“Lady, with a voice like that, you ought to be on a stage somewhere, not stuck in here with us.” “Maybe someday, if I make it,” she said. “You will,” Crutch said firmly. “Count on it.”
On the morning of day twenty-eight, Melnikov staged one last, especially brutal inspection. The men who entered were not the usual guards but a special detail—five big men in leather jackets. “Search! Everybody against the wall!”
The search was rough and humiliating. They stripped men down, patted them over, checked every seam, looking for something specific. And they found it: sewn into the lining of Professor Vorontsov’s jacket was a small notebook.
His diary. The one private thing he had left. “What’s this?” Melnikov said, snatching it away. “Personal notes. Thoughts. A few verses.”
“Anti-government thoughts,” Melnikov said, flipping through the pages. “What’s this? ‘The system destroys its best people’?”
“That’s a quotation from a classic writer,” the professor said. “Doesn’t matter. It’s illegal agitation during transport.”
“You know what that means?” “Yes. Execution.” Melnikov smiled. “Exactly. Take him out.”
But they did not take the professor out. Anna stepped in front of him. “If that counts as agitation, then I heard it too. So did everybody in this car. Then take us all.”
“I’d be glad to, but I’ve been ordered to deliver the cargo. As for the professor, we’re not handing him over,” Crutch said, stepping up beside her.
Then Jackal stood. Then Doctor. Then Colonel Karelin. One by one, all of them rose. Melnikov pulled his pistol. “This is mutiny. I have authority to shoot.”
“Then shoot,” Crutch said calmly. “Just remember, your first shot may be yours, but after that, we’ve got our own tools.” He showed the sharpened metal in his hand.
Others did the same. Every second man seemed to have a blade hidden somewhere. The standoff lasted a minute that felt like an hour. Then Melnikov lowered the pistol.
“Fine. The professor rides on. But when we arrive, all of you face charges for group mutiny.” He walked out. Professor Vorontsov was crying.
An elderly scholar, a doctor of science, crying like a child. “Why would you do that? Now they’ll shoot all of you.”
“No, they won’t,” Colonel Karelin said with certainty. “I still have one card left. Last resort.” “What card?” “You’ll see if we need it.”
Two days remained. Forty-eight hours. And everyone understood: Melnikov would not back down. The ending would be ugly. The only question was how ugly.
Day twenty-nine, the next-to-last day of the trip. The train crawled through foothills, nearing the final station. It was a transfer point before the northern camps.
A strange calm settled over the car, the kind that comes before a storm. “Listen carefully,” Colonel Karelin said, gathering the senior men around him. “Tomorrow, when we arrive, Melnikov will try to stage a public punishment. That much is obvious.”
“But I have information that may change everything.” “What information?” Jackal asked. “There is an inspection commission from the capital at the transfer point right now. They arrived a week ago.”
“They’re investigating abuse of authority in the camp system. Several officials have already been arrested.” “How do you know?” the prisoners asked. “Messages travel both ways. I still have contacts at transfer points.”
Crutch thought it over. “And what does that change?” “Everything. If we make it to the station and I can reach the commission, Melnikov may end up under investigation himself.”
But Melnikov was not idle either. At noon he came with one final offer, entering alone, without guards, confident in himself. “Mikhailova, last chance. Agree to special conditions in the camp, and I forget the mutiny.”
“I’ll let the others alone. Even the professor.” Anna understood exactly what he meant by special conditions, and so did everyone else. “Go to hell, Captain,” she said.
“Think about the others. Two hundred men may pay for your stubbornness.” Then Crutch spoke, slowly and clearly, each word landing hard.
“Captain Melnikov, I’ve had standing in this world for twenty-five years. I have ties in camps from one end of the country to the other. If anything happens to this woman—anything—you won’t make it to spring.”
“That’s not drama. That’s a plain statement in front of witnesses.” “Threatening an officer?” Melnikov snapped. “No threat,” Crutch said.
