“Looks like quitting time,” said Wayne, glancing into the rearview mirror. “Here come the trucks to take people home.”
A familiar shape in the distance, among the workers, momentarily slipped into Ishihara’s vision and then disappeared again. “Stop,” Ishihara said sharply.
Wayne hit the brake and the clutch quickly. “What’s wrong? I don’t think the truck drivers will care what we’re doing here.”
“No, that is not the reason. I saw MC 4.”
“What? Where?” Wayne stopped the car and leaned toward Ishihara to look.
Ishihara pointed. “I saw him there, but he is not visible now. He is lost in the crowd.”
“Did he run away?”
“I do not believe so. He has no way of knowing our identities and was not looking toward us.”
Near them, the workers had also seen the trucks coming. They were picking up their shovels wearily and climbing out of the ditch. The crowd was dense, however, and Wayne could not see MC 4 anywhere.
“Maybe we can have him brought to us,” said Ishihara. “We do not have to chase him ourselves.” He got out of the car and slammed the door.
Wayne got out and hurried around the car to join him. Ishihara saw a man approaching him and waited for him with an arrogant expression. The man smiled nervously.
“Can I help you, comrade?” His voice quivered slightly.
“NKVD,” Ishihara said imperiously. “Do you know the code name MC 4?”
“Mm, no, I don’t.” He shook his head tightly. “I really don’t.”
Ishihara described MC 4.
“Yes, I remember seeing him. He just joined us a few days ago. A real little guy.” The man nodded vigorously.
“Have some people bring this man to me immediately. Do not let him escape.”
“Yes, comrade.” The man hurried back down toward the ditch.
Wayne, next to Ishihara, let out a long breath. “Is he going to help?”
“Yes,” said Ishihara. Then his internal receiver picked up another alert on the NKVD radio band. They had been spotted standing outside the car by a pair of agents who did not recognize them. Those agents were on their way for a closer look.
“We must go,” said Ishihara, turning and looking into the distance. In the middle of the line of trucks, he saw another NKVD car. It was trying to get around the trucks in front of it, but the slope was too rough in that spot for it to pass them. “Get in the car and start it. Wait for me. Now.”
Wayne hurried back to the car.
Ishihara ran down the slope after the man he had just sent to find MC 4. “Comrade, wait.”
“Huh? What is it?”
“An emergency has arisen. Tell no one about this man called MC 4. I repeat-no one.”
“All right.”
“Where does this work brigade spend the night?” Ishihara asked quickly.
The man gave him an address.
Ishihara ran back up to the driver’s side of the car. Taking the hint, Wayne slid quickly over to the passenger side. The driver of the other NKVD car honked his horn and waved for the trucks to move out of his way. When the truck drivers could, they slowly worked their way to the side on the uneven terrain.
“It may be a rough ride,” said Ishihara. “Hang on. I will search for a place where we can turn back toward Moscow.” He took the car forward with a jerk. Some distance behind them, the other NKVD car still honked angrily at the trucks in its way.
“What if they have us surrounded?” Wayne asked frantically. “How do we know which way to go?”
“Only one car has reported sighting us so far,” said Ishihara. “I do not believe they saw the license plate on this car. They saw us standing outside the car and must have had our personal descriptions.”
Wayne nodded.
Ishihara gripped the wheel hard and drove forward, glancing in the mirror. The NKVD car had finally passed the trucks and was speeding toward them.
18
Steve shoveled in silence for the rest of the afternoon. He finally decided to call Hunter again on the ride home, after they had entered Moscow again. Even when the call was intercepted, as he was certain it would be, the movement of the truck through city streets would make locating the transmitter impossible. The NKVD would not be able to focus on a single truck and then hassle the people in his work brigade again. He would just have to be careful about exactly what he said.
The trucks came to pick them up when the sun was low in the west. All the workers began climbing wearily out of the ditches and plodding toward the trucks. Steve glanced around for Jane, then saw Judy quickly working her way toward the neighboring work brigade.
“Come on.” Steve grabbed Jane’s arm and pulled her after him. He tried to follow Judy, but she had a substantial head start. In the crowd of people moving toward the trucks, the only way he could catch her was to run and dart through the crowd, drawing everyone’s attention.
“What’s she doing?” Jane asked quietly, hurrying along next to him. “Did she tell you?”
“No, but I’m sure she wants to ride back with the other brigade.”
“We’ll never catch her. She’s already climbing into one of the trucks.” Jane stopped.
“I didn’t think they’d let her on the wrong truck,” said Steve, reluctantly pulling up, also. “She said everything was so well organized.”
“I guess she got herself lost in the crowd,” said Jane. “Everybody’s exhausted, including the guys who watch over the work brigades.”
“At least she looks the part enough to do that,” said Steve, with a tired grin. “I couldn’t.”
“We better get on our own truck,” said Jane. “Before it leaves without us.”
“Come on.” Steve glanced one more time at Judy, who smiled at them from the back of the truck she had mounted. He hoped she knew what she was doing. They could not call each other without risking being overheard by locals. At least for now, she was on her own.
Hunter spent the day quietly in the prisoner pen. Very few people spoke and he did not initiate conversation with anyone. They had been fed a tasteless gruel in the middle of the afternoon. Otherwise, the guards merely walked through the corridor on patrol once every hour.
As the hours passed, Hunter considered his situation. At first he expected that the NKVD would eventually take him out and question him further. The additional contact would have brought him new data and allowed him to make more judgments about how to free himself.
However, that had not happened. During the course of the day the NKVD had shown no interest in any of the prisoners. Now Hunter had to consider that perhaps the agents planned no further contact with any of them for a substantial period of time. Theoretically, they might all be shipped to another prison without any more interrogations.