UNDERGROUND

25

Pustovalov crossed the tracks, climbed onto the platform from the tunnel side, peered through the grated door into the opposite portal, the only place that bothered him. However, he understood that it was foolish to set up an ambush there.

Pulling up the strap of his backpack, he tucked the Walther into his belt, then climbed over the railing and climbed onto the platform. Silently stepping, he reached the first opening. Looked into the hall. On the marble column opposite, a bright blue sticker pointed with an arrow "exit to the city." It was from there that music and a mechanical rumble rushed, which, as Pustovalov now understood, was emitted by a working escalator.

Leaning his back against the wide end of the wall, he began to shift to the left, gradually opening up a view. Silver-crystal, like corkscrews, lamps of the main hall and a row of pylons appeared before my eyes. A double staircase led from the center of the hall into the space above the opposite paths. The deserted hall e