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Moscow, May 1971

Central in a densely wooded tract of land not far out of the city - where the Serpukhov road passed through a saddle between low hills and gazed for a rown pines towards Podolsk, which showed as a hazy shtly pricked here and there with the first lights of evening - stood a house or e and s were of modern brick upon old stone foundations, while others were of cheap breeze blocks roughly painted over in green and grey, al construction Bedded at their bases in steeply gabled end walls, twin towers or aunt as watchtowers - whose sagging buttresses and parapets and flaking spiral decorations detracted nothing froh over the tallest trees, their boarded s gloo like hooded eyes

The layout of the outbuildings, many of which had been recently re-roofed withcoh no crops, farh all-enco perimeter wall - which from its massy structure, reinforced abutht likewise be a relic of feudal tirey concrete blocks had replaced cru stone and ancient brick To east and here strea between steep banks which for lead roofs green with h the walls, their dark ates

All in all grilihould not be sufficient warning in itself, a sign at the T-junction where a cobbled track wound away from the road and into the woods declared that this entire area was ’Property of the State’, patrolled and protected, and that all trespassers would be prosecuted Motorists were not per in the woods was strictly forbidden; hunting and fishing likewise Penalties would be, without exception, severe

But for all that the place seemed deserted and lost in its own ht and a round to round-floor s, telling a different story In the woods, on the approach roads to the covered bridges, large black saloon cars ht also appear abandoned where they blocked the way - except for the dull orange glowing of hot cigarette tips within, and the s frorounds: squat, silent shapes whichin the shadowed places, their dark grey overcoats as like as uniforms, faces hidden under the brims of felt hats, shoulders robotically square

In an inner courtyard of the , an ambu­ lance - or maybe a hearse - stood with its back doors open, white-overalled attendants waiting and the driver seated unco-wheel One of the attendants played with a steel loading roller, spinning it on well-lubricated bearings at the rear end of the long, somehow sinister vehicle Nearby, in an open-ended barn- like structure with a sagging canvas roof, a helicopter’s dull paintwork and square glass s gleania of the Supre carefully on a low parapet wall, a figure with Arht binoculars scanned the land about, particularly the open area between the peri above his shoulder, the ugly blue metal snout of a specially adapted Kalashnikov rifle was li steadily darker

Inside the , modern soundproof partition walls now divided what had once been a vast hall into fairly large rooms, serviced by a central corridor lit with a row of fluorescent tubes strung along a high ceiling Each room had a padlocked door and all the doors were fitted with tiny grille ith sliding covers on the inside, and with snified ’No Entry - Not to be Disturbed’ One of these lights, half-way down the corridor on the left, was blinking even now Leaning against the wall to one side of the door with the blinking light, a tall, hard-faced KGB operative cradled a subun in his ar to attention - or into action - at a , the sudden cessation of the red light’s blinking, and he would snap up straighter than a lamp­post For while none of the men in that room was his real master, nevertheless one of thehest ranks of the KGB, perhaps one of the ten most powerful men in Russia

There were other men in the room beyond the door, which in fact was not one roo door of their own In the s, their hooded eyes fixed on the partition wall, of which a large central section, floor to ceiling, was a one-way viewscreen The floor was carpeted; a slasses, and a bottle of high-class slivovitz; all was silent except for the breathing of the three and the faint electric whirr of the air-conditioning Subdued lighting in a false ceiling was soothing to their eyes

The ht and left perhaps fifteen years younger His prot��g��’s, each of them knew the other for a rival The man in the middle knew it, too He had planned it that way It was called survival of the fittest; only one of them would survive to take his place, when eventually that day came By then the other would have been removed - perhaps politically, but more likely in some other, still more devious fashion The years betould be their pro­ving ground Yes, survival of the fittest

Co central stripe of jet-black hair swept back froh, much-wrinkled brow, the senior arette The man on his left passed the ashtray; half of the hot ash found its target, the rest fell to the floor In a an to sThey kne the older ets But at last their boss sniffed, glanced down at the floor froround his shoe into the carpet, to and fro, until the suished

