The temperature was plummeting, and Vasilyev wondered idly whether chattering teeth would affect his ability to eat. Grishkov, with far more recent outdoor experience, knew the answer was that hunger overcame all obstacles to food reaching a stomach.
With a flourish, Esmail produced something that looked like a bulky lantern. Vasilyev was about to object when Esmail shook his head and whispered, “It produces very little light.”
It took him several tries, but Esmail was finally able to light the device, which as promised produced only a faint red glow. He nevertheless surrounded it with a thin sheet of flexible metal, which blocked the dim light in every direction but straight towards them. To everyone’s astonishment except Esmail, the small clearing began to warm rapidly.
“It contains a small propane bottle,” Esmail whispered. “Not enough fuel to last for long, but we will eat and go to our bags warm. Helps for a better night’s sleep.”
The rest all nodded, and fell to their food with a will. After they had finished eating, Neda was the first to head for her sleeping bag. Vasilyev nodded at Grishkov, and said, “I will take the first watch.” Grishkov shrugged, and unrolled his bag as well. Turning off the heater, Esmail whispered, “Time to answer nature’s call,” and walked towards the nearby bushes, where he was quickly out of sight.
Grishkov had just slipped into his sleeping bag. Once Esmail left, he slipped out of it and just as quickly moved silently in the same direction.
Vasilyev was becoming concerned about their absence when Grishkov walked back into the small clearing, and tossed him a small black device.
Vasilyev caught it with a frown, and looked at it closely.
As Grishkov sat next to him, Vasilyev commented quietly, “It looks like a cell phone, but the name on the front is a company that I thought only made GPS devices. I see you took the precaution of removing the battery.”
Grishkov nodded, and responded in an equally low voice. “I am familiar with these because we had a grand total of one for the entire Vladivostok police department. It is a satellite radio handset, but you cannot use it to make calls. It can only send text messages. As you would expect from a company that mostly makes GPS devices, it can also tell you where you are located.”
Vasilyev smiled. “Let me guess. This is what our guide went to retrieve.
Once he had done so, you retrieved it from him before he had a chance to use it. And he will not be returning to our little camp.”
Grishkov shrugged.
Vasilyev nodded. “I know we have no tools to bury a body. Were you able to conceal it well enough to give us time for our escape?”
Grishkov frowned. “From people, yes. From local scavengers and buzzards, I’m not so sure. We must also remember that the train guard’s body may be discovered at any time. Any competent policeman will check his last route and see that it pointed straight at the border.”
Vasilyev nodded. “We must be ready to move at first light.”
Grishkov glanced towards Neda’s sleeping bag. “And we will have to pick up the pace. We need to be ready to cross the border soon if we are to have any real chance.” He paused and said, “I will stand watch now. You may as well go to your bag, since I won’t be able to sleep.”
Nodding his understanding, Vasilyev quickly squeezed Grishkov’s right shoulder as he moved to his sleeping bag, and then turned.
“Just one thing. Each of us must have gone into the bushes a half dozen times on this hike. Why did you follow him tonight?”
Grishkov shrugged. “This was the first time he announced it.”
Neda woke as the first rays of light penetrated through the surrounding trees into the small clearing. Like all of them, she had slept with her clothes on. She lifted herself to a sitting position, still in the sleeping bag, and saw that both Vasilyev and Grishkov were sitting on the fallen log and eating.
When they saw she was awake they nodded in her direction, but said nothing.
She nodded back, and slowly extricated herself from the sleeping bag.
Neda walked to the log and sat next to Vasilyev, who handed her a food packet, saying in a low voice, “The last one.” She nodded her thanks, and quickly ate it. Once she had finished, she looked around and quietly asked with a frown, “Where is our guide?”
Neither Vasilyev or Grishkov had any readable expression. Vasilyev answered carefully, “He decided he’d gone far enough and turned back. We have a map that will show us the rest of the way.”
Neda shook her head and said something low in Farsi that Vasilyev barely caught, but he knew translated roughly in English to “in a pig’s eye.”
With a different animal, of course.
Neda continued, “You killed him.”
Grishkov nodded.
Neda glared at Vasilyev and said in a fierce whisper, “I’m not a weakling or a child. I never trusted that man. Did he betray us?”
Grishkov shrugged. “He tried to. Even though I hid it, his body still might,” pointing upward at a buzzard circling lazily high above them.
Vasilyev looked upwards and bit back an oath. “How can it possibly know so quickly?”
Grishkov nodded. “Yes, I wondered the same thing in Chechnya. I’m sure the scientists have an explanation. I and the other troops there simply believed they had made an agreement with the devil.”
Neda shivered, only partly from the cold. “Do we still have a chance?”
Grishkov smiled. “Absolutely. There’s no way the border guards here have enough men to follow up on every buzzard sighting. They’ll only bother looking if they’re near here anyway. Plus, we’re still kilometers away from the border. But, it does mean we’ll need to move faster.”
Neda nodded. “I’m ready. How far do we have to go?”
Grishkov frowned. “I think we can be ready to go for our final push by tonight. When night falls we’ll get a few hours of rest, and then cross the border in the hour just before dawn. There is enough light from the moon to see if we move carefully, and the border guards should be at their least alert.
Many will be asleep, and the vigilance of the night watch will be fading.”
“What about mines?” Neda whispered.
Grishkov grinned. “You’re lucky to be with a soldier who’s seen plenty of them, and actually had to plant some. There’s ground where they’re easy to plant, and other terrain where it’s difficult or impossible without special equipment. I have looked closely at a geological chart of the border area, and I know exactly where to cross.”
Vasilyev nodded approvingly. “Excellent. Now, I think we should be off.”
With that, Vasilyev and Neda quickly followed Grishkov’s example, discarding all upper clothing except their cotton shirts, and donning the new Ratnik 3 ballistic vests placed in the bottom of their packs at Grishkov’s request. He hadn’t been sure Alina would be able to find one small enough to fit Neda, but as she strapped hers on was pleased to see Alina had been successful. Thanks to the use of boron carbide in the vest’s armor ceramics, it provided better protection than the vest Grishkov had used in Chechnya, and yet was about thirty percent lighter.
Grishkov had already hidden Esmail’s belongings, including the heater.
They would have to bear with the cold at night for the rest of their hike. He hurriedly put their now empty packs in the same hiding spot.
Grishkov took the lead for this last stage of their march, with Vasilyev and Neda close behind. As the hours passed the temperature once again rose. By the time they stopped at midday to rest, the thinning of the forest had become more noticeable. The chirping of birds, which had been the only sound other than their own footfalls, nearly ceased.
On the one hand, there were far fewer tree roots to avoid. On the other, the rocks were growing larger and more plentiful.