The Charm School

other a moment, and Filenko said, “Major, may I have the password for the night?”
    Mills didn’t understand what was being said, but he didn’t like what he saw. His hand moved slowly toward his holster.
    Suddenly the door through which they’d come burst open, casting a shaft of light over the concrete.
    The four men looked toward the door and saw a naked woman standing there, her body red with blood. She staggered out onto the ramp and stumbled toward them, pointing at Alevy and Mills and crying out in Russian, “Murderers! Murderers!”
    Before Alevy could react, he felt the AK-47 yanked from his hand and felt the muzzle press into his stomach. Filenko shouted, “Hands on your head.”
    Alevy placed his hands over his service cap, and Mills followed as Strakhov drew his revolver.
    The woman staggered a few feet closer toward them, then fell to her knees, grasping the folds of Mills’ greatcoat. Alevy noted the location of the three wounds: one in the buttocks, one in the lower back around the right kidney, and a grazing wound along the woman’s right temple. He noticed too that Mills was quite pale and looked as if he might become sick. The woman collapsed at Mills’s feet.
    Strakhov asked Mills, “Who are you?”
    Mills didn’t understand a word and stared at the man.
    “Answer me, or I’ll shoot you on the spot.” He pointed his pistol at Mills’ face.
    Alevy said, “He cannot speak. Throat operation.”
    Strakhov shouted, “On your knees!”
    Alevy knelt, and Mills did the same. Strakhov said to Filenko, “Keep a watch on them. I’ll get Lieutenant Cheltsov.” He ran, pistol in hand, toward the rear door of the building and disappeared inside.
    * * *
    Hollis moved quickly through the front lobby with Dodson over his shoulders. He approached the door of the commo room and said, “Lisa, coming in.”
    The door opened, and Lisa, pistol in hand, stepped aside.
    Hollis laid Dodson on the floor.
    “Sam… is that Jack Dodson?”
    “I’m sure it is.”
    “He’s been… tortured.” She asked, “Is he going to live?”
    “I’m certain Burov left enough life in him to make the execution worthwhile. His vital signs are good. He’s probably heavily drugged so he can’t try to kill himself. He’ll come out of it. We’ll take him home.”
    She nodded, then fell into his arms. “Sam, let’s get out of here.”
    “Soon. How’s Brennan?”
    “I just spoke to him.” She smiled. “He says he’s bored.”
    “Good. What’s on the radio?”
    She glanced at the two radios on the table. “Not much. Normal talk so far. Towers calling one another, motorized patrols talking to one another.”
    “Has anyone tried to radio here?”
    “I haven’t heard any calls for headquarters.”
    Hollis nodded. The standard military procedure was that headquarters called the posts, asking for situation reports. The posts called only if there was a problem. He wondered when the dead commo man was scheduled to call the towers, gate, and other posts again. He asked, “Has anyone tried to place a telephone call?”
    “No. The switchboard is quiet.”
    “Good.” Hollis thought that this operation had all the “S” elements of a successful covert operation—surprise, speed, security, and secrecy. But if the secrecy was blown, they’d have to contend with six hundred Border Guards. Hollis glanced at the two bodies on the floor.
Very angry Border Guards.
He said to Lisa, “You’re doing fine.”
    She forced a smile. “Thanks.” She asked, “Where are Seth and Bert?”
    “Getting a vehicle.” He looked out the long slit window that faced the main road out front. “They should be around in a minute or two. I’m going back in the lobby to unbolt the front door and keep watch. You stay here. I can see this door from the front door. Just take a deep breath and think about… autumn in New York.”
    “With you.”
    Hollis squeezed her hand and went out into the lobby and unbolted the front door. Suddenly the sound of running footsteps echoed from the corridor at the rear of the lobby, and Hollis spun around. A man in a KGB topcoat burst into the lobby at full speed, a pistol in his hand. Before he saw Hollis, he shouted, “Lieutenant Cheltsov!” He stopped short at Cheltsov’s desk, then his eyes took in the blood-soaked chair and the smear of blood trails where Cheltsov and the Border Guard had been dragged into the commo room. His eyes followed the blood, then he turned his head and found