Beyond the screen, preparations of a sort had been in progress In the Western World ithily siht of as about to occur: he had cleansed himself He had stripped naked and bathed,every square inch of his body He Iliad shaved hi all surface hair from his person with the exception of the close-cropped hair of his head He had defecated before and after his bath, on the second occasion doubly ensuring his cleanliness by washing his parts again in hot water and towelling himself dry And then, still co would have seemed macabre in |he extreme to anyone not in the know, but it was all part ||of the preparations He had gone to sit beside the second occupant of the room where he lay upon a not quite I horizontal table or trolley with a fluted aluminium surface, I |and had lain his head on his folded arms where he rested them upon the other’s abdomen Then he had closed his eyes and, apparently, had slept for so remotely homosex­ual The man on the trolley was also naked, much older than the first, flabby, wrinkled, and bald but for a fringe of grey hair at his temples He was also very dead; but even in death his pallid, puffy face, thineyebroere cruel

All of this the three on the other side of the screen had watched, and all had been accomplished with a sort of clinical detachment and with no outward indication of awareness from the - perforotten’ their presence; his as all-engrossing, too iencies or interference’s

But now he stirred, lifted his head, blinked his eyes twice and slowly stood up All was now in order, the inquiry could commence

The three watchers leaned forward a little in their ar, centred all their attention on the naked , and this despite the fact that their observation cell was completely insulated, soundproof as a vacuu the corpse until its lower end, where the clay-cold feet pro­ jected a little way andthe lip of the bath He dreard a second, more conventional trolley-table and opened the leather case which lay upon it, displaying scalpels, scissors, saws - a whole range of razor-sharp surgical instruments

In the observation cell, the rim smile which his subordinates missed as they eased back fractionally in their chairs, satisfied now that they were about to see nothing more spectacular than a rather bizarre autopsy Their boss could barely contain the chuckle rising fro in his stocky body, as he anticipated the shock they had co to them He had seen all of this before, but they had not And this, too, would serve as a test of sorts

Now the nakedchromium-plated rod, needle sharp at one end and bedded in a wooden handle at the other, and without pause leaned over the corpse, placed the point of the needle in the crater of the swollen belly’s navel and applied his weight to the handle The rod slid hoasses accu up into the naked man’s face

’Audio!’ snapped the observer in thehiruff voice was so deep in its range as to be little les as he continued: ’Quickly, I want to listen!’ And he waggled a stubby finger at a speaker on the wall

Gulping audibly, the ht stood up, stepped to the speaker, pressed a button marked ’Receive’ There wasaway as the belly of the corpse in the other rooas escaped, ; instead of drawing back, the naked man lowered his face, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, filling his lungs!

With his eyes glued to the one-way screen, fuain and seated himself heavily His mouth, like that of his opposite number, had fallen open; both es of their chairs, their backs raarette, forgotten, toppled into the ashtray on the table to send up fresh streamers of perfumed smoke Only the watcher in the middle seemed unmoved, and he was as much interested in the expressions on the faces of his subordinates as he was in the weird ritual taking place beyond the screen

The naked ain over the deflated corpse He had one hand on the dead h, the other on his chest, palain, round as saucers, but his colour had visibly changed The nor, recently scrubbed body had entirely disappeared; his grey was uniforrey as death He held his breath, see to savoir the very taste of death, and his cheeks appeared to be slowly caving in Then -

He snatched back his hands froas in a whoosh, rocked back on his heels For a moment it seemed he ain And again, with great cure, he lowered his hands to the body Gaunt and grey as stone, he stroked the flesh, his fingers trehtness fro erotic in it, but the left-hand man of the trio of watchers was moved to whisper:

’Is he a necrophile? What is this, Co,’ the rowled ’You knohere you are, don’t you? Nothing should surprise you here As for what this is - what he is - you will see soon enough This I will tell you: to e there are only three ol froion, a tribal witch-doctor, almost dead of syphilis and useless to us Another is hopelesslywhich he too will bebeyond our reach That leaves only this one and his is an instinctive art, hard to teach Which e Most appropriate So now shut up! You are watching a unique talent’

Now, beyond the one-, the ’unique talent’ of the naked s of some mad, unseen puppet-master, his burst of sudden, unexpected ht arm and hand flailed towards his case of instru it frorey claept aloft as if conducting solittering, crescent-shaped scalpel

All three observers were now craning forward, eyes huge and ape; but while the faces of the two on the outside were fixed in a sort of involuntary rictus of denial - prepared to wince or even exclaim at what they now suspected was to coe andthe seely eccentric or at best random movements of the rest of his limbs �C which now fluttered and twitched like those of a dead frog, electrically coerced into a pseudo-life of their own - the arm and hand of the naked man swept down and sliced open the corpse froh the navel and down to the rey pubic hair Twoso rapidly as almost to be a part of the first reat T with extended top and bottom bars

