For a long time Anna said nothing. Shelooked out at the trees and the snow on the ground, then she looked back."Have you ever been in the Gulag, Major Lukin?"

" No."

"Then you've never seen what goes onthere. I think if' you did you'd know that death is a better alternative.There's nothing but brutality and hunger and slow death. You're treated worsethan an animal. I can't tell you what you want to know because I really don'tknow where Stanski might be if he's alive. Whether you believe me or not is upto you but it's the truth. And even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you. Yourfriends in the cellars can do what they want, but the answer will be the same.As for those who helped us they knew nothing of Stanski's plans. To tell youtheir names wouldn't help you find Stanski, but simply expose them to sufferingand death."

"But you can still reveal what youplanned to do when you reached Moscow. You can still tell me their names."

"I'll only tell you one thing. Go tohell."

Lukin saw the angry defiance on her faceas she turned away.

"I'm sorry it's come to this. Iadmire your bravery but I think you're being a foolish woman. Foolish becauseyour bravery is unnecessary and foolish because you have a choice. Help me andI will try to help you. It may mean having to face a life sentence in a camp,and that's not pleasant, I agree, but it's surely better than thealternative." He paused." I But whatever your decision, I want you tohave this moment.'

She looked up at him and frowned."What do you mean?"

Lukin nodded to the militiaman at thegate. A moment later Pasha appeared. A little girl clutched his hand. She wasvery pretty. She wore a red winter coat and a woollen hat and gloves and tinybrown boots. She looked about her uncertainly.

When Lukin turned back he saw the shockreaction on Anna Khorev's face. Disbelief and confusion, a look of both joy andpain. Her cry shattered the silence of the park.

"Sasha! "

The little girl started at the sound ofher name and her face looked a mask of confusion. She stared over at her motheruncertainly, then her lips trembled and she began to cry.

Pasha let go of her. Anna ran to herdaughter and swept her up. She smothered her in kisses, touched her face andstroked her hair, washed away all the confusion the child felt, until finallythe little girl had stopped crying and her mother held her tightly.

For a long time Lukin stood therewatching, until he could bear it no longer.

He looked at Anna. Her wet eyes met his.

He said, "You have an hour. Then wetalk again."

Stanski unfolded the street map andstared out beyond the Skoda's windshield as Irena drove.

The broad boulevards of Moscow werejammed with yellow trolley buses and covered trucks spurting black clouds ofexhaust. Droves of small Enika taxis whizzed by, and a few shiny blacklimousines, Soviet officials sitting stern-faced beside their drivers.

Irena drove the little gray Skodaerratically, paying no heed to the icy slush that covered the streets as shewove in and out of the chaos of traffic. It was anything but a leisurely drive,but Stanski noticed that most of the other vehicles seemed to be driving justas carelessly.

lrena explained that because most carshad no heaters, drivers often drank vodka to keep out the cold.

The pavements seemed crowded with amillion different faces: Russians and Slavs, dark-eyed Georgians and yellow,flat-faced Tartars and Mongolians. When they reached the Arbat, the oldmerchant district of the city, Stanski saw the golden domes and cupolas of theKremlin in the distance. Waves of raw plastered apartment blocks lay beyond inthe suburbs on either side of the Moscow River.

They drove around the city for anotherhalf-hour, Stanski referencing the streets to the map, until Irena said,"Now what do you want me to do?"

"Drive to KGB Headquarters onDzerzhinsky Square and drop me off." frena looked at him in disbelief."Are you crazy?"

"Pick me up outside the BolshoiTheater in an hour."

frena shook her head in horror."Definitely, your brain has to be missing. The KGB are looking for you andyou want me to leave you outside their front door?"

"That's the last place they'll lookfor me."

A car honked as Irena cut recklesslyacross its path. She honked back and raised her arm in an angry gesture.

"Idiot!"

"What did you drive in the war,lrena? A tank?"

She looked over and smiled. "A Ziltruck. Don't laugh, I was a good driver. I told you, most of the madmen on theroads are drunk. At least I'm sober."

"The war's over, so take it easy onthe accelerator. The last thing we need is a militiaman troubling us forspeeding."

"Bah! You can talk about trouble!You're the one who wants to be left at Dzerzhinsky Square."

The Skoda had suddenly left the Arbat andthen Stanski saw the red walls and the mustard-yellow buildings of the Kremlin.On a broad cobbled street in front stood St. Basil's, its candycolored towerssoaring into the skyline. Minutes later lrena had turned into a series ofnarrow cobbled streets near the Boishoi Theater and finally came out onto amassive square.

A giant metal fountain stood in thecenter, the water turned off in the icy temperature in case it froze andcracked the metal, and traffic and trolley buses hurtled around it. Directlyacross the square stood a huge seven-story yellow sandstone building.

Irena pointed to it. "DzerzhinskySquare. KGB Headquarters. The place once belonged to an insurance company beforeFelix Dzerzhinsky, the head of the secret police, took it over."

Stanski saw a pair of massive brown oakdoors set in the front entrance. Searchlights ringed the top and uniformedmilitiamen patrolled the pavement around the building.

Irena said, "The entrance to theLubyanka prison is around the back. There's a pair of big black metal gates andsecurity is tight-no one's ever escaped, anyone in Moscow will tell youthat." She looked at Stanski's face as he studied the building if yourfriend's in there, you're wasting your time. if you think you can rescue her.You'd be committing suicide to even try."

"Let me out over there."

He pointed to a huge wrought-iron archwayon the left side of the square opposite the KGB building. A sign above thearchway said "Lubyanska Arcade." The pavement was crowded with peopleentering and leaving the arched entrance and beyond it Stanski saw lines ofdrab-looking shops down either side of the arcade.

lrena drove over and pulled in but keptthe engine running. "Only the KGB could think of having a public shoppingarcade next to a house of torture."

Stanski opened the passenger door."An hour from now, at the Boishoi."

Irena touched his arm. "Becareful."

He smiled at her as he climbed out andthen he slammed the car door and moved onto the crowded pavement.

Lukin looked at Anna Khorev's face asthey sat on the park bench.

She looked miserable and her eyes werered from crying. The park was empty again. Pasha had taken the little girlaway. Lukin had seen the fear on Anna's face when she refused to let go of herdaughter. She had clung to the child as if her life depended on her. The littlegirl was confused and upset and had started crying again, and the militiamen onthe gate had to help Lukin hold her mother down while Pasha took the child tothe car.

Tears had racked Anna Khorev's body asshe saw the car drive away. Then she slumped onto the bench, inconsolable, indespair.

Lukin felt overcome by a terrible feelingof guilt. He had put her through a terrible trauma; she had not seen herdaughter in well over a year. He had given her the child, and taken her awayagain. He imagined Nadia in such a situation, having to endure the same trauma,and he felt sick.