Wind in the Hands (12 page)

“Do not interrupt. We will think later,” the Chief checked him. “Speak on.”

“I dispatched several security agents. Before they had time to disperse across the railway station building, a person came up to one of the employees, soaked him in vodka, saw the photographs, and ran to the men’s room. Two of our agents decided to check but he unexpectedly attacked them. We took his fingerprints,” the Functionary made a pause. “It is the Soldier, known in certain circles,” he pointed his finger up. “He is a professional liquidator, one of the best or maybe the best of his kind. I explained the Seer that we could not arrest that person. Then he asked to catch the other. It is a Stranger. He managed to escape from the hotel and again with the Soldier’s help. Here’s a detailed report of our agents. If you are interested in this case, we can expand the number of observers to include the City in the scope of the operations,” the Functionary kept silent for several minutes. “This is about all I was going to report.”

“It’s interesting. Do you have versions?” the Chief addressed his officers.

“It can be assumed,” one of his employees started, “that the Seer thought it was necessary to warn us of a pending conflict in the City provoked by the persons involved. But there are two questions in this case: who are they and whose task does the Soldier fulfill? If the information on the Soldier is correct, we know the customer. It’s a political order or an army operation. We should think if we want to interfere with the operation of another agency.”

“And how a conflict situation in the City can be provoked by one person?” the Functionary asked.

“It is clear that you are not an operations officer,” his colleague commented. “For instance, sacred objects can be desecrated. It is enough to show your ass during a public prayer. The City is a kind of a tinderbox now, you just throw a match and it is on fire. The Soldier can be sent to destroy one of political or religious leaders.”

“We can assume the Soldier aims at destruction of the object that harms the country,” another employee ventured his observation, “rather than escalation of a conflict.”

“Other versions?” the Chief asked. Silence set in.

“I see that the situation is unclear,” the Chief summed up. “The Seer can play own game, his personal game. And use us while keeping in the dark. And he won’t rescue any religious leader. By the way, why does the Soldier need the Stranger? I’ve heard about the Soldier, he works alone and does not carry out political orders. He shoots terrorists, militants, and rebels. That’s his qualifications. Why would he be assigned other tasks? It is not a custom, you can’t teach old dog new tricks. The City is generally out of his scope, as far as I know no liquidator has been involved there lately. And why has the Seer asked to catch the Stranger? The Soldier can’t complete the operation without him, can he? It means the Stranger plays a role, doesn’t he? Maybe no less important than the role of the Soldier. Why have they decided to take the train when there are other opportunities to get to the City? Military intelligence couldn’t equip a plane? Who is going on a task by train? Nonsense. Too many questions and I don’t like this. We should send experienced agents to the City and spy secretly. Find all information about the Stranger and report to me. And do not try to detain the Soldier. Owing to your ill-thought actions,” he glanced at the Functionary sternly, “we can spoil the relations with the General Staff, which are quite tense now, and a complex operation we know nothing about. Possibly, there is no operation at all. Friends decided to go to the City and bad men do not allow them to enjoy the right of a citizen: move freely. You all can go.”

The Functionary was leaving the director’s office in a bad mood. He assumed that the commander would not challenge that the Soldier acted upon instructions of the General Staff and would not miss the chance of using that in the secret war between security agencies and was one of the main stimuli for their high performance. One thing has become clear: they will not allow him to lead the case. Superior commanders consider the Seer’s abilities as a threat to national security. The man, who, if he desired so, could disclose any secret, was very dangerous. And the agency had many secrets.

The Functionary decided to inform the Seer that the case would be under official control. He dialed the number.

“Hello,” a familiar voice said.

“It’s me again. Can we meet?” the Functionary asked cautiously.

“I called you earlier, but you didn’t answer. It continues, doesn’t it?”

“I haven’t heard the telephone call,” he said surprised and the Seer felt that his interlocutor was not lying. “Are you interested in discussing the situation?”

“Come to my place. I’m waiting for you.”

