Alexandrej Prospekt was still deserted when Holger and Tatjana left the courtyard. Only a solitary dog was still hunting for another garbage heap to plunder. Holger glanced at the tourist map from the hotel and headed off through the soulless streets. The sky was again clear with many stars, so he could keep navigating. Soon they arrived at a large road with signs pointing towards the city centre. Even with Tatjana’s local knowledge, they would have been completely lost had it not been for Holger’s orienteering skills. There were quite a few cars, but no one showed any willingness to stop, and they continued at a good pace towards the hotel.
It took a further hour before they managed to flag down a cab. Another passenger was already in the car, but the driver stopped anyway. The more, the merrier. The violent night had starved them of any desire for small talk, and the drive continued in silence. Holger closed his eyes and had to fight the urge to open them again as images of the dead man with the screwdriver quivering from the underside of his jaw flickered through his mind’s eye. The other passenger was dropped at his destination, and Tatjana made several calls to her Documentation Group. She glanced worriedly at Holger but sensed that she should not say anything. He 327should be given space to process the killing in private. To take a life is brutish. And horrible, thought Tatjana, gently letting her hand run down over his arm and taking his hand. Holger cherished her solicitude in silence. Suddenly, he felt her grip tighten and opened his eyes. Holger followed her gaze past the driver down the illuminated street. Two blue-and-white police cars, their lights flashing, blocked the street. He had not realised they had arrived downtown. The police cars were parked front to front outside the entrance to Hotel Ukraine.
Tatjana ducked in her seat and firmly asked the driver to continue past the hotel. Holger was impressed with her quick-wittedness; he followed suit and focused on the armed auxiliary police in their distinctive camouflage uniforms on the pavement. As the driver slowed to a halt a couple of blocks further down, Tatjana handed him a couple of crumpled rouble notes and told him to go to the hotel and discreetly find out what was happening.
Holger and Tatjana watched the driver wobbling towards the hotel through the dirty rear window. Unconsciously, Holger let his hand slip into his coat pocket to the pistol he had removed from the dead editing technician. Time snaked by. Holger was about to leave the car when the driver came ambling back and stooped to get into the front seat. Without turning, he said that the police were searching for a terrorist. A foreigner; from Denmark.
‘The soldier I spoke to knew no more than that. It was not that he wasn’t talkative, though. Especially after I told him, my son was in Afghanistan with the same OMON special police unit as his own. He groaned at the number of tours and the nonsense of sending special police soldiers to Grozny merely to guard public buildings.’328
Holger observed the driver in the rear-view mirror and registered a broad smile spread across his lips as he continued:
‘And when I then asked him whether he had also received a medal from Chechnya’s president for his participation, I thought he wasn’t ever going to let me go.’
The driver guffawed loudly, revealing that he had teeth missing.
‘It’s obvious that someone’s looking for you,’ Tatjana established, and gazed thoughtfully out the window as she collected her mobile and made a brief call.
Holger’s brain was working overtime; I’ve just arrived. How can the authorities be on to me so quickly? Has someone leaked details of my mission, or have I screwed up somehow? The thoughts were cartwheeling around in his head when Tatjana interrupted their frolics.
‘I have just spoken with a friend, and we can borrow her car. I suggest we get out of town immediately. I hope there isn’t anything in your luggage you’ll be needing.’
‘I have everything I need here,’ Holger said as he patted his jacket pockets and silently thanked his training for ensuring he always had the most essential things on him.
It is like the old days as a young Jaeger. Only take stuff out of the bergen when needed, and then only the absolutely essential. That way, one is always ready for a quick getaway. Now my coat is my rucksack, Holger thought and sent Tatjana an inscrutable smile.