The Boy from Reactor 4

CHAPTER 85

VICTOR LOOKED TWICE at the two old men as he walked past their table. They looked vaguely familiar and recalled memories from his youth, but he couldn’t place them. He quickly turned his attention back to the necklace around the boy’s neck. All the riches of the world finally within his grasp. He never could have imagined they’d be in the form of a piece of microfilm in the possession of a boy from the Zone.

Adam’s face was burned and his lips chapped from crossing the strait. Nadia’s face was similarly damaged, and she looked as though she’d lost ten pounds since he’d seen her last in Ukraine. Victor detected fear in Adam’s eyes, but it was noticeably absent in Nadia’s. In its place was an element of disbelief. She was probably surprised he’d found them, Victor thought.

Stefan and Victor’s other man aimed their guns at Nadia and Adam.

“Be a good boy and remove the necklace from your neck,” Victor said. “And open the locket.”

Adam lifted the necklace over his head, ruffling his hair and exposing his ears in the process. Victor saw they were half ears and felt a measure of compassion for the boy. As Adam struggled to unlock the tiny clasp, Victor had to take a deep breath to remain patient. When it finally unsnapped, Adam opened the locket.

A piece of paper the size of a stamp fell out into his palm. Adam unfolded the paper into a three-inch-by-three-inch square. He held it up for everyone to see. Victor squinted, but without his glasses, he couldn’t read it. He could tell it wasn’t microfilm, however, and experienced an immediate sting of disappointment.

“What is that?” Victor said, reaching into his jacket pocket for his glasses.

Nadia regarded him with a wistful smile. “No one wants a boy from the Zone.”

Victor found his glasses, slid them out of their case, and wrapped them around his head. “What? What’s that you say?”

He studied the paper. It was a torn and tattered picture of the Statue of Liberty. It was the symbol of freedom and all that America offered, and if it was this picture the boy had been carrying around all this time…

Victor spun around toward the two men. Banya. Yuri Banya. And Stanislavski. He couldn’t remember the latter’s first name, but he realized who they were and why he recognized them. They were part of Damian’s crew, long thought dead by everyone—

It was a con, Victor realized. There was no formula. It was all about the boy. It was all about getting him to America.

Victor wheeled back to Nadia. He could tell just by looking at her expression that she knew he’d figured it out.

“A thief made me his willing accomplice,” she said.

Victor nodded.

“FBI. Drop your weapons.”

The order came from the doorway. Victor turned. Specter and a swarm of other men in blue Windbreakers buzzed into the bar, guns aimed at Victor and his men.

Something crashed to the floor.

Stefan and the other bodyguard fired. Muted thumps rang out from their suppressed weapons. An FBI agent collapsed before everyone dove for cover.

As Victor hit the ground, he saw a woman scurrying back into the kitchen with her hands wrapped around her head, leaving an empty tray, broken china, buckwheat bread, and a puddle of beet soup in her wake.

Specter and the agents fired back. The noise became deafening.

Victor crawled toward the curtain leading to the back, not giving a damn about the formula or Nadia Tesla. After all, he could take over Misha’s businesses now. He hadn’t prayed to God in decades. Yet here he was, on all fours, begging God for a clean escape so he could see his daughter again. So he could hold his grandson in his arms. His grandson.

Halfway to the curtain, Victor thought of Specter and the possibility of jail, but realized the man had never seen him commit a crime. The authorities had nothing on him. When Victor burst through the curtain, his religious inspiration left him. He became the greedy bastard he’d always been. Once he knew he was safe, and that he’d see Tara and her child again, he thought of what all men thought of when they were conscious. Money.

As he escaped the Underground through the back door onto the street, it occurred to Victor that if Stefan were killed, the dove and the maiden would be his once again.