The Forbidden Zone
Page 47
“Scrap metal from decommissioned submarines,” said Anton.
Katherine rolled her eyes.
Oksana said, “Why don’t you come to New York anyway, Katherine? Let us show you around.”
Katherine smiled at that. Anton and Oksana had certainly had their share of difficulties adjusting to life in the United States, yet now they were offering to showher around New York. It was a good sign. She looked at them and thought of what an attractive couple they made — Oksana with her round, Slavic face; Anton with his dark hair and brooding, deep-set eyes, and, like his brother, the Iron Perova chin, thrust forward toward a shining future.
“That would be nice.”
Katherine’s eye caught something in the distance, a figure of a man watching them. Anton and Oksana followed her gaze.
“Who’s that?” Oksana asked.
Katherine smiled. “I’ll take care of him. You two go ahead.”
Anton and Oksana left. Katherine and the man walked toward each other through the stones. At last, the man spoke.
“Dr. Sears!”
“Grayson Hines. Don’t you ever quit?”
He grinned. “Nope.”
“How did you find me?”
He shrugged. “I called you in Ithaca to get Victor Perov’s new telephone number — I wanted a comment on his resignation from the Supreme Soviet. They told me you were in D.C. That seemed too much of a coincidence, so I decided to come down here and cover this Turnhill circus.”
“No secrets,” said Katherine.
“I’m a reporter. I believe secrets cause cancer. Now, tell me, how are you mixed up in this thing?”
“I gave you my story, Grayson, a long time ago.”
“Not all of it.”
Katherine shrugged.
Grayson smiled. “At least give me a comment on Victor Perov’s resignation from the legislature.”
“For the record?”
“Of course.”
“It’s marvelous.”
Grayson groaned. “Oh,please.Victor is the man some people rate above Gorbachev in importance to the early days of glasnost. His short campaign as a dissident gave him a moral authority Gorbachev, the communist, will never have.”
Katherine smiled. “I’ve seen your articles, Grayson. You have called him ‘Gorbachev’s guru,’ and ‘the conscience of the nation.’”
“Right! And now he says his work is done, and he’s leaving politics to go back toastronomy? That can’t be it.”
“He and I have a survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud to complete.”
Grayson sighed, exasperated. “Have you heard from him lately?”
“We spoke yesterday.”
Grayson’s eyes grew eager, and he took out a notebook and pen. “About what?”
Katherine thought about the conversation and grinned. “Put away your pen, Grayson. It wasn’t a business call.”
Grayson raised his eyebrows. “Oh, really?”
“Wipe that look off your face.” She laughed. Then she turned and walked away, leaving Grayson Hines alone with a pen in his hand.
Katherine found the package beside her mailbox a few days after she got back from New York. It was a mailing tube postmarked “MOSCOW, RUSSIA.”
She carried it inside and set it on the kitchen table. She assumed it was from Victor, but she couldn’t imagine what he could be sending. She cut open the end of the tube and pulled out a large topographical map. Clipped to the map was a note from Konstantin Tarasov.
Dear Katherine,
I know you’ve always wondered about the final condition I placed on OlegShatalin that night on the border. I thought it was time to finally clear up themystery. It took him seven years, but the old general came through. See foryourself.
Sincerely, K. V. Tarasov
Katherine rolled out the map. Across the top it said “Oimyakon Province, Eastern Siberia. Survey Sector 44C-21F.”
She studied it a long time. It was impossible to read, all wiggly lines, winding rivers and geographical names in Russian. She couldn’t imagine what this had to do with Konstantin Tarasov. Then something caught her eye. A word had been circled along a tiny stretch of river that began on Suntar Ridge, where Stepan and Nadia had built their cabin. It was the name of a river. Katherine read it and laughed.
There on the map was written, “Reka Nadii,” Nadia’s River.
The River of Hope.