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UNDERGROUND 95
– Have you seen anyone?- In what sense?- Someone.Well, I've seen people. Passengers, taxi drivers...The young people looked at each other.“Did you really see them?”Or did you think you saw it?Why do you guys ask? Can I just go in?“Dasha, this is very bad,” the guy said sadly, and the fair-haired one immediately repeated:- Yes this is bad. This city is not so easy to get into.- What are you talking about, you ... - The smile froze on Dasha's face.Behind them, a dark-haired woman appeared. She recognized her immediately. If she saw these guys only as children, then she already saw this woman as an adult. Her features were not so sharp, she had grown old, but... Dasha recognized her. And the woman recognized Dasha. And Dasha was surprised to find out how these guys looked like her. The boys went to the mother, and the daughter to the father. There was neither sadness nor joy in the woman's cheeky, rough face, but only all-consuming horror. She immediately screamed.- What are
UNDERGROUND 96
- And during the day it was impossible to tryndet?Dasha woke up, remembering that they were not alone.Pustovalov smiled and stood up, throwing a quick but sincere glance at Dasha. As if he wanted to hold on, but failed to take control of his feelings in time. This moment was enough to understand that there is still not a one-way connection between them, and nothing that happened in the seaside cities and dungeons is able to break it.Katya followed Pustovalov, who passed by her, and before lying down again shook her head:You are the most fucked up couple I've ever seen.Dasha lay down and turned to the wall."A couple? Is it really that noticeable?***The next day was darker than the previous one. No one quarreled and did not "explode", but some kind of painful apathy seized everyone. Kharitonov constantly ate, so that his breakfast smoothly turned into lunch, then he lay down on the bed, covered himself with a pillow and snored. The girls were silent, as was Victor, staring into
UNDERGROUND 97
From early morning Vindman sat at his computer, immersed in the study of the life of Sergei Mikheev - as meticulously thought out and fake as the interior of his apartment. Boris believed that Mikheev played the role of an average exemplary man - a kind of invisible hero of GQ magazine, too diligently. For a better disguise, the creator of this life would do well to add a couple of small realistic touches. Trying to vomit on the hood of a police car or a bunch of parking tickets, for example. But Sergey Mikheev, a strong athletic man, carefully observed the life routine of his role: he came to work at the same time, visited a fitness center with a swimming pool three times a week, went on dates with single women of his age, visited a presentable prostitute and massage salon. He drank only beer no more than once every two weeks and no more than one mug. And yet something was knocked out of this average image. Sergei Mikheev had no friends. However, this did not surprise Vindman. Friend
UNDERGROUND 98
After leaving the hall, the man tried to use the busy stream to hide on the stairs. Vindman noticed he had a jacket in his hands - he must have grabbed it along the way, while Boris made his way to the exit.He walked a little faster than he was obviously used to - it was noticeable by the excessively vigorous movement of his hands, but not so much as to draw unnecessary attention to himself. Vindman also pretended to just go about his business - he did not want to scare the man and supported his game.The man looked back only once in the corridor, before going out into the hall, and, noticing Vindman, immediately shifted his gaze. Boris did not believe that the man saw him as a serious threat. Rather, he attributed it to someone who wants to talk, but not so much that he climbs out of his skin if this intention cannot be fulfilled.Vindman just didn't want to complicate things. Taking advantage of the fact that the man did not pay attention to Yakov, Boris pointed to his partner with
UNDERGROUND 99
Vindman clapped his hands deafeningly and laughed. Jacob smiled too. And the man winced again.- And how much does such a pleasure cost?- Double a week.Did he give you money every week?- I left it in the store room.In short, boss! - Unable to resist, Boris slapped the man on the shoulder. “Get us to your quarters and immediately.- That one?- That one!The room the grey-haired man led them into was very small, and almost two-thirds full of cabinets and shelves, on which rackets, nets and parts from mechanical tables were neatly laid out. Despite the size, there was even once a window here, judging by the radiator recessed in a niche, hidden by a wooden casing. The window itself, apparently, opened onto a pit, and had been blocked up a long time ago.– An ideal place, – noted Yakov, – no windows and cameras.The man gave him a tense look and opened the first locker. Four red rackets with hieroglyphs lay in a separate pile on the shelf.- Here.- That is, it came out at eight thous
UNDERGROUND 100
The nightmare disappeared into the dark corridors of the subconscious, leaving only a scream in the memory, like a pulsation of drug-blunted pain. All the senses at once let in a new reality. There was no more smell of sweat and stale underwear, the creak of sand in wet boots, dirty damp clothes, cold walls and the smell of engine oils. A clean pillowcase pleasantly cooled my left cheek, an unobtrusive breeze blew in my face, flowing from somewhere above along with the muffled voice of Nikolai Karachentsov, singing about a maple leaf. But the main thing is daylight. Yes, yes, curtains behind which are sun-drenched snowy valleys, although Pustovalov has already realized that this is just an imitation in the form of light panels.For Pustovalov, the serenity of such awakenings, possible only in a childhood unfamiliar to him, was a curiosity. And therefore he was in no hurry, enjoying the comprehension of the sacrament, although he felt persistent pressure in the region of the bladder. M
UNDERGROUND 101
- What are you? Victor was worried.- What? – Pustovalov turned his head around. On his face appeared that naive, mischievous smile that Dasha liked so much.- Whats up?- To me?- Don't push!- You're pushing. – Pustovalov returned the accusation and immediately pushed him again. Victor tried to restrain himself, but he, in the end, failed - he also smiled and pushed Pustovalov in response. In a moment, both of them burst into laughter and pushed under the displeased hiss of the “viewers” like real teenagers, which, however, was not so far from the truth.***At breakfast, everyone gathered in a small dining room, and Pustovalov saw that the “last batch” of passengers included only about thirty people. They were the most ordinary people, mostly middle-aged. There were literally enough seats, but he heard that the average party here reached two hundred people and they ate in turn.The tables were for four, Pustovalov, Dasha, Katya and Kharitonov, without saying a word, sat down at o
UNDERGROUND 102
Everyone looked at Victor, and the psychologist looked at some kind of square device that appeared in his hands.- You are well done. What is your name?– Victor.“Victor, but didn’t they scare you?”Pustovalov at that moment looked at the psychologist.“No, they didn’t scare me,” Victor chuckled, “the guy who came to my aid scared me.The man nodded.Yes, I forgot to say. He entered the car a little later and first sat between me and that girl. He took out a ballpoint pen and began to peck at his knee with it. Well, you know, he acted like a psycho. In fact, he was a psycho. He scared this girl with his strange behavior, and I talked to him a little. I wanted to calm him down so he wouldn't hurt her. And then, he left. And, in general, that's why we met.So you managed to calm him down?- Yes, he was excited, and then after we had a chat, he left."How did he scare you?"- He appeared suddenly when the gopniks grabbed my legs and turned me over. I saw…Victor was silent.– What did y
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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,
- 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
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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
- 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
