by Terri Dixon
Part XVII
Is it worse to be scared than to be bored, that is the question.
-Gertrude Stein
I didn’t know what to say when we walked back into the apartment. Dr. Zemecki and the guys were sitting, facing the door when Peter walked in followed by Tania and I. Dr. Zemecki was smiling, and the others were trying not to laugh.
“Look what you found,” Dr. Zemecki said to one of us. I wasn’t sure whom.
“I will never get over the Americans’ fascination with the Hard Rock Café,” Peter replied.
“We were on our way back to the university,” I said.
“Whatever,” Peter replied. “Did you see the news?” he asked Dr. Zemecki.
“No, why?” Dr. Zemecki asked.
“Apparently, Stacey is some kind of enemy of the state, according to the President,” Tania answered.
“I was afraid of that. We need to get her out of town,” Dr. Zemecki said.
“I know. We need to get them to the consulate so they can ask for asylum and go home,” Peter replied.
“The nearest open American consulate is in St. Petersburg, yes?” Aloshya asked.
“As far as I am aware,” Peter said. “Steve, why don’t you grab your phone and check on that.”
Dr. Zemecki didn’t even reply. He pulled out his phone and started to find the answer to the question.
“Why aren’t you looking it up?” Tania asked.
“It is a long story, but my phone is constantly monitored by the government here. Regardless of how many times I change phones or numbers, they follow,” Peter explained.
“What did you do?” Tania asked him.
“I told you, it’s a long story,” Peter replied.
“The closest consulate is in St. Petersburg,” Dr. Zemecki confirmed.
Peter motioned for Dr. Zemecki to hand him the phone. Dr. Zemecki did as Peter asked. Peter started to do something with the phone. Several minutes later, Peter handed the phone back to Dr. Zemecki. He walked into the kitchen and didn’t say a thing.
I didn’t know what to think. I looked at Tania, who looked back at me as blankly as I must have been looking at her. “What are we going to do?” I asked her.
“I have no idea,” she replied. “Steve, what’s the plan?” she asked Dr. Zemecki.
“We have to get you to St. Petersburg,” Peter answered as he returned from the kitchen. “Aloshya, do you still have that ridiculous SUV?”
“Yes, why?” Aloshya answered.
“It won’t be long before Kostov realizes that the two students in Steve’s class are with Steve. I think we should go to the house, and it’s snowing massively hard outside. We need your car. My car will not get there tonight.”
“What house?” I asked.
“I live in Dubna,” Peter replied. “I think we should go there for the night. Tomorrow we can go to the train station in Tver and get you to St. Petersburg from there. Is that acceptable?”
“Do I really have a choice?” I asked.
“You can stay here, but Kostov is very close in this town. I recommend that we get you much farther away from him,” Peter said.
“Farther away sounds good,” Tania concurred.
“Okay, let’s get going,” I gave in.
Peter turned to Aloshya. “Keys?” he asked with his hand out.
Then, I heard a noise. It sounded like a highway outside. I looked out the window and saw nothing. The idea that I could see nothing to go along with the noise scared me even more. The street below was empty and the only thing in it was the gathering snow. I noticed that the vendor that had been in front of the building when we left was gone as well, leaving the street entirely vacant.
“What’s that noise?” I asked. “It sounds like a whole bunch of cars, but there isn’t a thing going on out there.”
“Steve, check out the back,” Peter said with a stern tone that sounded like my grandma when I got a bad grade or didn’t listen to something she told me to do.
Dr. Zemecki nearly ran out the front door. I didn’t understand what was going on, and that was scaring the hell out of me. Tania and I sat and watched each other mostly. Neither one of us knew what to do, so we sat still. It was only a minute or so before Dr. Zemecki came back into the apartment, nearly running.
“Kostov and all of his flunkies are here,” he announced. “We need to get them out of here now.”
Peter thought for a brief moment. He tossed the keys to the truck back to Aloshya. “You go and get the truck. We will go on the Metro. Meet us at Komsomolskaya. We can leave the city from there.” He turned to me. “We have to go out the front now, before they block that entrance.”
Nobody questioned Peter. We all did as we were told like well-behaved school children. As we exited the apartment, I could hear the old elevator coming up from the first floor. Peter led us down the stairs at the end of the hall. We made our way out the front door and nearly ran down the street. We made it to the subway station quickly. I was just beginning to realize how extensive and convenient the subway was in Moscow. I was wondering why anyone bothered to drive in that city, given that the traffic was terrible.
I hoped that Aloshya had gotten away without incident. I was starting to feel like I was in the middle of a thriller story. I was starting to think that at any moment, Matt Damon would pop out from around a corner and say, “You need to come with me, or you will die.” Then I realized that I had seen too many of the Bourne movies.
The subway station was the others we'd been on. The entrance, the station, and even the platforms were elegant and artistic with painted tiles and statues along the way. Moscow was such a beautiful city, with so much history and art to enjoy. It was a real tragedy that I wasn’t able to do any of that. I was starting to be very angry with my mother about all the things that she should have told me.
She could have told me something. My grandma should have told me too. I should have known about the family connection to the Russian throne. That’s the kind of thing that’s important to know about one’s family tree. My entire life I was around all of my family and no one had ever mentioned that I was a direct descendant of Catherine the Great or Nicholas II. I couldn’t believe that my entire family had deemed that it was something that wasn’t worth talking about.
I blindly followed Dr. Zemecki and Peter. Tania followed along with me. We didn’t know at that point where we were or where we were headed. I was behaving like some lost girl who had just joined up with a cult. I was really starting to get tired, however, and I didn’t want to think anymore. I didn’t want to know anything. I didn’t want to think about anything. I didn’t want to do anything. I wanted to go to sleep and pray that when I woke up it would all be a seriously bad dream.
Peter was in charge. Even Dr. Zemecki was following all of his leads. Peter paid for the subway and led us to the proper platform. We followed him onto and off of trains. We followed him through connecting stations as we switched from line to line. Finally, we followed him up to the street.
Aloshya was waiting in his SUV which was covered with snow right next to the exit from the station. I wasn’t sure why, but everyone seemed to do what Peter told them too. I wondered what made him the leader and why everyone let him call all the shots. I presumed at that point that it wasn’t something to discuss until a later time. I was curious about it, however.
Peter handed Aloshya a card for the subway. “Keys,” he said.
“Shouldn’t I go with you?” Aloshya asked.
“You should get on the metro and go back to the store. Kostov won’t be suspicious of your involvement that way,” Peter told him.
Aloshya handed him the keys and took the card. “Good luck to you all,” he said. Then he entered the subway station and was gone.
Peter motioned us to get into the monster SUV. The SUV was a four-wheel drive with a lift kit that made it high enough that I had to climb to get into
it. It was black which was good. It was a boring color that didn’t stand out in the crowd. With the lift kit, it was conspicuous enough as it was.
Peter started the car and headed for Dubna where he felt that we would be safe. I hoped that he was right. I hoped that he could drive in the white out conditions that the snow was causing. I hoped that the roads were in good enough shape that we could make it to Dubna. I hoped that he knew where he was going. I had no idea where Dubna was.
The Ring of the Queen