He followed the driver and Eva into the Joetsu train station. On the way in he took off his hoodie and reversed it. It was gray with light blue trim on one side, navy on the other. He switched it so that the blue was on the outside. He pulled his knit hat over his head to cover his ears. Unfortunately, his sunglasses were in the Global Medical van. The reversal of the sweatshirt and the hat were the only element of disguise available to him. Up close the driver would recognize him. This was going to be tricky. Bobby needed to follow the driver but keep a safe distance so as not to be discovered. That might prevent him from getting a good look at Genesis II to confirm she was Eva.
The inside of the station buzzed with activity. The walls were lined with ticket machines. Bobby took cover behind a vending machine and scanned the main lobby. People stood buying tickets at most of the machines. None of them resembled the driver or Eva.
A sign with male and female stick figures hung on a wall. An arrow pointed toward two doors in the far corner. If Bobby needed a restroom, they did, too. Especially Eva. The driver wouldn’t let her use the women’s restroom alone, nor would he dare go into one himself. He was attracting enough attention by being the oversized gaijin that he was. His only option was to pull the hood down low over Eva’s face and escort her into the men’s room as though she were a boy or disabled person who needed help.
Five minutes later the driver and Eva emerged from the men’s room, just as Bobby had suspected. The driver guided Eva to a ticket window. Bobby snuck up behind them to hear their destination, then hustled away. Once they disappeared down the platform, Bobby bought a ticket to Takaoka for himself.
“Joetsu line to Echigo-Yuzawa,” the agent said. “At Echigo-Yuzawa, transfer to Hakutaka Ten Limited Express. Four thousand two hundred ten yen, please.”
Bobby paid with a credit card tied to Nadia’s account. He used the restroom, bought a bottle of water and two Japanese candy bars, and boarded the train. He took a seat next to a man in a suit reading a comics magazine. Once the train took off, he devoured his candy bars and drank his water.
He made the necessary transfers. He spotted the driver and Eva once from behind, at the Echigo-Yazawa station. Two hours later he hurried off the last train and caught up to them on the platform heading for the exit. The smell of fish and salt hit him as soon as he followed them outside.
A large ship stood anchored in a port in front of the building next door. A vast sea stretched far beyond it. A long line of people began in front of the ship and disappeared into a side entrance at the other end of the building. They carried bags and cameras. A man in a blue uniform guarded the entrance to the gangplank. A yellow rope stretched across it and prevented the people in line from accessing it.
The driver led Eva into the building. Bobby waited a minute, then snuck inside, pulled his hat low, and watched. The driver purchased two tickets and walked over to a long line. A sign above the line contained a single English word as translation. “Immigration.” Bobby circled behind them to the information desk. An English-speaking woman answered his questions. The answers struck fear in Bobby’s heart. Afterward, he bought tickets to the boat’s destination.
Then he found a payphone and called Nadia.
CHAPTER 26
Nadia held the phone to her ear. She glanced at Johnny across the dinner table. “Bobby,” she said.
Johnny’s eyes lit up. He leaned forward. Nadia didn’t have the speakerphone on and Johnny wouldn’t be able to hear, but he still moved closer to the phone. There was no hiding his genuine affection for the boy.
“How are you?” Nadia said. “Where are you?”
“In a town called Takaoka,” Bobby said. “At a pay phone in a ferry building. I lost my phone.”
“I know. Are you hurt? Are you all right?”
“I’m a little stiff but I’m good.”
A dozen questions raced through Nadia’s mind. She performed some quick mental triage. “Are you in danger?”
“Nope.” He hesitated. “At least I don’t think so.”
Nadia imagined him looking around. He was a self-aware and cautious kid. He could take care of himself.
“No,” he said. “I’m safe. I’m sure of it.” His voice was peppered with ebullience. He sounded better than safe. He sounded excited. “I’ve been worried about you.”
“You’ve been worried about me? Are you kidding me? I’m the one who watched you dive under that truck and grab hold of it. How long were you under there?”
“Not sure. Two fifty, maybe three hundred miles.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, but we stopped at a gas stand so I got a break.”
“Why did you do something so reckless? You could have been killed so easily. What were you thinking?”
“I couldn’t let that truck get away. It was that moment that comes in life, you know? Where you have to take a stand and say, no matter what it costs, no matter what the consequences, this is something I’ve got to do.”
“For a formula that may or may not exist?”
“No.” He took a breath. “For Eva.”
“Who?”
“Eva.”
His friend from the Zone in Ukraine. The girl who’d died from surgery complications. Nadia remembered Bobby’s stories about her. They’d been inseparable. “What about her?”
“I think I saw her.”
“You think you saw Eva?” Nadia softened her voice. She feared the kid had lost it. Maybe he’d become delusional during his ordeal hanging under a truck for who knew how many miles. “Where?”
“Back in Fukushima. As the truck was pulling away. I caught a glimpse of Genesis II. Of the other boy. Except he wasn’t a boy. He was a she. A girl with short hair. And she was Eva.”
Nadia imagined Bobby seeing Genesis II’s face. Had he really seen her or was she a figment of his imagination. “Are you… are you sure?”
Bobby hesitated. “Yes. Absolutely.”
Nadia tried to make her delivery as gentle as possible. “You sound like you had to think about it.”
“No. Not at all.” He sounded angry and defensive. “I’m sure. I’m one hundred percent sure.”
“Okay,” Nadia said. She let a moment go by. “I believe you. But listen. If you have any doubts, it’s okay to tell me. We promised to be honest with each other. Remember?”
A moment of silence passed. Bobby took a deep breath. “I was sure when I saw her. Then time passed and every time I caught a glimpse of her — at a gas station, in the train station, on the train — I never got a chance to see her face again. Today has been crazy. I’m so tired. And now I’m like… I’m not sure of anything anymore.”
“I understand,” Nadia said. “You’re exhausted. You’re traumatized. Like you said. As soon as you get some rest you’ll remember better. The important thing is you’re safe.” Nadia saw the waiter approaching. “Hold on a second, some food is being delivered.”
A waiter delivered a plate of steaming grilled chicken skewers and an enormous platter of shrimp tempura. Johnny kept his eyes planted on Nadia’s the entire time as though he were interpreting her conversation with Bobby by reading them.
“Tell me about the trip to the ferry building,” Nadia said. “In detail.”
Bobby told her about the support beams under the truck, the stop at the gas station, and the train rides. Nadia marveled at his determination, endurance, and resilience. She’d known he was athletically gifted, but his ability to survive such long drives while hanging onto the bottom of a truck seemed like a remarkable feat. For the first time since she’d met him in Kyiv, Nadia wondered if Dr. Arkady’s treatments for radiation sickness had given him a permanent physiological boost of some kind. All those months of watching him play hockey, the bursts of speed that left teammates and opponents in the dust, his victory against one of the fastest professional hockey players in a race at the rink in Central Park, he just seemed gifted. Now, he seemed more than gifted. He seemed special.