Without pause, the hideously autoery now blindly tossed away his blade across the roo his hands into the central incision up to his wrists and laid back the flaps of the dead man’s abdouts did not smoke; no blood flowed as such; but when the naked listened a dull red, as if fresh painted

To perfor of the body had required an effort of al of muscles across the naked e and in his upper ar down the protective outer layers of the stomach must be torn at once Also, it had been done with a fierce snarl, clearly audible over the radio link, which had drawn back his lips from clenched teeth and caused the sinews of his neck to stand out in sharp relief

But noith his subject’s viscera entirely exposed, again a strange stillness came over him Greyer than before, if that were at all possible, he once ht­ened up, rocked back on his heels, let his red hands fall to his sides And rocking forward again, his neutral blue eyes turned down and began a slow, minute examination of the corpse’s innards

In the other roo continuously, his hands clawing at the ar with fine perspiration The one on the right had turned the colour of slate, shaking fro to compensate for a heart which now raced in his chest But between thehly secret Agency for the Developrossed, his leonine head forward, his heavily jowled face full of awe as he absorbed each and every detail and nuance of the perforht the discomfort of his juniors where they flanked hiht formed: he wondered if the others would be sick, and which one would throw up first And where he would throw up

On the floor under the table stood aa few cru his eyes from the one-way screen, Borowitz reached down, lifted the waste bin up between his knees and placed it centrally on the table before hiht it out between them In any case, and whichever one let the down side, his vo would doubtless elicit a response in the other

As if reading his ht panted, ’Comrade General, I do not think that I -’

’Be still!’ Borowitz lashed out with his foot, catching the other’s ankle ’Watch - if you can If you can’t, then be quiet and let me!’

The nakedhis face to within inches of the corpse’s exposed organs and entrails Left and right his eyes darted, up and down, as if they sought so suspiciously His brow, hitherto smooth, was now furrowed in a fantastic frown He resereat naked bloodhound intent upon tracking its prey

Thena sly grin tugged at his grey lips, the gleam of revelation - of a secret discovered, or about to be discovered - shone in his eyes It was as if he said, ’Yes, so to hide!’

And now he threw back his head and laughed - laughed out loud, however briefly - before returning to a h, the hidden thing would not be exposed It shrank down out of sight, and glee turned to rage on the instant!

Panting furiously, his grey face treinable emotions, the naked man snatched up a slihtness In so of an ordered ans, pipes and bladders; but as his work progressed so it grew ever uts as they were partially or ale of the fluted s, flaps and tatters And still it was not enough, still the hunted thing eluded hih the speaker into the other roo in cold ashes, and griobbets and hurl them all about He smeared them down his body, held them to his ear and ’listened’ to them He scattered them wide, tossed them over his hunched shoulders, hurled theain his cry of frustration, of weird anguish, ripped through the speaker:

Not there! Not there!’

In the other rooht had turned to a wretched choking Suddenly he snatched I he waste bin froered away to a corner of the rooave him credit that he was reasonably quiet about it

’My God, my God!’ the man on the left had started to repeat, over and over, each repetition louder than the one before And, ’Awful, awful! He is depraved, insane, a fiend!’

’He is brilliant!’ Borowitz growled ’See? See? Now he goes to the heart of the matter’

Beyond the screen, the naked ical saw His arrey and silver where he sawed upwards through the centre of the sternuore-spattered skin, dripped from him in a hot rain as he levered at the subject’s chest It would not give; the blade of the silver hacksaw broke and he threw it down Crying like an animal, frantic in hisso His eyes rested briefly on a metal chair, widened in inspi­ration In a s as levers in the fresh-cut channel

In a cracking of bones and a tearing of flesh the left side of the corpse’s chest rose up, was forced back, a trapdoor in the upper trunk In went the nakedand out they ca the prize aloftbut only for a th in both hands, the naked man waltzed it across the rooed it close, held it up to his eyes, his ears He pressed it to his own chest, caressed it, sobbed like a baby He sobbed his relief, burning tears coursing down his grey cheeks And in another o out of hi the heart he crumpled, plopped down on the floor, curled up into an almost foetal position with the heart lost in the curl of his body He lay still

’All done -’ said Borowitz- maybe!’

He stood up, crossed to the speaker and pressed a second button lanced narrow-eyed at his subordinates One of them had not , the waste bin between his legs In another corner the secondfro as he went down, inhaling as he caain The faces of both men were slick with sweat

’Hah!’ Borowitz grunted, and to the speaker: ’Boris? Boris Dragosani? Can you hear me? Is all well?’

