She looked at him in horror. His skin waswhite and his eyes half closed, an ugly wound in his right shoulder, bloodoozing from it, his face badly cut where he had been beaten. His head wasslumped to one side and a strange gurgling sound came from his lips.
Anna screamed.
"Shut the fuck up, lady."
When she looked over she saw two men. Onewas the man with the scarred face from the woods. He sat in a chair by thewindow, smoking a cigarette, a shotgun across his knees as he stared over ather silently.
The second man the one who had spoken,was short and fat and bid a thin black mustache. He sat on the table, a sharpeknife in his hand as he picked at his nails with it and grinned. "So,you're back in time of the land of the living?"
She ignored them both and struggled toher feet. There were tears in her eyes as she moved beside Vassily. His eyesflickered as he recognized her.
"Anna ..."
"No, don't speak, Vassily."
He was still losing blood and she felthis pulse. It was weak. She looked back at the men.
"He'll die if he doesn't get help.You have to do something ... Please!" The fat man said, "I'll fuckingkill him if you don't get away from there."
He slid off the table and came over andgrabbed Anna by the hair and threw her into a chair.
"Now you sit there and keep thatmouth shut."
"He's dying ... !"
The scar-faced man stood and came overand slapped her hard across the face, then his hand gripped her jaw painfullyand he stared into her face as he spoke in Russian.
"Massey and Stanski, where did theygo' '
Anna felt the blood drain from her, asudden overwhelming fear in her heart, and she opened her mouth to speak but nowords came, a terrible truth dawning on her, The man slapped her hard again."I asked you a question. Where are your friends?"
"I ... I don't know."
The man lifted his shotgun and aimed itat Vassily. "The truth, or I kill him."
"I ... I don't know ... they left... this morning .
"To go where?"
"I don't know."
"When will they be back?"
"I don't ..."
The man eased back the hammers of theshotgun and aimed at Vassily's head. Anna said, "Tonight. They said theywould be back tonight. I don't know when. I'm telling you the truth ... please.'@For several seconds the man just stood there, aiming the weapon at Vassily,then he grinned and lifted Anna's face.
The grin vanished as he gripped her facehard, grinding his teeth as he said, "Don't lie to me. Lie to me again andI kill you, understand?"
There was a noise from behind and anotherman came into the room from the kitchen, young, heavily built, carrying a longwooden box.
"Guess what I found?"
He put the box down on the table andflipped open the lid. Anna saw it was the weapons they had used in trainingwith Popov. The young man grinned. "They were in the back. There's atrapdoor under the kitchen floor, kind of like a storage room, full of food andstuff'."
The fat man with the mustache came overand looked through the box of' weapons, then whistled as he picked up a Tokarevinachine-pistol.
"Heavy Stuff. Looks like our friendshere are going- to start a war." He looked at the man with the scar."What the fuck's going on here, Braun?"
Braun thought for a moment, then flickeda look at Vassilv. He said to the younger man, "Take the woman outside.I'll deal with her later." When they had gone, Lombardi said to Braun,"What's the story here?"
Braun ignored the question, stepped overto Vassily and slapped his face hard. He was still conscious, but his eyes werebarely focused. Braun said, "What else are Massey and Stanski hiding, oldman?"
Vassily's eyes flicked up weikly atBraun, but he didn't speak. Braun slapped him savagely across the jaw. "Iwon't ask again. Next time I tell my friend outside to hurt the woman. Hurt herbad. This is your property. The weapons were here. Why?"
"Massey ... brought them. I ...don't know why," Vassily gurgled.
"What else did he bring?"
"I ... don't know." Braun saidsharply to Lombardi, "Bring the woman back."
"No," Vassily pleaded hoarsely."I told the truth."
@"What other hiding places have yougot in the cabin?"
Vassily's head slumped onto his chest andBraun grabbed his hair and stared into his face. "You want to watch whilethe woman's raped'?
Because that's what's going to happen tothe bitch if you don't talk. Then I kill her. Slowly."
Vassily's eyes came open drowsily. Heseemed to be having difficulty breathing. "Don't ... don't hurt her."Braun grinned. "You help me, and I won't.' But before Vassily could speakagain his eyes rolled and his head slumped to one side. Braun hit him acrossthe face, again and again, in frustration. but Vassily didn't return toconsciousness.
Lombardi said, "You're wasting yourtime, the hick's out of it, he's lost too much blood."
Braun picked up the shotgun and movedtoward the stairs.
He said to Lombardi, "Search thestorage room search downstairs thoroughly."
"Where you going?"
"To see what else I can find."
Fifteen minutes out from Buzzards Bay theclear air was turbuient and Barton had to increase altitude to five thousandfeet to avoid the worst of it.
The takeoff had been bumpy to say theleast, but Barton seemed to know exactly what he was doing. The Seebee hadfinally lifted off gracefully and climbed to two thousand feet before beginningnorthwest.
It was growing dark in the cabin @andthey could see the vast speckle of lights that was Boston coming on in the duskoff to the right. Barton turned back and said above the engine noise,"Another ten minutes and we'll be over the state line into New Hampshire.I'll try to get as close to the cabin as I can, but I can't promise, mind.Depends on what the water's like." Stanski said, "Forget the cabin. Iwant you to land further away up the lake, a mile up the shore. And leave offthe landing lights on the way in."
Barton looked puzzled and glanced fromStanski to Massey. "You folks said this was an emergency?"
"it is."
"Well, I need those lights to seewhat the water's like," Barton protested. "If I hit whitecaps toodamned hard they can crack the prow or make me dip a wing into the water."
Stanski put a hand on Barton's shoulder."Just do as I ask, Abe. And as soon as you touch down and we get away, dome a favor and wait half an hour in case we need you to take us back. No longerthan that, or you'll have trouble landing back in Buzzards Bay."
I got trouble enough as it is doing whatyou ask. I need those damned lights."
"Please, Abe, just do as Isay."
Barton frowned in puzzlement, then heshrugged and turned back to the Seebee's controls.
Brun went through the rooms upstairs oneby one. Even though he knew the house was empty he moved cautiously, steppinginto each bedroom with care, the shotgun ready in his hands.
He found the woman's room first andsearched through her clothes and a small suitcase under the bed. There wasnothing of interest, but when he found her underwear he fondled it and smiled.
The other rooms were bare and functional.The old man's had nothin- much besides tatty clothes, some tobacco and a coupleof old books in Russian.
When he found Stanski's bedroom he wentthrough it with much more care. He searched through the clothes in thewardrobe, emptying the pockets, and two leather suitcases full of old clothes,lying at the bottom. He turned over the mattress and looked underneath, butfound nothing.