded.

Lukin said, "If there's nothing inthe next ten minutes, we go back and check the minor roads, those that leadinto the forest. The car could have pulled in somewhere."

The pilot looked worried, pointed upahead at a bruised looking sky, and shook his head. "There's going to besnow soon. Besides, there are high-voltage cables off the main highway. In thispoor light we could clip one. It's too dangerous."

"Do as I tell you," Lukincommanded.

The pilot shook his head firmly."No, Major, I'm in charge of this aircraft. I must insist, it's toodangerous. And if we get snow it could be treacherous. We turn back-" Thepilot turned away and tilted the control stick, and the MIL started to banktight, heading back the way they had come.

Lukin removed the pistol from hisholster, cocked it, and put it to the man's head.

The Pilot glanced over at him,open-mouthed.

"Are you fucking crazy?"

"Maybe, but you'll be dead if youdon't do as I say, Switch on that search beam, Lieutenant, or I'll take yourdamned ear off!"

"Colonel, you're making amistake."

Zinov stood there, his weapon pointed atStanski. "Talk. Before I'm tempted to shoot."

"I have nothing to say. Except I'mgoing to report this. Your behavior is uncalled for."

There was a brief look of uncertainty onZinov's face and then he said, "You're trying my patience."

"Might I make a suggestion? We drivedown to the nearest Militia barracks. You phone my commanding officer. He'llverify my identity."

Zinov smiled. "And meantime, youboth try and make a run for it. I'm not an idiot. And it's me who's going toget the dit for capturing you, not that jumped-up fool of a major back inTallinn. So tell me who you are."

"Captain Oleg Petrovsky, 14thArmored Division."

Zinov stepped closer and angrily leveledthe gun at Stanski. "Don't fuck with me."

Anna said, "Colonel, I think youought to know the truth."

Stanski went to speak, but Annainterrupted. "No. I have to tell him."

She looked at Zinov steadily. "We'renot married to each other. My husband is an army officer in Leningrad. This manis who he says he is. But we went to Tallinn to be alone together."

Zinov grinned. "Lovers? Nice try,but you'll have to do better than that."

"In my bag you'll find a photographof my husband and me."

Zinov hesitated, suddenly unsure."Get it for me. Just remember not to try anything or your friend hereloses his head."

Anna moved to the car and found thehandbag on the back seat.

Zinov stepped closer to her and said,"Toss it here."

Anna threw over the bag and as it landedZinov bent to pick it up.

She crossed the distance quickly and asZinov reacted and raised the gun in panic her hand chopped down hard on hisneck. He screamed in pain and Stanski was already moving, racing across theground between them, but he wasn't fast enough.

Zinov fired off a shot and it clippedStanski's tunic, just as his foot came up and kicked the gun from the colonel'shand and his fist smashed into his jaw. Zinov fell back into the snow, bloodstreaming from his mouth.

As Stanski grabbed the weapon, Zinovlooked up pleadingly, real fear in his eyes. "Please don't kill me.Please, I'll tell no one. Please-"

Stanski shot him between the eyes.

Anna put a hand over her mouth in horrorand Stanski said, "Get back to the car."

She didn't move as she stared down at thecolonel's body. There was blood pumping from his wound. For several seconds shestood there, stricken, until Stanski touched her arm.

"Get away from me!"

As she pushed him away, Stanski grabbedher arm angrily and pulled her face up to his. "Listen to me. You're inshock. You think I like this?

This is war, Anna. This is life or-death. He would have killed us both. And just remember he was KGB, the samepeople who put you in the Gulag. The same people who took your child. Rememberthat."

His words suddenly jolted her back.

"You'd better help me bury the body.See if there's anything in the car we can dig with. Quickly. I don't want to behere all day."

She watched as he turned over the bodyand began searching through the pockets. Suddenly she looked up at the sky asshe heard a faint chopping sound, but then it faded and was gone.

"WHAT's wrong?" There werebeads of sweat on Stanski's face and he was staring at her urgently.

"Nothing. I thought I heardsomething . and then she started toward the car.

It took them five minutes to bury thebody in a shallow grave in the snow, digging with their hands and using a tireiron from the car. When they finished they were soaking wet and their clotheswere covered in blood.

Stanski said, "You'd better change.I'll get the suitcases."

She started to strip and Stanski fetchedthe suitcases from the trunk and undressed himself. He put on the corduroy suitand cap and when Anna had finished dressing he took one last look around thearea and said, "Give me your clothes."

She handed them over and Stanski crossedto some bushes and scrabbled in the snow with his bare hands until he had dug ahole deep enough to bury their clothes. He then covered the hole with soil andsnow again until the earth looked as if it had not been disturbed.

"Let's go."

When they reached the car, Stanski lookedat her face. It was pale and drawn and he could see real fear in her eyes.