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2022-07-15 03:29:27
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UNDERGROUND 69
The office printer was buzzing. Sheets with drawings, plans and cuts fell right on the floor. It was terribly cold. Boris touched the oil left on the table - hard, as if from a refrigerator.- Where is he?- Who?- The one who turned on the printer.Yakov looked at Boris suspiciously.- If you think I'm crazy, ask Makarov about the meowing general. Vindman said as he started picking up documents from the floor.- I won't ask anything.For the next hour, Boris studied the printouts, eating butter and cheese sandwiches and leaving coffee blots on the paper. Yakov also picked up several sheets, put them in a neat stack on the bedside table, then took a sheet with a topological diagram, and half an hour later Boris found him sleeping, covered with this diagram. He slept sitting up, right in his jacket, with his hands in his pockets and his long legs in heavy boots on a stool.Waking up forty minutes later, he jumped up and paced the room, growling from the cold:- Brr!“Look at the plans
UNDERGROUND 70
– Did you know him?- Not really, he rented it out.- To whom?- There was a health club. Swimming pool, sauna…“I see,” Boris chuckled, “did they have a basement?”Tkachenko shrugged.- I do not know.“You have been neighbors for nearly twenty years. Didn't you visit, take a steam bath in the sauna?Tkachenko shook his head.- Yes, we didn’t really communicate, we even have entrance groups from different sides.– Can I see the lease agreement?“We own property, I told you.– Lease agreement for your warehouse in Krasnogorsk.The man's forehead lit up.- Where?Boris moved towards him.- Let's do it. If a search turns up a hidden basement here, do you know what it will turn out to be?Tkachenko sighed.- Samostroy.- No, it's bullshit.“Assistance to terrorism,” Yakov said, coming out from behind Tkachenko, “taking into account the resonance and the direct instruction to punish all those involved as severely as possible, up to twenty years.“But I have nothing to do with it,” Tkachenk
UNDERGROUND 71
– What is there? – Quietly asked Pustovalov, who appeared inaudibly.“Looks like a tech platform. There seems to be electricity, but the train is diesel.Pustovalov looked out.Kharitonov came up with the girls. With darkened bruises on his face, he looked scary, but after the water treatment, his cheeks took on a ruddy hue.- There is someone upstairs. Pustovalov said. - Need to check. I will rise.Kharitonov patted him on the shoulder.- I'm with you.- Better alone.- It's better for you. And it's worse for everyone. Go together. And you,” he turned to the others, “wait here.“Okay, let’s go,” Pustovalov agreed and, looking at Dasha, added, “If anything, run into the tunnel.”The men went to the station, which turned out to be not only short, but also narrow - it consisted of one platform (in place of the second there was just a wall) and only about three meters wide. Most of it was occupied by a concrete staircase leading upstairs. The hall was lit only by the marker lights on the
UNDERGROUND 72
“Where should you not stare?”The guy looked at the door and spoke in an undertone:– If you are interested, two hours ago I was on Kurskaya and heard the shooting.- On Kursk?- The shooting itself was not on Kursk, but on the neighboring one - maybe on Komsomolskaya or somewhere else. We went to Chkalovskaya for backup batteries and you can hear there, mother don't cry.- Do you speak Komsomolskaya?- Somewhere.- And there is no way to get out of the subway?- I think it's unrealistic. All hermetic seals are closed, they weld them from the inside. They control all exits. And why choose?- And what do you suggest?- Surrender.Pustovalov and Kharitonov looked at him questioningly.“Look, you probably don't understand, but they're not enemies.– And who are they?Yes, they are being tough. But maybe there is no other way in such a situation. They save everyone, take them to a safe place.“I saw this place,” Kharitonov chuckled.Where does the tunnel lead? Pustovalov asked.- To the r
UNDERGROUND 73
Viktor did not believe Pustovalov when he offered to take the “pot-bellied” driver with him, because he did not want to drag the guy who fed them sandwiches into trouble, and the “big-nosed”, they say, would be enough after meeting with Kharitonov’s fist. He was sure that Pustovalov had decided to take him because he roughly pushed Dasha, and recently Viktor began to notice that there was some kind of subtle connection between Pustovalov and Dasha. While it was difficult to call something definite. And not least because of the secrecy of their complex characters. Of course, this couple knew how to encrypt. But their looks, subtle intonations, body movements - all this hinted at something more than the usual mutual assistance in a difficult situation. However, Victor admitted that such suspicions were just a figment of the fantasies of his nature,The motor locomotive was obviously hastily converted for the transportation of people - they increased the boards from the boards, threw out
UNDERGROUND 74
“Hey,” he said to the pot-bellied one, when the motor truck disappeared behind a smooth turn, “how often do motor trucks go here?”“With an interval of forty-five minutes,” the engineer replied.You knew they would be there! - Hissed Kharitonov.- No no! They can be on any platform.How fast can this thing go? Pustovalov asked.Up to thirty kilometers an hour.- Come on, speed it up.“But we will close the gap with others. You can not do it this way! It will draw attention!- Do as I say!Pot-bellied increased speed, and Kharitonov took Pustovalov to the corner of the cab.- What's happening?“I didn’t like one guy there.When the Park Kultury station appeared ahead, they did the same - slowed down and hid. Pustovalov settled down to watch. However, the station was completely empty. Here were the same massive pylons, only made of gray marble with white bas-reliefs depicting the rest of Soviet youth. There were no lamps on the pylons. Only two or three chandeliers were lit. An empty mo
