Page 266 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

"How did you manage this?" he said to Natalya.

"Long story."

"Well, thank you." He wanted to throw his arms around her and kiss her, but refrained. He turned to Nina. "I'm saved," he said. "I can stay in Moscow. Natalya has got me a job with Kosygin."

The two women stared at one another, each hating the other. No one knew what to say.

After a long pause, one of the removal men said: "Does that mean we have to unload the truck?"

*

Tanya flew Aeroflot to Siberia, touching down at Omsk on the way to Irkutsk. The plane was a comfortable Tupolev Tu-104 jet. The overnight flight took eight hours, and she dozed most of the way.

Officially, she was on assignment for TASS. Secretly, she was going to look for Vasili.

Two weeks ago Daniil Antonov had come to her desk and discreetly handed her the typescript of "Frostbite." "New World can't publish this after all," he had said. "Brezhnev is clamping down. Orthodoxy is the watchword now."

Tanya had shoved the sheets of paper into a drawer. She was disappointed, but she had been half prepared for this. She said: "Do you remember the articles I wrote three years ago about life in Siberia?"

"Of course," he said. "It was one of the most popular series we ever did--and the government got a surge of applications from families wanting to go there."

"Maybe I should do a follow-up. Talk to some of the same people and ask how they're getting on. Also interview some newcomers."

"Great idea." Daniil lowered his voice. "Do you know where he is?"

So he had guessed. It was not surprising. "No," she said. "But I can find out."

Tanya was still living at Government House. She and her mother had moved up a floor into the grandparents' large apartment, after the death of Katerina, so that they could look after Grandfather Grigori. He claimed he did not need looking after: he had cooked and cleaned for himself and his kid brother, Lev, when they were factory workers before the First World War and living in one room in a St. Petersburg slum, he said proudly. But the truth was that he was seventy-six, and he had not cooked a meal nor swept a floor since the revolution.

That evening Tanya went down in the elevator and knocked on the door of her brother's apartment.

Nina opened up. "Oh," she said rudely. She retreated into the apartment, leaving the door open. She and Tanya had never liked one another.

Tanya stepped into the little hallway. Dimka appeared from the bedroom. He smiled, pleased to see her. She said: "A quiet word?"

He picked up his keys from a small table and led her outside, closing the apartment door. They went down in the elevator and sat on a bench in the spacious lobby. Tanya said: "I want you to find out where Vasili is."

He shook his head. "No."

Tanya almost cried. "Why not?"

"I've just avoided being exiled to Kharkov, by the skin of my teeth. I'm in a new job. What impression will I give if I start making inquiries about a criminal dissident?"

"I have to talk to Vasili!"

"I don't see why."

"Imagine how he must feel. He finished his sentence more than a year ago, yet he's still there. He may fear being forced to remain there the rest of his life! I have to tell him that we haven't forgotten about him."

Dimka took her hand. "I'm sorry, Tanya. I know you're fond of him. But what good will it do to put myself at risk?"

"On the strength of 'Frostbite,' he could be a great author. And he writes about our country in a way that encapsulates everything that's wrong. I have to tell him to write more."

"So what?"

"You work in the Kremlin: you can't change anything. Brezhnev is never going to reform Communism."

"I know. I'm in despair."

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