“Please be careful,” said Hunter.

“I’ll return our dishes when we’re all finished,” said Judy. “Then I’ll see if I can strike up a conversation on my way back through the crowd. Maybe I can learn something.”

“You want to talk to people?” Jane asked, glancing at Hunter.

“Please be very careful,” Hunter repeated.

Judy smiled. “Don’t worry. I have as much fear of the NKVD as anyone here.”

“We do not want to change anyone’s behavior unnecessarily,” Hunter added.

“I don’t think anything I can say here will change the outcome of the battle.”

“I’ll go with you,” said Jane.

They collected their empty dishes and worked their way back to the front of the warehouse. Jane knew that Judy believed Hunter had an exaggerated fear of how much influence any of the team could possibly have on historical events. So Jane wanted to keep tabs on how Judy handled herself.

Judy took her time on the return trip, looking around for someone to approach. Many people were obviously as comfortable as they could get, having grown accustomed to life in these conditions. Others tended babies or small children and were too occupied to make small talk. Jane followed her, also surveying the crowd.

“How about her?” Jane asked quietly, pointing to one side of the room.

A tired, bent, elderly woman fumbled with her blanket, trying to shake it out with stiff, gnarled fingers. She shuffled to one side, still stooped over, and shook it again. No one paid any attention to her.

Judy worked her way toward her in the crowd. The old woman was obviously alone, though others sat nearby with their own families. By the time Judy reached her, the old woman was on her hands and knees, patiently smoothing and straightening the blanket on the hard floor.

Judy squatted down and tugged the wrinkles out of the last corner. The old woman looked up at her, startled. She looked scared.

“I’m only helping,” Judy said gently. “I’m sorry if I surprised you.”

The old woman nodded, still watching Judy cautiously. Then she glanced up at Jane, who had come to stand behind Judy. The woman’s face was sharp-featured and deeply lined. After a moment, she relaxed a little and sat down on the blanket.

“I’m Judy Taub. What’s your name?”

“Ivana Voronov,” she said quietly. She smiled, though, for the first time. “Please sit down.” She patted the blanket and looked up at Jane again. “And your friend, too.”

Judy squatted down on the blanket, keeping her boots off of it. Jane joined her. The old woman looked back and forth between them, waiting for someone to say something.

“We’re new in this shelter,” said Judy.

“Oh? Where have you been?”

“Well…on the move. We’ve been displaced by the war.” Judy shrugged. “We saw everyone getting off the buses. Where were you? In a work brigade?”

“Oh, yes. We’re digging the big ditches to the west.”

“Ditches?” Jane asked, turning to Judy.

“Antitank ditches,” said Judy quietly. “A quarter million Muscovites are digging them with hand shovels. Three-quarters of the workers are women, since the men are either in the army or working in heavy industry. The ditches are to block the advance of German tanks from the west of the city.”

“By hand?” Jane shook her head, impressed. “Hard work. Especially in this weather.”

Ivana grimaced, rubbing her hands. “I can’t do very much at my age. My hands hurt all the time. So does my back. These young girls, now, they work very hard.”

“Thousands of people abandoned their jobs and homes during the past few months to get away from Moscow,” said Judy. “Fleeing the Germans long before the battle. Ivana, why didn’t you go then?”

“Yes, yes, those with money or companions or relatives to see all hurried away to the east. I had no means to travel and nowhere to go.”

“What about your family?” Judy asked gently. “Do you have family members in the army?”

“My sons are in the Red Army,” she said quietly, lowering her gaze to the blanket. “I have heard nothing from them for over a year.”

“Where’s your husband?” Jane asked.

“He was taken.” Ivana’s voice was almost a whisper. She lowered her head, hiding her face.

“You don’t mean by the Germans, do you?” Judy whispered slowly.

Ivana shook her head, wiping away tears.

Even Jane understood that the NKVD had taken her husband.

Judy leaned closer to her, still whispering. “Do you know why?”

“No. It was two years ago, when so many were taken. They gave no reason and I have heard nothing.”

Judy nodded.

Jane glanced at the people around them. If they were listening, they were pretending otherwise. However, Ivana had become a liability to them. With her husband arrested, she herself might be under the watch of the secret police. Her neighbors would not befriend her for fear that they, too, would come under the scrutiny of the NKVD.

“Have you been in this work brigade long?” Jane asked. “Staying here?”

“Oh, yes.” Ivana nodded, apparently glad to change the subject. “I’ve been in it for a couple of months. My own building was destroyed by shelling, so I had to come here. But it’s not a bad place. The shelter is good and they always have food here.”

“Do you know most of the people? At least by sight?” Jane leaned closer, too.

“I suppose. I don’t talk to very many people.” She shrugged, embarrassed.

“How about the other work brigades? Do you work alongside others?”

“Sometimes, yes. Not always. Our location each day is different. So long as we dig the ditches, no one cares which brigade we are next to or where we dug the day before.”

Jane turned to Judy. “I want to get Hunter. She might be able to help us locate…our friend.”

“All right,” said Judy. “Good idea. I’ll stay here with Ivana.”

Jane stood up and patiently worked her way over to Hunter. Now that the crowd had finished dinner and had taken their positions for the night, with some of them stretched out to relax, the way was more difficult. It took her a minute or a little more to reach him. He protectively watched her progress.

“Come and meet someone,” she said quickly. “I think she can help us.” She turned to point to Judy and Ivana.

They were gone.