“I don’t see him, either,” said Judy, leaning the other way to look.
“How well did you see him?” Steve asked. “I mean, are you sure it was MC 4?” He looked in disgust at his bowl of watery soup.
“Well, no. But he was dressed poorly; his coat was too big and one sleeve was tom.”
“Like he might have picked up cast-off clothing from somewhere,” said Steve.
“That’s right.”
“What was he doing?” Judy asked.
“He was digging like everyone else.” Jane was still looking up the long ditch, but she shook her head. “I don’t see him now.”
“Judy,” said Steve. “What would happen if we went to look for him?”
“I don’t think we should. These brigades are rigidly organized.”
“What would happen to us?” Jane asked.
“I don’t know. But I don’t see anybody walking around socializing.” Judy lowered her voice. “It’s hard to convey just how oppressive the Communist Party is during this era. Even the military units have party members watching over the ideological purity of everyone. And, of course, they can summon the NKVD at any time to take away dissidents, real or imagined. The same is true right here.”
“I’m convinced,” said Steve. “We don’t want to attract attention to ourselves. Without Hunter here, I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks.”
“Especially since that guy might just be someone else,” said Jane. “I only got a glimpse.”
“Let’s just keep looking from here for now,” said Steve. “If he does look like MC 4, then at the end of the day, maybe we can see which truck he gets on. That will help us find him later tonight.”
“Good,” said Judy.
Steve thought a moment. “What are the chances that we would just run into him like this? Doesn’t that seem farfetched to you?”
“I suppose it does seem like a coincidence,” said Judy.
“It’s not just pure chance,” said Jane. “Remember, Hunter specifically identified a certain area of Moscow where he expected MC 4 to appear. Our warehouse is nearby.”
“That’s right,” said Judy. “And all the displaced citizens who are not working at something more essential are being drafted into the work brigades.”
“Exactly,” said Jane. “So his presence here, in a brigade from the same neighborhood as our warehouse, is not really too unlikely.”
Steve nodded, looking through the crowd in the distance again. “Maybe we have a chance, then.”
Ishihara drove while Wayne sat rigidly next to him. Though Wayne had to be excited by the prospect of finding MC 4, a glance at him told Ishihara that his human companion was frightened by the fact that other NKVD agents were going to the same location. So far, they had hardly even left the outskirts of Moscow.
“We’re leaving the city,” Wayne said anxiously. “What’s our route?”
“I have been considering this,” said Ishihara. “From what I have been able to observe and overhear on our travels so far, the Soviet lines are positioned mainly to the north of Moscow. I believe they are poised to make a flank attack on the Germans when and if the Germans advance eastward on the city. The antitank ditches are being dug straight west of Moscow, but still have military patrols behind them.”
“And that’s where we’re headed.”
“Yes.” Ishihara drove a varied pattern through the west side of Moscow. Finally he found a well-used, unpaved road leading out of the city. They drove in silence.
After the midday break, Judy picked up her shovel and looked again where Jane might have seen MC 4. Then as Judy resumed digging, she worked her way toward a middle-aged woman in her own brigade. Steve glanced at her but merely nodded, trusting her to be careful.
Casually, keeping her head down while she continued to dig, Judy spoke quietly to the other woman.
“Where is that other brigade from? Do you know?”
“What? Which one?”
“The one working right next to us.”
The woman looked up at her suspiciously. She was missing a couple of lower teeth. “Why?”
“Well…” Judy smiled and shrugged in what she hoped was an embarrassed manner. “There is a man over there I would like to meet.”
“Ah!” The woman laughed. “Ah, yes, I see. Well, they spend their nights in that school near us. You know the one, that was bombed. They had to fix up the roof.”
“Uh-yes. It’s down the block from us?” Judy did not want to admit how little she knew.
“No, no. It’s on the next block.”
“East of us?”
“No, my dear. North.”
“Oh, yes. I’m sorry.”
The woman looked over toward the other brigade. “So which one is he?”
“Well…I don’t see him right now. He’s a rather short fellow.”
“Short?” She laughed, shaking her head. “Ah, you’re so silly.”
They went on digging. Gradually, Judy worked her way back to Steve and Jane. When they were far enough from the others not to be overheard, she told them what she had learned.
“I just wish we could get a good look at him,” said Steve. “If we knew for sure it was MC 4, we could make some definite plans. Maybe we could even grab him, take him back, and then return for Hunter.”
“Really?” Jane asked. “You’d do that?”
Steve grimaced. “I wouldn’t like it much. It’s a possibility, but I’m getting worried about Hunter.”
Eventually, Ishihara could see the military patrols ahead of them on the rolling steppe. Sentries blocked the road. It was 2:37 P.M.
“Have you decided what you’re going to say to them?” Wayne asked.
“I shall say something similar to what we said to the commissar in the factory.”
Ishihara slowed the car as they approached the checkpoint. Wayne stiffened visibly in his seat. Ishihara rolled down his window, preparing to speak to the sentries.
Without a word, a uniformed sentry nodded grimly and waved them through the checkpoint. Wayne glanced at Ishihara in shock. Ishihara showed no sign of surprise as he nodded back and drove past them.
“This is really easy,” said Wayne, with a sudden laugh. “This NKVD car makes all the difference, doesn’t it?”
“I believe part of the reason is up ahead,” said Ishihara, pointing. Ahead of them on the same road, another car similar to their own was just moving out of sight in the distance. Ishihara slowed down a little.
Wayne looked. “What do you mean?”
“I suppose that the agents in that car explained what their business was out this way,” said Ishihara. “The sentries just assumed we were with them. That is why they felt no need to question us. Even in the military, no one in this society wants trouble with the NKVD.”
“But now we have to worry about those other agents,” said Wayne.
“I have already slowed down to let them move away from us,” said Ishihara.
“What if they saw us?”
“If we find them waiting, I shall turn around the car and we shall flee. However, I do not expect that. I believe that they will be searching for MC 4, just as we are, without great concern for us.”
“But you said that the theft of our car has been reported now. Why wouldn’t they check us out?”
“Maybe they will,” said Ishihara. “However, they would not expect the car thieves to be following them. Most likely, they expect us to flee at the very sight of another NKVD car. Remember that the alert to find MC 4 here went out to all the NKVD cars. The agents who come here will expect to see each other near the ditches.”
“I hope you’re right,” Wayne muttered quietly.
“I expect so.”
Ishihara drove over the next slight rise in the ground. Ahead of them, down a long but very gentle slope, work brigades dug ditches with shovels. The NKVD car ahead of them had turned right and stopped. Two agents had just left the car and were walking toward the nearest work brigade.
Next to him, Ishihara saw Wayne slide down in his seat, covering the side of his face with one hand.
Instead of continuing straight down the slope, which would have taken them close to the NKVD agents, Ishihara turned at an angle. He began driving left down the slope, leaving the road. One of the NKVD agents glanced back over his shoulder at the sound of their car. Then he turned back to his business at hand, uninterested in them.