Chapter 17. Stereotype

The companions were approaching the railway station. The Stranger asked the Soldier:

“What do you think why have I been instructed to meet you?”

“And you had such instructions, hadn’t you?” the Soldier was surprised.

“I hope so.”

“How?”

“I understood that I need a man who can discover a deadly threat in a heap of identical stones and neutralize it. I found you using the map with my eyes closed and came to the mentioned territory. I wandered a bit and saw two young men. I thought they were threatened. Something heavy overhung them. I came up closer, and looked in their faces and understood who they were. I wanted to pass by but couldn’t,” the Stranger fell silent and reluctantly continued several minutes later, “I told them the road they chose would lead them to death. And they believed me.”

“Why?”

“I spoke with the presence of the Power and they were jittery and susceptible, and understood at once. Sometime later, I met a gloomy man in ragged jeans and understood that was the person I was looking for.”

“You did,” the Soldier drawled and smiled gloomily, “but not the right one.”

“How come?”

“I haven’t found a land mine among stones. All in all, I’ve found different mine. It’s not as difficult as it seems at first glance, especially if you know your surroundings well. But I don’t disarm them. I communicate with the operations army facility and they send mine pickers.”

“And can you disarm an explosive device?” the Stranger thought he asked a very important question.

“Once several years ago I saw or rather felt danger. I looked around and saw an AP mine hanging from the tree. I shot and neutralized the mobile device, which served as a detonator. Local residents, mostly teenagers ran up hearing the shot, surrounded the place and the bomb exploded,” the Soldier was silent for some time. “It turned out to have two detonators, or the mobile phone was a false detonator; the second one was a chain: you step on it and wires close and… No amateurship since that time.”

The Stranger amicably poked the frowning Soldier in the shoulder.

“That’s all right. People often get in the trap of their stereotypes. First, they build a model and if the events do not fit in with the stereotype, instead of trying to understand what is happening, they destroy everything. The Prince was not accepted in his times because his actions and thoughts did not fit in with the stereotype resulting from incorrect understanding of ancient prophesies.”

“I’ve heard about the Prince,” the Soldier became thoughtful. “He was a good preacher. I liked some of his conversations. Especially, when he had a go at priests, preachers, well, all. He accused them of spiritual bankruptcy and showed them who they were and who he was. The Prince was declared an outlaw, was promised an award for his capture, all were hunting for him. This rabble caught him assisted by an informer, slaughtered without trial or record and left his corpse in the City to be seen by everyone. People were made to pass by and spit on him. Those who refused were beaten up and jailed.

Then as far as I remember, the legend says that angels came to the square at night and resurrected him. Of course, there were people who stated and even swore that they saw him alive, and almost at the same time, in different places, some of which were located at a distance from each other. They were tortured to recant from their words.

Several years later a riot happened in the country. Priests, preachers, and sorcerers were killed especially cruelly. Rebels found a motive to avenge the Prince and they are still taking revenge against anyone who does not honor him. Now he has many worshippers all over the world among pacifists and terrorists. The irony of fate, when alive he was considered mad and when he died, he became a sage. And his offspring still receive donations, a home museum was setup: here’s the stone the Prince used to sit on, and here’s the cup he used to drink from. Well, do I know the history and religion, what you’d say?” the Soldier boasted.

“You don’t know the most important thing.”

“What is the most important thing?”

“The Prince has the power to change the world by changing the man.”

“Why hasn’t he changed it? Look, there’s still as much shit as there used to be.”

“He changes it but it isn’t so perceptible. Without him, humankind would develop in another way, a much worse way. Still, there is much shit, that’s true, because the way proposed by the Prince was rejected by most.”

“You are speaking of him as if he were alive. Do you think he is alive? Do you believe he was resurrected by angels? This is the rebels’ belief.”

“Resurrected, reanimated… supreme forces can do more than that. He is alive, Soldier, he is alive. He was dead but came back to life,” the Stranger said confidently, fell silent and asked, “and would you spit on his body?”

