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THE RUSSIAN STEPPES

IN THE MORNING, THEY REACHED A SMALL STATION EAST of the Volga, far enough froorod so that the stir the Tucker caused was not likely to reach the wrong ears The tall man in the Hawaiian shirt opened the trunk in the front of the car and showed theet on a train like that You’d better take soed” He opened the suitcase rammed CC, and Sam chose some men’s clothes The one marked JC contained women’s clothes for Remi Mr C closed the suitcases and the trunk while Sae The clothes were long on both of the nearly nor of his car

The Tucker was loaded onto a special railroad car used forheavy equipment, chained down, and covered with a tarp to protect it from dust and rain, then locked inside and sealed

The Fargos and the Cs, who had rescued them, waited a few hours in the terminal for a train called Rossiya No 2, which was the Moscow-to-Vladivostok run It would take seven days and cover 6,152 eable about every spot on earth but didn’t mention when they’d traveled there, watched the special railway car added to the train and then helped Sam buy two berths on the first-class sleeper, called a Spliny Wagon, as far as the Russian city of Omsk

As soon as they were on the train andsteadily across the Russian steppes, Sam asked CC if he could borrow his cell phone He went into his private sitting room, sat beside Remi, and turned on the speaker He called the nuiven hio”

“One moment, please”

The operator switched him immediately to another line

“Hi

, Saar”

“Hello,” said Sa my call”

“Where are you?”

“I’m on the Trans-Siberian Railith ht you should know that the gentleman as her host, Mr Poliakoff, had some bad luck There was a fire at his house, and some injured employees”

Hagar said, “I understand it burned to the ground and the police are investigating mysterious substances stored in his basement”

“Interesting Well, thanks veryme when I needed it”

“We would have liked to do ht Our ratulations to you and his respects to Mrs Fargo”