Waiting for me—well, really, for Miss Tachibana—was a gleaming black Volga, an official’s car. It shone so brightly that you could see it even in the dark of night. Standing beside it was a man in a black suit who seemed to emerge from the darkness itself.
It wasn’t normal—guys who bothered this little to hide what they did. I was pretty sure the KGB didn’t carry business cards. No more than a Janitor did.
I somehow managed to crawl out of our bullet-riddled truck, a far cry from the sleek black Volga the KGB had. They were both GAZ vehicles but were almost disgustingly different.
That went for us, too. The KGB man wore a suit without a single wrinkle; I stood there in my filthy body armor. In fact, I was starting to feel a little disgusted with myself.
“Good work, Comrade Kragin,” the suit said.
“Please. It was nothing.” I shrugged.
It was true—it was nothing. I just did what I could. This was the result.
If the spetsnaz had been serious, I would be dead already, along with Miss Tachibana and Valery. This was about the level of work that I was cut out for—but I damn well did it.
“Vseo v poryadke, yes?” the man whispered to me.
“Da,” I whispered back.
“Khorosho.”
By that point, Valery was already helping Miss Tachibana out of the passenger’s side of the vehicle. He was probably just imitating what he’d seen in some movie or comic book, but he actually looked pretty good. Except for the Swiss-cheesed truck.
“Here you go, Miss,” he said. “Had a good ride?”
“Y-yes… Yes. It was very…exciting,” the commissioner said, smiling as she took his hand and stepped down. Our motherland might have been collectivized, but a woman like her would always have a secure future, I figured.
Miss Tachibana passed by me elegantly, her heels clicking on the ground. “Spasibo,” she said as she went. “I see we have some excellent Janitors. I hadn’t been aware.”
“Ne za chto <No problem>… Please feel free to call on me the next time you need something.”
“I could say the same. If you’re ever in need, don’t hesitate.”
And then, with the grace of an actress—which is to say, with a grace like Stasia’s—she got in the back of the Volga.
Only then did I let out a deep sigh. I asked Black Suit the one thing I needed to: “What about my reward?”
“You’ll get it from Metel.”
Then Black Suit got in the driver’s seat, without so much as a glance at either the Janitor or the Janitor’s little brother.
From behind the quality bulletproof glass, he said just one thing to me. “Another fine job, Comrade Kragin.”
“Pozhaluista <You’re welcome>,” I answered. I didn’t know if he heard me, or even if he wanted to. By the time the words were out of my mouth, the Volga was already driving away, taking Miss Tachibana with it.
Whatever Organ was after, if they’d wanted her alive, they could breathe a sigh of relief now.
My job was done.
In the end, the fact that I was still breathing was thanks to the territorial tug-of-war between several different organizations, and the fact that they weren’t willing to go all out.
The Politburo, the KGB, GRU: Janitors like me were caught in the middle of the tangled web they wove. I just kept dancing over the ice, without having time to test whether it was thick or thin.
Each time I had to think about that fact, I felt like a dead man walking.
“Big Brother! Valery! Good work.”
“Yipes!”
When Mariya appeared unexpectedly—and soundlessly—out of the darkness, Valery jumped a foot in the air. Nora was beside her, like a black cat. She couldn’t hide the smirk on her face, and she gleefully extended and retracted a claw from her fingertip.
“Myaaau ♪!” she chirped.
“Huh. You’re both here?” I said.
“Hah!” Nora sniffed importantly. “I’m helping my big sister, Mariya. No criticisms there, right?”
“Maybe not.”
I met Mariya’s eyes, and she nodded at me with a pained smile. At least Nora was telling the truth. Fine, then.
Valery, of course, was not about to let the sad state of his beloved truck go unremarked. He clung to its side, slapping his breast theatrically and yelling at his troublemaking sisters: “You gotta stop this! I thought I was going to die, y’know?!”
“Ha-ha-ha! You’re such a chicken, Valery!”
“You can’t twitch and squirm at a job like this. These things happen practically every day in Moscow.”
“I was starting to feel pretty chicken myself by the end there,” I said with a great laugh. Nora guffawed, but Mariya’s look grew sharper. I guess she didn’t feel like lecturing me at the moment, though, because she let it go with one sharp cluck of her tongue. Instead, she pulled out an envelope and handed it to me.
“Na, Brother.”
“Ooh!”
In the envelope, of course, was a bundle of rubles. Crisp, clean bills. I gave them a few flicks, just to feel them under my fingers. I was no Madam Pisken.
I split the bundle of bills in two, snapped a rubber band around one pile and held it out to Valery.
After a second, he said, “You sure, Bro?”
“Aw, just take it. You did a job—a man’s job. You deserve it.” I stuffed the bills in his pocket without another thought for his hesitation. I knew if I didn’t, he would never take them, and if he never took them, he would never be able to fix his stupid truck. “That should cover your trouble and the repair bill. Don’t blow it on anything else.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” He nodded grudgingly. Good enough.
I divided the remaining pile into thirds and put rubber bands around two of them, then I handed the two banded piles to Mariya. “Living expenses,” I said. “You need food, you need whatever, pay for it with this.”
“Brother… You don’t…”
I guess Mariya had some objection, but I wasn’t interested.
I didn’t have an education, and I was no mathematician. Mariya was a lot better than me there. But I knew one thing about numbers: It never hurt to have more money.
“Don’t blow it on anything else,” I repeated.
After a very long pause, Mariya finally said, “All right,” and took the bills, holding them tightly, carefully.
I knew where she would probably put them—in a tin can hidden behind a wall in our house. Or maybe she kept her savings somewhere else now. I wasn’t going to go looking for it.
I took the final pile—a pretty thin one by now—and wrapped a rubber band around that, too, and put it in my own pocket.
There. Now we were all done.
We were standing in front of Organ’s building in Lubyanka Square. The place was as good as deserted.
It was deep into the night, and the streets were empty. I could hear a car in the distance. Gunshots.
My breath turned the color of the streetlamps as it left my mouth, drifting in front of me before it dissipated. The heat that had flooded my body ebbed almost immediately, leaving me gripped by a prickling cold.
“Hey, Danya!” Nora exclaimed. “Where’s my share?”
“Your share?” shot back Valery. “You didn’t do anything!”
“Did too! I did my part of the job!”