The Boy from Reactor 4

“I was going to offer to pay for the gasoline or any inconvenience,” she said, “but that would be an insult. So I can only say please.”

Detective Novak paused, resumed chewing, and smiled. He marched over to a police cruiser and opened the door to the backseat without saying a word. Motioned for Nadia to get in with a sweep of his right hand. After closing the door behind her, he stood before Kirilo, Misha, and Specter.

“I don’t want to see any of these vehicles following us to the station. The lady is no longer interested in your company. Is that understood?”

They didn’t answer.

“In fact,” Detective Novak said, glancing at one of his men with a clipboard, “check registrations for all these cars before these men leave.” He turned back to Kirilo. “For my report. To make it perfect. Because I value my career.” He winked.

He climbed into the passenger seat while another cop got in the driver’s seat. As he pulled away, Nadia snuck a peek out the window. Kirilo followed the car on foot for a few steps, as though letting her know they would be coming soon.

Specter stood tapping his cell phone. The motion suggested he wanted Nadia to call him later.

“May we take you to the Hotel Rus?” Detective Novak said.

“No, thank you,” Nadia said. “That’s very kind of you. If you wouldn’t mind… There is a destination… I’m leaving tomorrow, and I haven’t had a chance to see the new statue. The new statue at Babi Yar.”

CHAPTER 49

THE COPS KEPT Kirilo, Victor, Misha, and the bodyguards in the warehouse for another hour. Kirilo fumed at the irritation until the cops finally left at 7:25.

“We have to stop her from leaving the country,” Kirilo said. “If she’s still here. Pavel, call the deputy minister of the interior. Get him on the line for me.”

Pavel pulled out his cell phone and stepped away.

“Who has a picture of her?” Kirilo said.

Misha pointed to Specter, who nodded.

“Good,” Kirilo said. “Get it to Pavel right away. I’ll see that the deputy minister gets it to Passport Control and that she’s held for suspicion of illegally entering the Zone of Exclusion. We don’t even have to make up a phony charge. It’s legitimate. The taxi driver confessed to it.”

“She has a head start,” Misha said. “She could be on a plane before they have her picture.”

“She won’t go to the airport,” Victor said.

Kirilo forced himself to look at his cousin. “Why do you say that?”

“She’ll be expecting us to be expecting her there. It’s how she came in. It’s the easy way out. It’s too big a risk, and she’s too smart to take it.”

“Then she’ll go by boat or by rail,” Misha said.

“It doesn’t matter how she travels,” Kirilo said. “She has to clear Passport Control somewhere, and we will either have that picture in time for her to be stopped or we won’t. Which is why we will pursue our other leads while we wait.”

“What other leads?” Misha said.

“We know from the taxi driver that she met with a zoologist. A man named Karel who conducts experiments in Chernobyl village. The deputy minister will get Pavel his home address, and we’ll go pay him a visit immediately. Meanwhile, the deputy minister will get us emergency clearance to enter the Zone of Exclusion tonight.”

“Chernobyl?” Misha said. “You’re going to Chernobyl? When? Tonight?”

“That’s where she went to see her uncle,” Kirilo said. “Damian Tesla is there, somewhere. He can tell us what we’re chasing after. And he might be able to tell us how she’s leaving the country.”

Misha fidgeted in place. “For real? You would go there? I mean, like, is it safe?”

“Of course it’s not safe,” Kirilo said, amused by the moscal’s obvious fear.

Victor slapped his young protégé on the shoulder. “You don’t have to go, Misha,” he said. “I’ll go with Kirilo, and we’ll fill you in with whatever we find out. You can trust us. You know that.”

Misha blinked several times in rapid succession. He straightened his posture and balled his fists. “Fuck you, old man.”

As soon as he got the words out, Misha whitened. He raised his hand to cover his mouth, turned, and vomited on the warehouse floor.

Kirilo stepped back. Victor hadn’t been kidding, he realized. The Bitch really had poisoned the moscal.

“You okay?” Kirilo said.

“I’m fine,” Misha barked, face flushed. “Don’t you worry about me.”

As Kirilo passed him, Victor whispered under his breath, “Ten million divided by two is greater than ten million divided by three.”

The mere sound of the Bitch’s voice made Kirilo want to bite his ear off and spit it out in his face.

“I’m on hold,” Pavel said, cupping the phone with one hand.

Kirilo edged closer to Pavel, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Victor couldn’t hear him.

“Anything on Isabella’s whereabouts?” Kirilo said.

“No,” Pavel said. “I have calls in to all our contacts. The only thing I’ve learned so far is that the Timkiv twins may be helping him. They run a small crew in Odessa and were seen in Yalta by one of our men. They match the description of the two young men you saw outside your boat when Victor came aboard.”