The Soldier shrugged his shoulders.

“I fought against rebels, but I rather like the Prince,” he explained.

“The rebels have nothing to do with the Prince, they are not his servants. They just used his name for their purposes: power overthrow, tyranny, and destruction of their political enemies. They distorted the Prince’s teachings and degraded his name.”

“You think I am the person you need in the City, don’t you?” the Soldier looked at the Stranger slightly squinting.

“I don’t know why I am going to the City, but I am unlikely to get there without you. And God knows what happens.”

“Here’s the railway station,” the Soldier nodded towards a three-storied building. “Briefing first. We enter the building one by one, you go first. You enter, walk like all others, come up to the cafeteria, buy something and sit down with your face towards the counter. Don’t turn around, eat and drink calmly. If you are caught, I’ll find a way to take you out. Good luck.”

“Don’t worry,” the Stranger seemed calm. “We are not alone. The Heaven is with us.”

The Soldier was attentively watching the Stranger; he did not like that almost all passengers stopped at the gate to listen to the musician singing about an unhappy love. The Stranger also halted. The Soldier came up closer; he could hear the words of the songs of a street singer.

“The musician is a decoy bird. The voice is too good and he plays too professionally,” the Soldier was thinking. “It will be hard to make the object out, especially if he looks different than in the photograph. No doubt, they are watching.”

The Stranger was standing nearby for some time, then asked the singer to give him the guitar and started to play with the strings. He sang a rhythmical song in quite a pleasant voice. The Soldier did not believe his eyes but understood that he had to use the chance. His companion attracted the agent’s attention. The Soldier moved towards the gate. He was ready to fight. Listening to the words of the song, he was even more surprised.

Evil autumn at the prospect

Is carrying around dead leaves.

I’m roaming around the city,

Now I’m lonely.

I come up to the store

To buy wine and margarine,

But I can’t understand,

Why I need the margarine.

And you had gone, you had gone

But again remind of you

On the bottle of chip wine

Any letter – W

Having repeated the refrain, the Stranger looked the Soldier in the eyes. The Soldier slowed down, he seemed to hear the order ‘Listen!’ in his head, and the Stranger sang louder:

We’ve been chatting about the life

With my homie all the time,

Drinking wine and frying chips…

He said: “Stop fretting,

We’ll go and gat girls now!

It’s not bad as is:

There are many chicks at the railway here

But there’s much infection there,

Where would I get a normal one?

When the Stranger was expressively singing ‘There are many chicks at the railway’, the Soldier understood everything.

“It’s not you who must cover me, I must cover you. Stop it! I won’t let anyone draw fire.” The Soldier remembered his army friends who had been killed or mutilated trying to save him. He headed for the ticket offices: “Why do I have to run or hide in my own country? I have served it a lot. Why does the person like the Stranger have to perform a concert to these nonentities? That’s enough, let them tamper and I’ll tear them to pieces.”

“Two tickets to the City,” he said loudly.

The Soldier deduced an agent: he had a caption on his T-shirt “Kill yourself and save the world” and callous slightly swollen knuckles, palm ribs with muscles as a person going in for battle arts would have. That was totally out of place given his drug-addict pacifist image.

Having fetched the tickets, the Soldier approached the agent and felt (his intuition sharpened at the moments of danger) that two stocky guys separated from the crowd and made several steps towards him.

“Hey, bro, give me a cigarette.”

The young man stiffened, turned with his side to the man and answered loudly,

“I don’t smoke brother.”

“And the legend says you should. You are a bad conspirator,” the Soldier said instructively and quietly and moved towards the Stranger.

“The train is in forty minutes, let’s go and have a bite.”

“You are not worried that several pairs of eyes will be watching you closely while you are feasting?” the Stranger asked.

“Not anymore. If I understand it correctly, they detected us long ago and did not take any measures to detain. It means we have a good chance to eat calmly and even take the train,” the Soldier’s jaw muscles moved.