In the other room the man on the floor jerked, stretched, lifted his head and stared about Then he shuddered and quickly stood up He seeh his colour was still grey as lead His bare feet slipped on the sliained his balance Then he saw the heart still clutched in his hands, gave a second great shudder and tossed it aiping his hands down his thighs

He was like (Borowitz thought) sohtmare but he must not be allowed to co Borowitz must know And he must know it nohile it was still fresh in the other’shis voice as soft as possible ’Do you hear ot thee screen, so the naked osani acknowledged the screen, which on his side was sihtly frostedcoht at them, almost as if he could actually see them, in the way a blind man will sometimes look, and answered:

’Yes, I hear you, Coht: he had planned to assassinate you’

’Hah! Good!’ Borowitz balled a meaty fist and slammed it into the palm of his left hand ’How osani looked exhausted The greyness was going out of his and lower body had taken on a more nearly fleshly tint Only flesh and blood after all, he seeht the steel chair where he had thrown it and to seat hiy Placing his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands, he now sat staring at the floor between his feet

’Well?’ Borowitz said into the speaker

’One other,’ Dragosani answered at last without look­ ing up ’Someone close to you I could not read his name’

Boroas disappointed ’Is that all?’

’Yes, Coain at the screen, and there was so in his watery blue eyes With a familiarity Borowitz’s juniors could hardly credit, he then said: ’Gregor, please do not ask it’

Boroas silent

’Gregor,’ Dragosani said again, ’you have pros,’ Borowitz hurriedly cut his! What little you give, I shall repay many times over What snise with overwhelnition is in co

You have pluo sani, and I know your bravery is greater than that of any cosmonaut Science fiction to the contrary, there are no o But the frontiers you cross are the very haunts of horror! I know these things’

The reyness crept back into his lior,’ he said

For all that Dragosani could not see hi, ’Then you do understand?’

The naked ain, asked: ’What is it you wish to know?’

Borowitz licked his lips, leaned closer to the screen, said, Two things The na in there, and proof which I can take before the Presidiue, but you too Yes, and the entire branch Reosani, there are those in the KGB ould eviscerate us - if only they could find a way!’

The other said nothing but returned to the trolley carrying the remains of the corpse He stood over the violated mess, and in his face ritten his intent: the ultis and letting the air out slowly, then repeating the procedure; and each tier, while his skin rapidly and quite visibly returned to its deep slate-grey hue After several aze upon the tray of surgical instruments in its case

By now even Boroas disturbed, agitated, unnerved He sat down in his central chair, seerowled at his subordinates ’Are you all right? You, Mikhail - is there any puke left in you? If so, stand well away’ (This to the one on the left, whose nostrils werejet- black pits in a face of chalk) ’And you, Andrei - are you done noith your bending and ventilating?’

The one on the right opened hishis wet eyes on the screen, his Adainning at least But I would prefer not to throw up Also, when all is done, I would be grateful for an explanation You may say what you like of that one in there, Comrade General, but I personally believe he should be put down!’

Borowitz nodded ’You shall have your explanation in good tiree with you - I, too, would prefer not to throw up!’

Dragosani had taken up what looked like a hollow silver chisel in one hand, and a small copper-jacketed mallet in the other He placed the chisel in the centre of the corpse’s forehead, brought the mallet sharply down and drove the chisel ho the blow, so a little brain fluid was vented through the chisel’s hollow steulped once, then returned to his corner and stood there tre, his face averted The man called Andrei remained where he was, stood there as if frozen, but Borowitz noted how he clenched and unclenched his fists where they hung at his sides

Now Dragosani stood back from the corpse, crouched down, stared fixedly at the chisel where it stood up fro erect and stepped to the table with the case of instruh floor tiles, he snatched up a slender steel straw and dropped it expertly, with hardly a glance, into the chisel’s cavity The fine steel tube sank slowly, pneuh the body of the chisel until just its mouthpiece projected

’Mouthpiece!’ Andrei suddenly croaked, turning away and stu blindly across the floor of the observation cell ’My God, my God - the h as he was he could not watch He had seen it all before and remembered it only too well

Mo -Andrei across the room, his back to the screen - and their superior with his eyes tightly shut, squeezed down in his chair Then -

The screaest nerves, indeed a scream to raise the dead It was full of horror, full of e - the cry of a wounded carnivore, a vengeful beast And hot on its heels - chaos!

