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UNDERGROUND 87
– Under the Sizigi building there is a protected bunker made of materials that are used in the construction of nuclear power plants. It is not on the inventory drawings and underground maps of Moscow. You can get into it only from the Sizigi office. The entrance is securely hidden. So, Comrade Colonel, you now have two options.- Only two? - Makarov was feignedly surprised.“Yes,” Vindman confirmed seriously, “the first one is to send me to hell and continue on with your plan.Makarov nodded contentedly.- Second ... I heard that I was forbidden to approach the Sisiji. So here's the second option: you can ask the general to lift this ban. So that my partner and I, - Boris pointed to Yakov, - could inspect the building.Makarov winced.“And keep in mind,” Vindman added, “if you choose the first option, then starting from this moment, right from this,” Boris pointed his index finger at Makarov, “only you are responsible for her life and health, if she is there.The smile that did not le
UNDERGROUND 88
– Is it possible? Jamming special communications?– How would you know?Pustovalov looked at Dasha and nodded. The girl took out "Fairy Tale-2".- Where did you get that? Daniker was surprised.- From my father.- Colonel General Afanasiev. Pustovalov explained.Daniker whistled.What are you doing here, daughter?- I was returning from work on the subway, and here it is.- So. Hold on to me, got it?! If something happens, don't you dare say who your father is, okay?– What will happen?- Something.- This phone does not work. Isn't that "something"?- It's all right upstairs.“It’s okay if the whole subway is captured!” Where is the army, assault and all that. Why is it only you?“Listen, I don’t know, daughter,” Daniker said with warmth in his voice, “but believe me, we heard the city, we heard the streets. Communication breaks through the jammers to the nearest subscriber. I personally heard the noise of trams, signaling and Sobyanin's crushers. Lays the tiles again. The guy I was
UNDERGROUND 89
- Why were they shooting? Daniker asked, also slowing down.- For anticipation. It's dark there.So he wasn't there at all? No trace?- Only shells.Now Pustovalov realized his mistake. But he should have understood everything even when he heard the first cry. A person thinking at such a speed will not wait while sitting on the balcony.Victor, noticing that Pustovalov was standing, also stopped before reaching the turn. But the first commando has already passed him.- Stop! Pustovalov called out to him, but it was too late. He didn't hear the shot, because it was a silent rifle. But I heard a scream and the movement of a shadow on the wall. Pustovalov knew that the commando was already dead. How logical and simple it is - having guessed their plan, move to the tunnel leading to the depot.Daniker and Boris rushed there and immediately ducked down and retreated. Pustovalov heard the sound of bullets striking through metal pipes.- Ambush. Daniker shouted angrily.- It's him.- What do
UNDERGROUND 90
From a distance of twenty meters, not everyone can see a human face well, but Yakov had excellent eyesight and clearly saw the unblinking ice-ice eyes fixed on him. Despite the twilight, which partially absorbed General Afanasiev - he was sitting at a table filled with antediluvian turntables literally on the border of light and darkness, Yakov saw a well-shaven chin and shoulder straps with new huge stars.Judging by the everyday expression of Yakov's face, it could be assumed that questions about why there was such a large distance between him and the general and why such large rooms in the control building did not bother him. And the point obviously was not that Yakov was not among the subordinates, who even mentally avoided sticking their nose into other than their own affairs. The thing was that he did not guess and did not make assumptions about new measures to protect top officials from viral infections. He was just one of the few who knew a lot more than you might think.Yakov
UNDERGROUND 91
The general raised his face to the ceiling and howled like a wolf.This time Yakov didn't notice the handset in his hand. He looked at Makarov, who was standing in the semi-darkness against the wall, under the picture of pigs besieging an ancient fortress - his face was frozen and impenetrable, like that of a wax figure or a turned off humanoid android. When Yakov looked at the general again, his gaze met ice-cold eyes.– What happened next?“Major Vindman said that he could find a passage, but for this he needs to search the corpse of a terrorist. The man had a tattoo of the Russian letters "PIM" on his wrist. There was nothing special with him, only a weapon, a folding knife and a smartphone. No documents or keys.Did the conflict happen because of him?- Yes sir. The conflict occurred when Major Vindman photographed the corpse on the phone of the murdered.- Why?“Apparently, he wanted to keep the image of the terrorist, so that later he could collect information about him. The fac
UNDERGROUND 92
Sitting in the body at the side, Pustovalov phlegmatically looked at the station with massive pylons passing by. Ever since the motor-cart got out onto the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line, the electric light had not left them even in the tunnel, but here on the Baumanskaya line it crumbled and multiplied into millions of reflections on the polished rocks. Toli from this extravaganza, or from the dust, one constantly wanted to close his eyes, but Pustovalov only squinted like a cat, each time choosing a new detail so as not to turn off at the most inopportune moment.From time to time he caught the questioning looks of Viktor, Dasha and even Kharitonov, but he had no answers to their questions. There were only two guards, and they stood with their backs to them at the forward side. Right in front of Pustovalov's face loomed a "zig-sauer" in the bandit style, tucked into his belt. If you grab it while pushing the giant into the lumbar region, you can easily knock out both at once, but there w
UNDERGROUND 93
- What! - Kharitonov jumped up, began to rummage in the box. – Where is the second bank?!And immediately guessing, he looked back at Pustovalov with a smile. He sat behind everyone, and also ate from a small jar.- Of course! How did I not guess. Well, everything is clear with him, - Kharitonov turned to Dasha, - and you? Is it lordly flair?Why have you never eaten crabs? Katya was surprised.Imagine never.- Well, you and ... simpleton. You woke up early.Dasha handed the jar to Kharitonov.- No, no, all the best to our prince and princess.– I just took the smallest jar because I don’t really want to eat.– No, first you opened a can of sprat and rejected it.“I have heartburn from tomato paste!” - Dasha began to get angry and, throwing the jar on the table, snorted contemptuously. - Get fried!“Now I recognize you,” Kharitonov laughed and grabbed the jar, “thank you, princess!”Katya also put the jar on the table.- I'm sick.- Everyone is tired.Everyone looked at Victor. He's b
UNDERGROUND 94
- Enough? - She heard her calm voice, as if from the side.When Dasha came out of the shower, she was trembling with excitement, and was ready for the challenges of the new reality, but the world was in no hurry to turn into a battle royale. Anyway, for now.Victor lay on the bed with his knees bent. Pustovalov also lay with his legs crossed and his hands under his head, and between them he sat on Kharitonov's bedside table, enthusiastically telling how he bought a monkey from a sailor in Novorossiysk, with the intention of reselling it in Moscow.Victor smiled, and Pustovalov laughed like a boy, screwing up his huge eyes with large irises, from which they turned into a pair of shining morions. He laughed non-stop as Kharitonov told how the red-tailed monkey threw forks at him, and then climbed into the bathroom, closed from the inside, turned on the water, squeezed out shampoos and toothpaste, tore the curtains and turned everything upside down, and then just escaped through the audi
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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
- UNDERGROUND
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
- UNDERGROUND
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,
- UNDERGROUND
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
- UNDERGROUND
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
- UNDERGROUND
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
- UNDERGROUND
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
- UNDERGROUND
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
- UNDERGROUND
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