UNDERGROUND 75
As soon as the locomotive disappeared into the "blind zone", Pustovalov pulled the brake lever and shouted to Viktor to jump.Victor got down, clung to the tubing. Pustovalov's strong hands flickered in the chaotic lamplight. The empty locomotive creaked heavily and drove back, picking up speed.Victor followed him with his eyes and thought how brave it was to launch the engine towards the pursuer, completely spitting on any consequences.Pustovalov, without turning around, moved in the opposite direction, wiping his hands from nowhere with a waffle towel he had taken.“Thank you,” Victor said, rushing after him.Pustovalov ignored his gratitude.There must be a tunnel somewhere.- Farther. We drove through it.Sadness and guilt washed over Victor. He wanted to sincerely thank Pustovalov, because he again saved his life, but he did not know what to say, except for the banal “thank you”. And do I need to say something? Sadness overcame him because of parting with the girls. He liked to
UNDERGROUND 76
“Is that the subway or… the St. Gotthard Tunnel?” - Without taking his fascinated gaze from the endless tunnel, Pustovalov said. – Is that how it should be?“Where is… the station?” Victor exhaled, not understanding anything.He just straightened up and, grimacing from the pain in his head, looked into the amazing distance. Symmetrical fixtures and blurry patches of reflected light formed lines that, along with rails, seams and cables, connected at one unreachable distant point. The tunnel itself was unnaturally smooth for the Moscow metro, only slightly "sagging" like a rope bridge. But most surprising was the lack of a station. The connecting tunnel they were going through should have led straight to her.Should she be here? - Pustovalov clarified.At this time, strange sounds were heard from above. As if the wind hummed in the pipes, shook the huge metal sails and roared a huge whale.Victor and Pustovalov lifted their heads. Where they stood, at the fork directly above them, darkn
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- UNDERGROUND
Epilogue
From the panoramic window, Victor can see the San Francisco Bay, but the waters no longer impress him. He still can't get used to the Golden Gate, but the views are much duller in his research center. Somewhere out there, beyond the countryside, he discovered Sunnyvale Pond. This place reminded him of the Moscow region at all. However, this is rather a minus, Victor is too young to be nostalgic for his homeland.Out of habit, everything comes surprisingly easily to him. A psychologist friend said that there was nothing extraordinary in his phenomenon, he just pulled out a lucky lottery ticket called "beautiful parents." Victor won an international competition, and while still a student, he got a job at the Ames Research Center, and on Sunday he met the daughter of emigrants from Lithuania who work in Los Angeles. Dimon without exaggeration would put "ten". Victor never gave grades to girls. Dimon knows that Victor was born with a golden spoon in his mouth and tries to reach for him. Vi
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209
An old photograph, hitting the slimy walls, slowly spinning like an autumn leaf, slowly falls into a deep well. The well is so deep and bottomless that the round hole at the top has long turned into a bright dot, and is about to completely disappear. And the photo keeps falling and falling. It depicts three boys, three of them are twenty-nine years old. One of them, dark-haired, with curly hair, stands in the middle, hugging his friends. It is slightly lower and seems to hang slightly on their shoulders. All three are smiling. The photo is old, you can see it not only in the crumpled corners, scratches and faded palette, but also in stretched sweaters and old-fashioned shirts with rolled up sleeves.The photo keeps spinning and spinning, and in one of the turns, the image on it changes. Now there are only two boys. They also hug each other and look into the camera with smiles, but the black-haired man standing between them is no longer there. It's like it never happened. Maybe it's a
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208
The old man, Makarov, rushed after him, and only after them did the special forces pour out.Still running up, Boris saw a square hole in the center of the site - not at all like what he saw on the day of his last visit to the plant. Perfectly smooth, carved into cubes that were stacked near the tractor. Next to them lay a completely black device, which he saw in the photographs sent by the Special Metals Research Institute.Boris was the first to run up to the edge of the hole.Below, he saw what he had seen before - the shaft of the mine, only at the bottom of the bowl there was now a well. There was absolute bedlam going on: corpses, blood, weapons, overturned chairs, pieces of collapsed stairs and galleries. He did not immediately notice living people, but when he saw a figure crawling away from the wall, he immediately recognized it, although he had never seen it alive.- Daria! he shouted. - Daria Afanasyeva!The girl raised her head.Makarov, running up, heard Vindman's scream,
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207
