The Boy from Reactor 4

CHAPTER 70





KIRILO RACED DOWN the stairs behind Major General Yashko and the soldier who’d met them at the heliport toward the observation room at Gvozdev. He could hear Victor and Deputy Director Krylov trying to keep up behind them.

“I have a helicopter, my friend,” Kirilo said, “but I’ve never been on a flight like that before.”

“That is the Bering Strait,” Major General Yashko said.

Krylov staggered in behind them, looking like a sweaty piece of moldy cheese. Victor looked a bit winded but otherwise unaffected, like the immortal bitch that he was.

Another military officer introduced himself as a colonel and the commander of the island.

“Are your men in position?” Major General Yashko said.

“They are leaving the garrison as we speak,” the colonel said.

“And the helicopters? Why are your helicopters not in the air?”

The colonel appeared flustered. “Why…We agreed to wait…to allow you safe landing…prevent a collision.”

Major General Yashko slammed his fist on a table. “Well, I’ve landed, dammit. Why are they not in the air?”

“Yes, sir.”

“We prefer them alive rather than dead,” Kirilo said, “but above all, Colonel, we must have the bodies and their possessions. Don’t let them drown. Do we understand each other, Colonel?”

The colonel appraised Kirilo hesitantly, reluctant to take orders from a man in a suit. Yet he couldn’t disobey someone powerful enough to be on Gvozdev right now. He turned to Major General Yashko for guidance.

“Don’t even let them get wet,” Yashko added.