As the scream subsided Borowitz’s eyes shot open, his heavy eyebrows for a peaked tent over the, fingers clawing at the arave a hoarse shout, threw up an arm before his face, hurled his heavy body backward His chair crashed over, allowing him to roll clear, protected by the chair to the left, as the screen caved inward in a shower of glass and se hole had appeared in the screen, with the legs of the steel chair froh The chair was snatched back out of sight - and again driven forward, s everywhere

’Swine!’ Dragosani’s shriek came from both the speaker and the shattered screen ’Oh, you swine, Gregor Borow­ itz! You poisoned hient to rot his brain - and now, you bastard, now I have tasted that saed, hate-filled voice caosani hied, dangling glass teeth, before hurling himself across the table and tumbled chairs at Borohere he floundered on the floor In his hand sorey of his flesh

’No!’ Borowitz boo voice loud with terror in the confines of the small room ’No, Boris, you’re mistaken You’re not poisoned, man!’

’Liar! I read it in his dead brain I felt his pain as he died And now that stuff is in ht to struggle to his feet, bore hih the sickle shape of silver in his clenched fist

The round like a wind-torn scarecrow, but now he caht Dragosani’s wrist just as it commenced its doard sweep Expert with a cosh, Mikhail applied it at precisely the correct point, just hard enough to stun The bright steel flew froers and he fell face down across Borowitz, whothe olderonce or twice at the nakedUp on his feet, he pushed his junior away and began to dust himself down - but in the next moment he saw the cosh in Mikhail’s hand and understood what had happened His eyes flew open in shock and sudden anxiety

’What?’ he said, hisopen ’You struck him? You used that on him? Fool!’

’But Comrade Borowitz, General, he - ’

Borowitz cut him off with a snarl, pushed with both hands at Mikhail’s chest and sent hi ’Dolt! Idiot! Pray he is unharod you believe in, just pray you haven’t pered this man Didn’t I tell you he’s unique?’ He went down on one knee, grunting as he turned the stunned osani’s face, the nor where the back of his skull met his neck His eyelids fluttered as Borowitz anxiously scanned his face

’Lights!’ the old General snapped then ’Let’s have them up full Andrei, don’t just stand there like - ’ he paused, stared about the roohts Andrei was not to be seen and the door of the roorowled

’Perhaps he has gone for help,’ Mikhail gulped And continued: ’Coosani he would have - ’

’I know, I know,’ Borowitz growled iet hiosani up and lowered hiroaned loudly and opened his eyes They focused on Borowitz’s face, narrowing in accusation ’You!’ he hissed, trying to straighten up but failing

, ’Take it easy,’ said Borowitz ’And don’t be a fool, if you’re not poisoned Man, do you think I would so readily dispose of my osani rasped ’Only four days ago It burned his brain out and he died in agony, thinking his head wasAnd now the same stuff is tin me! I need to be sick, quickly! I have to be sick!’ He struggled frantically to get up

Borowitz nodded, held hirinned like a Siberian wolf He brushed back his central Streak of jet-black hair and said, ’Yes, that is how he died - but not you, Boris, not you The poison was soarian brew It acts rapidly and dis­ perses just as rapidly It voids itself in a few hours, leaves no trace, becoer of ice, it strikes thenlike ahe can’t believe ’What is this?’ he asked ’How can he possibly know that we poisoned the Second in Coain Borowitz rounded on hiue of yours will choke you yet, Mikhail Gerkhov!’

’But -’

’Man, are you blind? Have you learned nothing?’

The other shrugged, fell silent It was all beyond his since he’d been transferred into the branch three years ago - seen and heard things he would never have believed possible - but this was so far re else he’d experienced that it defied reason

Borowitz had turned back to Dragosani, had clasped his neck where it joined his shoulder The naked rey nor fleshy pink but pale He shivered as Borowitz asked hiet his name? Think now, for it’s very iosani looked up, looked sick

’You said he was close toin there Who is he, Boris? Who?’

Dragosani nodded, narrowed his eyes, said: ’Close to you, yes His name isUstinov!’

’Wha-?’ Borowitz straightened up, realisation dawning

’Ustinov?’ Mikhail Gerkhov gasped ’Andrei Ustinov? Is that possible?’

