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UNDERGROUND 27
“Did that guy at the station say that?”Don't worry, he's crazy.But Dasha could not "not pay attention." When Pustovalov came out of the toilet three minutes later, Dasha went up to him again.Did he talk about what's going on upstairs? she asked, glaring into his eyes.Pustovalov felt a faint, refined aroma of exotic flowers - far from the banal perfume heaviness emanating from Katya, and thought that this girl, like him, was a rare guest in the subway. In the semi-darkness he saw only the outline of a handsome face and sparkling eyes.I told you he's just a psycho. You should have seen his drawings.Dasha silently looked into his face for several seconds, as if she was evaluating, and finally said:- I want you to take a look.- For what?The girl looked around and took out an outlandish device from her bag, which Pustovalov immediately recognized, although he saw it for the first time in his life. Eyebrows habitually crawled up - the brick-like phone "Fairy Tale-2" looked so unnat
UNDERGROUND 28
- In case of a nuclear attack?“There are the same ones at the stations,” said Pustovalov, “but they are covered with sheets. I saw on Marksistskaya in front of the escalators.- Not the same, - Victor objected, - they are retractable or lifting, but this one is rare.Almost immediately outside the door, the tunnel doubled in size. The flashlight beam slowly illuminated the new space. They were at the fork. The tunnel went further, but from it, forming an acute angle, another branch grew.- Vityan is right, this is definitely an inter-linear, - said Romik, limping on his bruised leg, - one to the ring, the second to Taganka.- Where?The sound of a hammer was the answer.“This way,” Pustovalov headed for the neighboring tunnel.Kharitonov nodded to Roman and followed Pustovalov, pulling Katya after him.Victor avoided looking at the girl, he was ashamed of his impotence in his inability to somehow influence Kharitonov. But Pustovalov didn’t seem to care at all, although he could influ
UNDERGROUND 29
Opposite there was a small breakdown, which went far - thirty meters deep. Warm air came out of it, but the junction itself was so narrow and cramped that it was only possible to pass through it by bending over strongly. A couple of meters from the entrance lay a rail cart without one wheel.“Most likely, there is also a fan,” Victor suggested, “so why don’t you want to ...”- Can you get out of there?- Well, this is not just a ventilation duct, since nothing is visible there, at the end, perhaps the fan itself is somewhere higher or lower, which means that it serves not only this duct, so ... Let's go back?“If you don’t have enough problems, you can return. I have no such plans.- But…Victor again wanted to object, wanted to say that there .... And who exactly is there? People he didn't know a couple of hours ago. Perhaps danger, shared stress and all that bring together, but definitely not like this man in an expensive jacket and boots from Roberto Morelli. Actually, who are thes
UNDERGROUND 30
“What the hell, why don’t they come down!” We saw them both on Ilyich Square and here ... They are everywhere and feel very at ease.“Yes, yes,” the man whispered, “it was this stretch that was captured. The Tretyakov Gallery was also there, but it was recaptured. I myself… barely survived. My colleagues were kidnapped, and I hid in the locker room behind a manual hermetic door.But what are they to do here?“They just have nowhere to go.- Wait a minute, but why are the doors on Ilyich Square closed?- You were there?- Yes.“So they made their way there, too.” The man frowned in thought.- Did you get through?- The station was closed down.So you closed it?- It was closed by the station workers to cut off the tracks. After all, they have already tried to do something similar on Kievskaya and Turgenevskaya. They were silenced there. Here is the last step. Man two hundred. You need to go to Novokuznetskaya.-And you?- I know a shorter way.- Well, then we'd better go with you!- No
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"Wait here, I'll check," he said.Victor wanted to ask something, but Pustovalov quickly nodded.Sergius slightly opened the door, darted inside, closed it behind him.“It’s strange that this adit…” Victor began, but Pustovalov interrupted him, putting his finger to his lips:- Shh, remember our agreement?Victor opened his mouth, but did not have time to say anything. Sergius appeared from behind the door, sighed somehow wearily.“It's all right,” he said, stepping aside, turning to Pustovalov, “go first. There are stairs ahead...Sergius did not agree. The barrel of the "Walter PPKS" rested against his wrinkled forehead.- How?Sergius was speechless. Victor, judging by the slack jaw - too.- How many are there?- D-two.- Open it.“W-why…” Sergius’s gray eyes looked frightened, as they had done in the tunnel. Nearly. Now the fear was real. Pustovalov knew that look very well – open the door. Victor, go back.But Victor remained where he was.- What?- Get back!Viktor backed away t
UNDERGROUND 32
At this time, a bright beam of a lantern illuminated her.- Well, here we are!In the opening stood an angular giant with a beard in a black uniform - this is probably what underground camouflage should look like. He was bigger and taller even than Kharitonov. The giant spoke Russian, but the machine gun on his broad chest and uniform, pouches on his belt and helmet were not familiar to Dasha, although thanks to her father she knew almost all Russian weapons.“Well,” said the giant, “come out to form.An Asian appeared from behind the giant. The Asian was just on a par with Kharitonov; quite large by Asian standards. Only in contrast to the pot-bellied and flabby Kharitonov, under the dense camouflage of the Asian, relief muscles bulged.- Let's live.Kharitonov screwed up his eyes from the light.“Guys,” he boomed out of nowhere in the tone of a sycophant joker who came from somewhere, “are you for ours or not ours?”Who brainwashed you? - Asked without any accent Asian. - All of us
UNDERGROUND 33
“I told you to keep quiet,” the giant said calmly, as if he was just making a polite remark.Romik hunched over and rubbed his bruised head. Dasha noticed a wry smile on Kharitonov's face.As soon as they passed the station and entered the tunnel, the "giant" again purred something in English, and this time Dasha could not make out anything. The Asiatic laughed and then loudly ordered in Russian that they turn into the nearest passage, which turned out to be a rather wide inter-tunnel gap. In its deepening, a black metal door was found, which apparently was the goal of their journey. The door was opened by an Asian, and they went into an elongated room.On the left, at the entrance, there was a rusty sink in a white corner with a closed carved brass shield of the ventilation manifold. Opposite the “sanitary corner”, fenced off from the rest of the space by a two-meter wall, boxes with dosimeters were thrown in a chaotic mountain. At the end, against the wall, there was a wide table fo
UNDERGROUND 34
“I think it’s ventilation,” he said.Do you hear voices? Pustovalov asked.- Yes, there is someone yelling ...As they got closer, the screams got louder. They were women's cries. Victor saw a square diffused light ahead. About three meters from it, a branch went to the left, but it was tightly walled up with a double grate.- Crap!- From there! Viktor whispered.Men's laughter was clearly audible, and an unexpected woman's cry made Victor flinch.- It's her! Viktor got excited.- Who?- Well, Katya, who was with us! Looks like something is going on there. Not good.Pustovalov understood everything, but he did not want to waste his energy on another attempt to re-educate Victor. He decided that, as a last resort, he would go on alone.- Let's go back, - said Pustovalov, seeing that Victor intends to crawl towards the square source of light, - there is a dead end here!An astonished face turned to Pustovalov:“But this is not a dead end!”- Get your ass over here!A heart-rending fema