Andrei also decided that if anyone sees him in the building, he would put the murder off. He’d find the woman later, elsewhere, and kill her anyway. But right now, he had to be careful. One victim was not enough. He had big plans.
* * * * *
Two hours went by. It was completely dark now, but it wasn’t raining anymore, so the streetlights, it seemed, shone brighter. Finally, he saw a silhouette in the courtyard; a woman and a boy of about six. For a moment, the streetlight highlighted the long-nosed face with a headscarf wrapping around it.
That’s her!
His heart started racing.
During this time, he hasn’t seen anyone. So he could act. But the boy? What to do about him? Should he leave a witness? He quickly came downstairs, feverishly adjusting the operation plan.
When he stepped out of the building, Andrei pulled his hood over his head and looked around. Not a soul. The Chechen woman and the boy were fifteen paces away, their backs to him. The ideal setup. The fog of doubt lifted completely; his mind was terrifyingly clear, his muscles tensed.
He would quietly walk up to them. Push the kid hard. The boy would have to fall face down, so that he wouldn’t see anything. When he falls, Andrei would hit the woman on the head. Better do it a few times to make sure. Then he would pick up her purse and walk away quickly, but without panic.
He wished the kid wouldn’t turn around, or he would have to get rid of him, too.
Andrei wasn’t worried about accidental witnesses. A black hooded figure in a dark courtyard; with a description like that, he’d never be found. He wouldn’t leave any fingerprints, either. He would only take cash from the purse and dump the rest around the corner. Let it be found. A typical robbery. And he would destroy his gloves and jacket. Just to be sure.
“Sveta, I will avenge you!” he thought excitedly.
Vlasov was catching up to the woman quickly, but quietly. He could walk stealthily; he learned that in the army.
Five paces between them. Now, only three. Show time!
The woman stopped and started to adjust something in the boy’s clothing. Andrei, looking only at the back of her head covered with the warm headscarf, took another step, pulled the piece of rebar from his sleeve unsteadily, and raised his weapon.
The kid! He had to push the kid first!
But his hand was already raised high. Now he would have to kill him too.
Chapter 19
August 31, 10:25 PM
Andrei’s Room
After he showed his neighbor out, Vlasov came back to Aiza. The girl’s tension and shivers were gone, her breathing was steady, but she was visibly depressed. She seemed full of sadness and suffering. Upon a close look, he noticed the slight tremor in her fingers and a carefully concealed grimace of pain.
“Poor girl,” Andrei almost said, but he immediately thought back to the outbursts of fury with which the mad girl with TNT wrapped around her waist attacked him in his car. He instinctively touched his neck; the scratches were still hurting.
The bobcat turned into a sick kitten. For how long?
“Have you taken the pills?” Andrei unceremoniously touched the girl’s forehead. Aiza nodded obediently; her sweaty cool skin felt slippery to the touch. “You’re not burning up. Looks like a hangover after a big party. Have you drunk anything since this morning?”
Aiza shook her head no.
“No smell… Have you been injected?”
The girl nodded. Andrei lifted up her powerless hand and rolled up her sleeve.
“Clean,” he concluded after he looked on the insides of both her elbows. “Did you get injected only today? Come on, talk to me!”
“Yes,” the girl said barely audibly.
“Did they say it was for courage, so you feel no fear?”
“Um, yes.”
“That can be fixed. Tell you what, let’s have some vodka! It won’t hurt you. A great antidepressant. I know it from my own experience. In Chechnya, we used to – » Andrei faltered and pulled on the girl’s hand. “Let’s go!”
In the kitchen, he sat Aiza at the table and rummaged on the shelves.
“Here!” He pulled out a bottle of vodka. “ER! Know what it means? Emergency Reserve. To be used only in emergency. Like now.”
He rinsed the glasses and poured vodka.
“Drink.”
Aiza obediently drank, then winced.
“Now that’s good,” Andrei approved. “Now eat something. By the morning, you’d feel cool as a pickle. Speaking of, we’ve got pickles. Great snack. And I’ll boil some dumplings, too.”
He was working the kitchen looking at Aiza over his shoulder and talking almost non-stop. Here are the dumplings, frozen. Now the water is boiling, I am tossing them in. Damn! I almost burned myself; splashes. Now let’s salt it. Do you like dumplings? Mom used to roll her own, but these days, there’s such variety in the stores, just pick. These seem to be okay.
The girl’s face lost its deadly pallor; her eyes came alive. She looked around.
“Do you live here with your mom?”
“Yes. You’ve met her.”
“Do you have a wife?”
“A wife?” Andrei paused, as if looking for an answer to a complicated question. He slowly stirred the boiling dumplings. “I don’t have a wife.”
“A bride?” Aiza asked quietly.
“I did… But not anymore.”
“What’s her name?”
“Sveta. Svetlana.”
“Did you have a fight? Did you break up?” Aiza got interested.
“You could say that.”
“Is she beautiful?”
Andrei turned away, pretending to remove a sore from his eye. He whispered quietly, “Very.”
“Is she nice?” Aiza wouldn’t quit.
Andrei, surprised, look at her. Why did she keep prying? But he answered, “Yes.”
“Then you have to make up! Call her.”
“Now?” Andrei was baffled. “I can’t.”
“It’s late,” the girl agreed and added convincingly, “Sveta will cal you! She definitely will! You’ll see. You’re a good man, she’ll call.”
Andrei instinctively touched the phone in his pocket. It seemed that the phone was about to start vibrating announcing an incoming call.
Just like it did that evening, when he raised a piece of rebar over a woman and a child.
Raised it to kill.
Chapter 20
Nord Ost
Day Two, Late Evening
Suddenly, something stirred inside his jacket. Andrei started, his fingers lost the grip, the raised piece of rebar dropped on the asphalt. The woman turned around, scared, trying to cover the child. Her pose betrayed the helplessness of a hen trying to protect her chick; fear was in her eyes. She understood everything, her fear transferred to the