The line was short and as they stepped to the counter, the agent was yawning as she asked them their destination.
“We’re headed to Warsaw,” Polina said as she laid her arms across the counter. She was beginning to get nervous. Funny, she thought, just minutes from an armed confrontation and she was sweating talking to an agent from the railroad. Maybe it was the adrenaline beginning to leave her body. Ivan stayed close as he looked down at them, his face a blank canvass.
“Best I can do is book you through Minsk. After that, you’ll have to make your own arrangements when you get there.”
“Oh,” Polina said with a raised eye. “Why is that? You can’t book us all the way through?”
“No. Russian Railways has no agreements with them west of the city. Here, we share tracks.” The agent looked up, her smile fading the closer it came to quitting time. Morning was just around the corner and her long shift was nearly over.
Polina looked up to Ivan as he squeezed her shoulder. His eyes were focused in another direction. She resisted the urge to follow his stare. Her job was to get the tickets. She laid Ivan’s identification on the counter as she fumbled for her own. She pulled her ID from her pocket laying it atop his. The agent typed in the information before handing their papers back with the tickets. Polina nodded with a tired smile as she turned and wrapped her arm around Ivan’s waist.
“Time for our journey to begin, love,” she said as she followed Ivan’s stare. She knew instantly his concern as she caught sight of two Russian policemen standing near a corner, their eyes fixed on Ivan. She pulled him around and faced the other direction. “We don’t have anything to fear,” she whispered as she leaned in close. “They know nothing about us.” She reached up and stroked his cheek. It was wet with perspiration. “They probably have never seen anyone as tall as you,” she said with a smile only a girlfriend could manage.
They made the far end of the building easily, watching the crowds begin to gather. Moscow was waking up and travel seemed to be the order of the day. Still thirty minutes before they needed to board, they plopped themselves on a bench and leaned close, Ivan’s arm making its way back around her shoulders. Polina laid her hand on his leg. He was still nervous.
“Stop bouncing your leg.”
“Sorry. Nervous habit. I get that way when I have to sit.”
“We’ll only be a few minutes.”
“More police,” he said as he tilted his head to the right.
“We’re just an ordinary couple. Nothing more.”
“We know that, but do they know that? Who knows what was passed along to whom? A gunfight in the middle of the city and no one reports it to the police? I’d rather be suspicious.”
“Point taken,” she replied.
The train pulled in, its doors letting go of a flood of passengers. This was their ticket out, their first stop on the way home. Ivan stood as another pair of police walked to the doors and stood beside the train. They weren’t paying attention to those getting off the train.
“It’s show-time, girlfriend.”
Ivan stood, hoisting his pack again on his shoulder. Polina stood and placed her arm around his waist again. She tugged on his coat sleeve and he bent down to be rewarded with a quick kiss on the lips.
“Got to play the part, right?”
Ivan grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. Her show gave him a new sense of security. They were just a young couple out for an adventure, out to see the world. They waited until a few moved in front and tried to blend in with the crowd, as much as a six foot seven inch man can do in public. As they made the door, Ivan ducked as he nodded toward the policeman, who simply stared at him, then looked away.
The train station faded into the background as Anya accelerated into the growing traffic. The lights of the city only foreshadowed the coming morning. As Anya looked into her mirror, the tell-tale embers of mornings first light were tapping the horizon. She swerved abruptly as another vehicle cut her off.
“Ohhh. Can you stay in one lane?”
“Sorry Danil. Just trying to get used to Russian drivers.”
“How you feeling?” Sasha asked.
“Not too bad, considering. Although I really don’t know how I should feel after being shot.”
“The bleeding seems to have stopped. You did a good job on that, Anya.”
“I had some training, Sasha. Best I could do under the circumstances.” She looked up into the mirror again and tried to find Sasha’s face. “What do we do now?”
“We can’t leave on public transportation like we hoped. Not like this, anyway.” He looked over to Danil who leaned against the seat with his eyes closed. It looks like our last resort is our best option.”
“The plane? He can’t pilot a plane in that condition.”
“Well, we sure can’t drive out of Russia.”
“I can fly that plane in my sleep.”
“I don’t doubt that, Danil, but being wounded does funny things to a person. I don’t know that we can take that chance,” Sasha replied.
“I don’t know that we have another option. Get me behind the wheel of that thing and I’ll get us out of here.”
“At least no one knows about the place,” Anya noted. “That gives us a leg up.”
“A leg up. Funny,” Danil chuckled. “Oww, that hurt. Why does a leg hurt when you laugh?”
“I sure as hell hope they don’t know about the farm. If Donald is tied up with them, seeing his body with three bullets in his back may give them some ideas. We’ve been under the illusion that Donald was a lone wolf. That might be completely false. They may have their own team on the way.”
“Something we have to take into account,” Sasha replied. “How long till we make the farm?”
“About an hour, give or take. I have no idea on earth what traffic will be like.”
“But we’ll be heading out while others head in to the city.”
“It works that way in America. Maybe here too. Who knows,” Anya replied.
As the sun wandered over the horizon, with first light breaking the skyline to the east, Anya eased up on the accelerator. Traffic seemed to be lighter on their side of the road, something she was grateful for. She didn’t want to risk getting a speeding ticket, ‘or whatever the hell happens over here’, she thought. She was sure Moscow had their own brand of rogue cops and sure as hell, it would happen to them. She decided the best course of action was to keep her eyes on the road and obey the laws as best she could understand them. She looked in the mirror again, finding Sasha’s face in the reflection. He was looking out the window, watching the city pass by, obviously deep in thought. She found Danil resting his head on the seat. He was asleep. ‘Less than an hour’, she told herself.
The large grouping of trees that signaled the beginning of the lane leading to the farm seemed to spring out of nowhere. She had been daydreaming. She scanned the snow-covered fields as they closed the distance. Nothing was in sight. It would be a beautiful place in the summer. Her thoughts took her back to her home town and the care-free days of her youth. The city was her life, but she often wondered what life would have been like in small-town USA. She slowed but kept going, looking down the lane as she passed. The acceleration woke Sasha from a nodding sleep.
“What?”
“Tire tracks in the snow up the lane.”
“Not ours?”
“I don’t think so. There are two sets. One out, which would be ours … “
“And one in,” Sasha replied.