Renko, Arkady (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Police—Russia (Federation)—Moscow—Fiction. three. Moscow (Russia)—Fiction. four. Kidnapping—Fiction. I. name. PS3569. M5377T57 2010 813'. 54—dc22 2010019996 ISBN 978-0-7432-7674-0 ISBN 978-1-4391-9992-3 (ebook) FOR EM greater than EVER Contents hide web page entrance Flap identify web page Copyright web page commitment 1 2 three four five 6 7 eight nine 10 eleven 12 thirteen 14 15 sixteen 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Acknowledgments in regards to the writer again Flap again hide 1 The summer season evening swam by means of. Villages, ripening fields, derelict church buildings flowed and combined with Maya’s desires. She attempted to stick wakeful yet occasionally her eyelids had their means. occasionally the woman dreamt of the train’s first class passengers tucked away asleep of their booths. demanding type had no booths. “Hard category” used to be a dormitory trainer the place a number of lamps have been nonetheless lit and noisily snoring, muffled intercourse, physique scent and household quarrels have been shared by means of all. a few passengers have been at the teach for days and the fatigue of shut quarters had set in. A round the clock card video game between oil riggers soured and grew to become to resentment and accusations. A Gypsy went from berth to berth hawking an identical shawls in a whisper. collage scholars touring at the affordable have been deep within the realm in their headphones. a clergyman brushed cake crumbs from his beard. many of the passengers have been as nondescript as boiled cabbage. An drunk soldier wandered up and down the hall. nonetheless Maya most popular the tough sociability of demanding type to touring top notch. right here she slot in. She was once fifteen years outdated, a stick determine in torn denims and a bomber jacket the feel of cardboard, her hair dyed a fiery crimson. One canvas bag held her earthly possessions, the opposite concealed her female child of 3 weeks, tightly swaddled and lulled by way of the rocking of the educate. the very last thing Maya wanted was once to be trapped in a compartment less than the scrutiny of snobs. no longer that she may have afforded top notch besides. in the end, a educate used to be only a communal house on rails, Maya made up our minds. She used to be used to that. many of the males stripped to warm-up pants, undershirts and slippers for the length; she watched for any who had no longer simply because a blouse with lengthy sleeves could disguise the tattoos of somebody despatched to deliver her again. enjoying it secure, she had selected an another way empty berth. She talked to not one of the different passengers and none spotted that the newborn was once on board. Maya loved growing tales approximately new humans, yet now her mind's eye was once stuck up with the child, who used to be either a stranger and a part of herself. the newborn used to be, actually, the main mysterious individual she had ever met. All she knew was once that her child used to be excellent, translucent, unflawed. the newborn stirred and Maya went to the vestibule on the finish of the auto. There, part open to the wind and clatter of the teach, she nursed the infant and indulged in a cigarette. Maya have been drug-free for seven months. an entire moon saved velocity. From the tracks unfold a sea of wheat, water tanks, a silhouette of a shipwrecked harvester.