Before saying goodbye to life, Dasha managed to become a witness to strange events that replaced each other with kaleidoscopic speed. First, something flew from above right in the center and with a disgusting thud plopped behind the makeshift spectator box. Dasha could not see anything in such a short time, but for some reason she was sure that this was a human body. More terrible than the blow itself were the frightened cries.And here is how a deaf-mute worker jumped from the upper gallery, and with inhuman speed slipped somewhere into the darkness, she saw very well.Just then, a strange movement began. On the right, something overturned with a crash, and someone very frightened shouted something in an incomprehensible language. Apparently it was a command, because right there from the depths of the hall there was a coordinated stomp of feet.Dasha saw four of the six burner paws, above her, the other two were located on either side of her head. From above, the bright light of hang
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206
Only one person directly looked at her - a stern, gloomy old man from the gallery on the second floor. She had seen him before, I think in the ninth block - an ordinary mute worker with the right of free movement. He seemed to her out of his mind, but in his current “hawkish” look there was some kind of repulsive meaningfulness, without a hint not only of compassion, but even of curbed hatred. He looked at her just like a log, dissatisfied with the fact that the log was too thin and would not give the required warmth. There was no life in that look, only cold. This is how a dead man who managed to challenge life itself would look.However, all this, even the dumb old man, she saw fragmentarily, as in a painful dream, and then completely disappeared, only the darkness above her head remained - real or in her imagination. She stopped hearing conversations, footsteps, and the creak of the wheels of the gurney; only dull pops were heard in her head, reminiscent of explosions of a gas-air
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205
- Stole?Boris nodded, pointing to the picture.- On the day of the visit to Novikov, Colonel Basurov, a well-connected former member of the procurement commission of the Ministry of Defense, was with Pustovalov. Most likely, he played the role of an intermediary. He went missing that day. Since Pustovalov himself is a ghost and it is impossible to track his movements, we tracked Basurov's movements before he disappeared in the warehouse. And through him they came across a certain Dementiev. We interrogated him. Dementiev is a professional safecracker, it was he who helped Pustovalov steal the installation. He also said that there were two installations. That is, one working sample, and a spare case without filling - in fact, a dummy. But it looks like the real one. He confirmed that Pustovalov was going to sell the unit to Yasin after learning that he was behind her order on the black market. In addition to Basurov, another person went missing that day, previously in contact with Pus
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204
The car ran into a minibus lying on its side, Boris opened the door, leaned half out of the passenger compartment, exposing his haggard face to the frosty wind. There was a false peace here. Distant screams and shots were drowned out by unobtrusive music, but this tiny lane adjoining Frunzenskaya Embankment bore little resemblance to the island of former life. Rather, the coldness of the future blew from him - the very one that none of them would ever find. Desolation oozed from the planed poplars gathering darkness, from the mangled cars sprinkled with snow, forever left after yesterday's accident, from under the architraves of the shifted "stalinok", from the black windows of the buildings deprived of power supply.Boris looked at the piece of paper with the address and saw how it was distorted by a five-centimeter wall, carved from a dark space ice floe. With a crackling, cascading arc, the wall passed through Windman and, outlining the front facade of a two-story Chinese restauran
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203
He appeared on the bridge in a couple of minutes. Maurice, who was sitting under the window of a high tower, calmly rose and aimed his rifle at him:- One, two, three, and well, freeze! - He said cheerfully.Pustovalov obeyed and, without raising his head, said:“Using your man as bait?” Clever.“You used yours to get out too, didn’t you?”Pustovalov raised his head. Maurice saw through the eyepieces of the night vision device that Pustovalov was without night vision devices and knew that he only saw the outline of a dark silhouette in the window.- Komsomolskaya, - Maurice nodded with a smile, - now I understand why Daniker began to be so lucky before his death.- You're confusing me with someone else. I happened to be there.“Just a subway passenger?”- Exactly.Maurice burst out laughing and at that moment Pustovalov disappeared. He quickly figured out that he just jumped through a hole in the bridge.Still laughing, Maurice jumped lightly onto the bridge and called out:"You're br
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202
Coming up to him, Maurice found a crumpled fireman's heat-reflecting suit and smiled. We must pay tribute, although Maurice was not upset at all. He could have guessed right away that the trick with heat guns only made sense if you were already inside. It didn't matter now. Maurice knew that infrared sensors would not be a problem for him, like everything else that they had already prepared. He knew that the one they were waiting for would go very far, perhaps even manage to reach the very end. Of course, to the end, to which he is allowed to reach. That's why Maurice was here. And Maurice was rather upset if the one they were waiting for deceived his expectations.After walking a few more meters, Maurice saw a shining helmet with a visor-mirror in the bushes, and his smile grew wider. No, as long as he did not deceive his expectations.***Having reached the northern section of the bypass route, Kruchina quieted down and took a step. Moving along the trodden path, he soon came to two