“We’d never have got out. The lock defences…”
“There wouldn’t have been any lock defences by the time I’d finished with them. There’s no excuse. I failed you, Kuriakova.”
Tasya was apologising. To her. The She-Devil, the terror of the World Ocean, was apologising to her. And she’d broken into the most secure location in the world to do it.
Katya had sworn not to let the Deeps make her cry, ever, for any reason, but she had to swallow now. “You could just have said sorry,” she managed to say.
Tasya grinned wolfishly and lightly backhanded Katya’s arm. “This is my way of saying sorry.”
“How did you get in here?”
“There’s a lot of detail you don’t need to know right now. It’s best if you don’t hear it at all. From your point of view, you don’t have to do anything. There will come a time when I come and get you. When I do, you do as I tell you without questions or hesitation. Understand?”
Katya nodded, and said, “They were expecting you to try and rescue me on the way here. They set a trap.”
Tasya raised an eyebrow. “What? They told you that?”
“I worked it out.”
Tasya laughed. “I keep forgetting what a clever one you are. Yes, the Novgorod no less, and a couple of patrol boats in wide flanking positions a couple of isotherms above. We shadowed the Novgorod right from the minute it passed beyond the range of the picket sensors. We could have killed it easily.” She pulled a disgusted face. “That was a really boring three days.”
“So, why didn’t you?”
“The volume would have filled up with torpedoes. Ours, theirs, the patrol boats weighing in. Sooner or later one would have lost its lock, gone onto a search pattern and perhaps locked up your shuttle. It was too dangerous to risk.”
“I’m glad you didn’t, and not just for me. Petrov’s still an officer aboard her.”
“Petrov?” Tasya nodded appreciatively. “A worthy foe.”
“Maybe he made captain? The FMA fawned over everybody else who had anything to do with the Leviathan and FP-1. Medals and promotions for everyone.”
“Maybe so. If he is the master and commander of the Novgorod these days, I’m glad we stayed well back.”
Before Katya could ask any more questions, Dominika walked over with the woman she’d greeted earlier. “Katya!” she said smiling. “This is my friend, Naida.”
“Pleased to meet you,” said Naida. She seemed like a very nice person at first impression, but her uniform carried the word MURDERER.
“Good to see you’re meeting people, too,” said Dominika, looking at Tasya. Tasya said nothing, but rose to her feet, smiling slightly. Dominika looked up at her and frowned slightly, as if victim to a nagging half memory. “Have we met before?” she asked.
Then the skin on her face grew taut and her eyes widened as she finally located the memory.
“I don’t know who you are,” Dominika said tonelessly.
“That’s right,” said Tasya. The slight smile was still there, and Katya recognised it as the contemplative one she wore when discussing favourite acts of violence. “You don’t know who I am.”
Dominika glanced at Katya, and Katya thought she saw fear and pity in her eyes. Dominika made some mumbled farewells and almost dragged the confused Naida away with her.
Tasya watched her go. “What sort of treason is she in here for?”
“She worked in a news service. Wrote something the FMA didn’t like. What was all that about, Tasya?”
“News. That makes sense. She recognised me.”
“She what? How can you be so calm about it? What if she…”
“She won’t say a thing. She’s scared of me. That friend of hers, though, that Naida, she might be trouble. She’s in my wing. I know her sort. She’ll be sniffing around trying to find some sort of advantage.” Tasya fell into a thoughtful silence.
Katya noticed the slight smile had reappeared. “Don’t you dare kill her!” she whispered.
“Can’t promise that, Kuriakova,” said Tasya with an easy complacency that frightened and sickened Katya. “Only as a last resort, though.” She smiled a little mockingly as she sketched a cross over her heart. “Promise.”
Katya knew Tasya’s list of alternatives to killing people who might present problems was very short, so it wasn’t much of a promise. It was, however, the best she was going to get.
“I’d better go and wander around. It’s not a good idea for us to be seen too much together,” said Tasya. “Keep watching for anything unusual and, unless things move ahead quickly, I’ll see you next time.”
“I can’t believe you’re fine with staying in this cess silo for as long as that,” said Katya.
Tasya shrugged. “Do you know if the unit activated properly?”
“Yes. They actually showed it to me. The inside was molten slag.”
“Good job, Kuriakova. Then the war’s as good as over. Might take a few months, though, and here’s as good a place to wait that out as anywhere. Take care, stay out of trouble, and I’ll see you in a month.”
“If Secor haven’t got around to interrogating and killing me before then.”
“They won’t. You worry too much, Katya. Be cool.” And so saying, Tasya wandered off amongst the chattering groups.
Katya didn’t know how Tasya could be so confident, but events proved her right. The days after the so-called “Freedom Day” mounted up and still Secor couldn’t seem to develop any sense of urgency.
Dominika had wanted to talk to Katya immediately after the inmates returned to their respective wings (“All inmates have five minutes to return to their correct wings. Any inmate found in the wrong wing or on the stairwells after that time will receive a Level Two demerit and associated punishments”), but the governor called a general appel — the name used for a head count in the Deeps — and there was no time.
After the evening meal, however, Dominika managed to take Katya to one side. “That woman you were talking to, she’s dangerous, Katya. Just a piece of advice, but you should stay away from her, as far as you can get.”
“She’s just a thief. Misallocated food supplies for the black market or something. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
Dominika shook her head emphatically. “Katya, you have no idea…”
Katya took Dominika’s hands in hers and looked her in the eyes. “She’s just a thief. She’s nobody special. I wouldn’t give her another thought if I were you.”
Finally Dominika understood. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Katya.” The evening tidy up was called at that point. Dominika squeezed Katya’s hands and let them go. “Be safe.”
Then, ten days after Tasya had assured her that Secor had lost interest in her, guards came to escort Katya to the interrogation section.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
White Death
The guards turned up midmorning during a citizenship lecture. That most of those present would never again be a free citizen was not an irony that escaped them, and the presentation did not go without a commentary from the inmates. They grew quiet when the guards entered, identified Katya, and took her away with them. Katya had believed Tasya, and was so shocked she had trouble standing when they called her name. They led her off and the lecture continued more soberly than before.
It didn’t help that one of the guards was Oksana Volkova, because the other was not Alina Shepitko, and so they could not talk openly. The only comfort to be had from Oksana’s presence was a sympathetic glance from her when the other guard was looking away for a moment. Otherwise, the group walked in silence to the Deeps hub to take a lift down to the lowest level of the administration wing.