’Very possible,’ said a fah it, his thin face lined and drawn, a subun cradled in his arms He directed the weapon’s muzzle ahead of him, carelessly aimed it at the other three ’Definitely possible’

’But why?’ said Borowitz

"But isn’t that obvious, "Comrade General"? Wouldn’t anyas I have, want to see you dead? Too or, I’ve suffered your tantruues and stupid bullying Yes, and I served you loyally - until now But you never likedWhat have I been - what ae? Well, you’ll be pleased to note that I am, after all, an apt pupil But your deputy? No, I was never that And I should step aside for this upstart?’ he nodded sneeringly towards Gerkhov

Borowitz’s face clearly showed his disgust ’And you were the one I would have chosen!’ he snorted ’Hah!No fool like an old fool’

Dragosani groaned and lifted a hand to his head He made as if to stand, fell out of the chair on to his knees, sprawled face down on the glass-littered floor Borowitz made to kneel beside him

’Stay where you are!’ Ustinov snapped ’You can’t help him now He’s a dead man You’re all dead men’

’You’ll never carry it off,’ Borowitz said, but the colour was draining from his face and his voice was little more than a dry rustle

’Of course I will,’ Ustinov sneered ’In all this ood tale, be sure - of you, a raving lunatic, and of the worse than crazy people you employ - and ill there be to say any different?’ He stepped forward, the ugly weapon in his handsas he cocked it

On the floor at his feet, Boris Dragosani was not unconscious His collapse had simply been a ploy to put hiers closed on the bone handle of the sical knife where it had fallen Ustinov stepped closer, grinned as he quickly reversed his weapon, sla face As the Head of ESP Branch flew backwards, blood srip on the gun and squeezed the trigger

The first burst caught Borowitz high on the right shoulder, spun him like a top and tossed him down It also lifted Gerkhov off his feet, drove hi there for a second like a le step forward, spat out a stream of blood and fell face down The as scarlet where his back had pressed against it

Borowitz scra the floor, until his shoulders brought up against the wall Unable to go any farther, he hunched hi for it to happen Ustinov drew his lips back froreat shark before it strikes He aier At the saing Ustinov behind his left knee Ustinov screamed, Borowitz too, as bullets chewed up the wall just over his head

Hanging onto Ustinov’s coat, Dragosani hauled himself to his knees, sliced blindly upward a second tih overcoat, jacket, shirt and flesh It carved Ustinov’s upper right arun Alosani in the face

Gasping his pain and terror, knowing he was badly cut, Andrei Ustinov, traitor, hobbled out of the door and slah a tiny anteroom and out into the corridor There he closed the soundproof door more quietly behind him, stepped over the body of the KGB ue and caved-in skull The killing of this one was unfortunate, but it had been necessary

Cursing and gasping his pain, Ustinov hobbled down the corridor leaving a trail of blood He had almost reached the door to the courtyard when a sound behind hirenade froosani step out into the corridor, stuo to his knees Then, as their eyesto do but get out of there With the grenade’s bouncing ringing in his ears, and Dragosani’s hiss of snatched breath, he opened the steel door to the courtyard, stepped through it and pulled it firht, Ustinov mentally ticked off the seconds as he limped towards the thite-coated attendants at the rear of the ambulance ’Help!’ he croaked ’I’osani, one of our special operatives He’s gone mad, killed Borowitz, Gerkhov, and a KGBhis words definition, there caed as if soehae, then was sucked back and open to slaainst the corridor wall S the heavy stench of high explosives

’Quick!’ Ustinov shouted over the frantic questioning of the attendants and the yelling of security guards as they caet us away frooes up!’ There was little fear of that happening, but it would guarantee soet Ustinov out of harm’s way, for the moment anyway The hell of it was that he couldn’t be sure any of them back there were dead If they were he would have plenty of time to construct his story; if not he was done for Only time would tell

He flopped into the back of the aine roared into life, followed by the attendants who at once began to peel off his outer gar, the vehicle pulled away across the courtyard, passed under a high stone archway and onto a track leading to the peri,’ Ustinov yelled ’Get us away!’ The driver hunched down over the wheel and put his foot down

Back in the courtyard the security men and the helicop­ ter pilot hopped and skittered on the cobbles, coughing in the strea door The fire, what little of it there had been, had died in the s wall of sosani, naked still, black-streaked over grey and gore- spattered flesh, carried a bellowing Gregor Borowitz draped in a fireman’s lift across his shoulders

’What?’ the General shouted between coughs and splut­ ters ’What? Where’s that treacherous dog Ustinov? Did you let hiet away? Where’s the a?’