The Charm School

jumped into the rear seats. Alevy said, “You two stay low.”
    Hollis and Lisa dropped to the floor as Alevy moved the Zil to the road and turned right toward Burov’s dacha.

 
41
    The Zil-6 moved over the dark road.
    Lisa said from the rear, “Seth, we don’t need Burov. Just take another American. General Austin’s house is right off this road. You wanted him.”
    “But you wanted Dodson. Only room for one more, and that will be Colonel Petr Burov. Right, Sam?”
    Hollis didn’t reply.
    Mills said, “Seth, we got some problems at the helipad.” Mills explained about the spotlight and about the tower trying to raise the helipad radio.
    Alevy stayed silent a moment, then said, “Let’s not get jumpy. We’re very close to pulling off the snatch operation of the decade. What do you think, Sam?”
    Hollis thought that a reasonable man would have accepted the evidence and concluded that the operation was starting to unravel. Alevy, however, was a driven man, and Hollis did not trust driven men.
    “Sam?”
    “I think we’re all living on borrowed time.” Hollis said to Mills, “Bert? What do you say?”
    Mills seemed torn between reason and loyalty to Alevy, which they both knew were mutually exclusive. Mills looked sideways at Alevy. “Seth… we got Sam and Lisa, we got an American… chopper’s crowded. Maybe it’s time to shuffle off.”
    Alevy turned and looked back at Hollis. “Sam, it’s your call. Do
you
want to get Burov yourself, or would you be content to let him live? Maybe tomorrow when he wakes up from the Sandman, he’ll murder
twenty
Americans.”
    Hollis replied curtly, “This isn’t a balls contest.”
    “I’m not questioning your nerve. I just want to know if you have any personal scores to settle. In our business, you can let personal considerations help you make an operational decision. Well?”
    Hollis glanced at Lisa, then said to Alevy, “Drive on.”
    Alevy remarked, “I think we have each other figured out.”
    Lisa slumped against the door and stared at Hollis. He stared back. Hollis recalled the trip to Novodevichy Convent, sitting on the floor, with Jane Ellis and Betty Eschman in front. That had been a lark, Hollis thought, compared to this. But this was the inevitable result of what they had begun in Moscow. Lisa kicked his foot and forced a smile. “Novodevichy?”
    He nodded. They had a short but memorable history.
    Hollis said to Alevy, “Keep it at about fifteen K, or you’ll attract attention.”
    They continued on, and Alevy navigated a bend in the road, then said, “What the hell is that?”
    Hollis raised himself up and looked out the window. “That’s Pine Corners Shopping Plaza. You never saw a shopping plaza before?”
    Mills laughed. “Jesus Christ… .”
    Alevy looked up at the camouflage net that blocked the night sky, then cut into the parking lot and drove slowly past the stores and shops. “Seven Eleven?”
    “Mosfilm does the props.”
    “Really?” He looked at each shop window as they drove by, nodding his head several times. “Not bad… do they—?”
    “I’ll brief you,” Hollis said curtly, “in London. Let’s move it.”
    Suddenly a pair of headlights appeared on the road, and they saw a huge Zil-131 troop carrier pass the parking lot, heading toward the headquarters building.
    Mills said, “If he stops at headquarters, he’s not going to like what he sees there.”
    Alevy hit the accelerator and swung back onto the road, falling in behind the troop carrier. In the canvas-covered rear compartment, Alevy’s headlights illuminated about twenty men with AK-47’s. Alevy honked his horn and flashed his lights. The carrier’s driver put his arm out the window, then stopped the vehicle. The driver got out and walked back toward them. He called out, “Strakhov?”
    Alevy said to Hollis and Lisa, “Stay low.” He opened his door and said to Mills, “Get behind the wheel.” Alevy jumped out and walked toward the driver of the troop carrier, who was shielding his eyes against the glare of the headlights. The driver asked, “Who is that?”
    “Major Voronin.”
    The man snapped to attention and saluted.
    Alevy asked, “Where are you taking those men?”
    The driver replied, “To relieve the guard posts.”
    “Which guard posts?”
    “Towers one and two, the main gate, the headquarters, and the helipad, sir. I’ve just relieved the guards at the dacha.”
    “Colonel Burov’s dacha?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “How