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“And where are the Fargos? Do they knohere it is?”

“They were here in Szeged this afternoon, but they’ve had several hours to learn the next location and I’ as soon as possible”

“Find out how they’re planning to get to Kazakhstan froraphs of them?”

“I havethe Fargos I’ht now”

“Call ht number and destination Minutes and seconds willup

FROM THE TOP TOWERS of Sergei Poliakoff’s estate outside Nizhny Novgorod, he could see the Volga, and along its banks the lights of the city of alaxy of starsbeen a center of aerospace research, but here in the calm and quiet of his estate it could easily have been the 1850s When he sat in the gardens, he could listen to the winds and hear no interruption but for the calls of birds that had come to eat from his currant bushes

Outside, an American-made Hummer with aruards inside Next ca black Mercedes with tinted s and then the follow-up, a white Cadillac Escalade His wife, Irena, and the children went past the Mercedes and entered the Escalade If any of Poliakoff’s detractors were to attempt to cause trouble, they would attack the arant Mercedes that looked as though it held the family The h

Sergei watched them leave, and then the front door closed with a resonant thud and the steel bolts snapped into place Poliakoff was a good match for Irena Her parents had been i the Coone out of favor

He picked up his cell phone and clicked his way through the pictures Bako had sent hiles and trinkets Then he caos The as not ht He knew, fro with such a prize was a wonderful thing in daily life In a fight, it wasn’t such a good thing at all It gave a ile and vulnerable,hiht

Bako was essentially a ht He thought of enemies as competitors And Le Clerc, at the bottom of his soul, was the sa a few ruthlessthem around, but what he watched were the reports his accountants brought hih men after real success Poliakoff had lived in a harder world than the others Only he seelance The woman was the treasure

FERIHEGY AIRPORT, BUDAPEST

SAM AND REMI WERE AT BUDAPEST AIRPORT, WALKING toward the boarding tunnel for their flight to Moscow

“Astana is supposed to be all shiny and new,” said Re The whole place was rebuilt in the past fifteen years”

“We’ll probably have to spend so the people who have authority over antiquities,” said Sa before we start digging”

“Do you think Bako will beat us there?”