Other tourist-buses headed for a quick tour of the landmarks of St. Petersburg. One of the most prominent sites was the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood that was built at the site where Czar Alexander II was fatally wounded by a political nihilist in 1881. Aficionados of the ironies of history would appreciate the resemblance between this assassination and that of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria which precipitated the First World War in 1914. In both cases, the initial assassination attempts by throwing a bomb or a grenade at the carriage, or car, of the royal luminary failed. Czar Alexander got out of the carriage to confront the perpetrator and was mortally wounded by another bomb thrown by a second anarchist. In 1914, the archduke was unharmed by the bomb thrown at his car, but then his confused driver lost his way in the streets of Sarajevo, and passed right by Gavrilo Princip, one of the six assassins who were members of the Black Hand secret society. The assassin thanked his good fortune and drew his pistol to mortally wound the archduke and his wife.
From this colorful edifice, the tourists were driven to the less famous, and less fancy, Cathedral of St. Isaacs. A short walk away from there, stood the grand statue of the Bronze Horseman commemorating Peter the Great, after whom the city he founded was named. The square on which the statue stands is now called the Senate Square (or Peter Square), but between 1925 and 2008 was named by the communist regime as the Decembrists Square to memorialize the revolt against the Czar which took place in December 1825. These name changes were in tune with the city itself, which had its name changed from St. Petersburg to Leningrad and back to St. Petersburg, according to the indoctrination of the rulers of Russia.
Those tourists interested in churches and cathedrals could spend days going from one church to the next, and encounter a variety of colors, architectural styles and art treasures. From the Naval Cathedral of Saint Nicolas in Kronstadt, to the Chapel of St. Xenia, to the Peter and Paul Fortress, to the Smolny Cathedral. There were even a Grand Choral Synagogue and a Great Mosque for the people of Jewish or Muslim persuasion, as well as many other religious and secular sites.
More adventurous tourists who preferred to see the city from a different point of view took one of the canal cruises. The small boats sailed through the waterways and under the bridges, affording the passengers the same views that travelers saw hundreds of years previously from the same canals.
For obvious reasons, Le Docteur, Lara and Fatima were more interested in cemeteries. They took a taxi to the Holy Trinity of Alexander Nevskiy Lavra Monastery and visited the cemetery where many of Russia's greatest cultural figures are buried. They wanted to see with their own eyes what the future Ground Zero looked like. They wandered through the cemetery stopping every now and then to study the impressive tombstones that were erected over some of the graves.
While his friends were playing at being tourists, Dr. Yuri Bakavlev was trying to unload the coffin with its modified nuke. As a physicist he knew a lot about friction forces, and that they could be greatly reduced with the proper lubricant. In St. Petersburg's docks this lubricant had a green color and was made of a special kind of paper. The green bills with the $100 denomination were particularly effective. So, with the right amount of bills, delivered covertly to the right people, the coffin was duly unloaded from the hold of the cruise ship and placed in a black hearse that was driven by a solemn looking driver wearing a black suit and a black cap. Yuri sat by his side and when he was sure that they were alone said, "Salam Aleikum" in Arabic. The driver grinned and lifted his hand in a welcome salute and said that for business purposes his name was Ilya Yashin but among friends and family he was called Ali Yashar.
Ali drove to the funeral house in which he worked, "Doctor, do you know what I like about my job?" Yuri looked at him, and he continued, "Every trip I make takes another infidel straight to hell. Great job satisfaction, isn't it?" He went on to explain that he, too, was originally from Chechnya, and was a descendent of a family who exiled from Chechnya to Siberia by Stalin in the 1930s. His grandparents managed to get out of Siberia after Stalin's death, pretended that they were no longer Muslims and outwardly assimilated among the residents of St. Petersburg. However, they made sure that their only son married a Chechen woman from a good Muslim family and that their three grandchildren also remained secretly loyal to the Prophet Mohammad and the Faith of Islam. Ali had been recruited to NEMESIS several years earlier and had anxiously awaited his chance to get back at the Russian communists who massacred his people and continued to persecute them and their religion.
Dr. Yuri Bakavlev smiled, "Ali, your service to the cause is invaluable. I want you to take your family and return to Chechnya as soon as we have the coffin interred at Tikhvin Cemetery." Ali gave him a strange look, and wanted to argue with him, so the scientist added, "I cannot explain why I am asking you to leave everything you have worked for and return to our poor homeland, but before long you will thank me for the advice." He saw that Ali was still hesitant, "This is a direct order from Le Docteur."
Ali nodded and pointed at the grey building, "This is the funeral parlor. Do you want to have the body of your wife cleaned before being sent to burial?"
"No, this will not be necessary. It is best if no one opens the coffin. Can you make sure that no one does try?"
Ali grinned, "I am only joking. Do you think I am a fool? I don't know exactly what you have inside the coffin, but I know that one should keep his distance from it."
Yuri shrugged, "Then it's settled. Let's unload the coffin and have it stored overnight. Tomorrow morning we'll have a short service, grieve over my wife's untimely death and bury the coffin in the cemetery."
The next morning, Yuri, Ali and a handful of people attended the short service that was held in the funeral parlor in Russian Orthodox tradition. Yuri's grief was apparent to all participants, although only Ali knew that it was a sham. The coffin was then placed in the hearse and driven to Tikhvin Cemetery. It was quite an unusual sight — the cemetery had not been active for years — but a large sum of money changed hands and an exception was made for Yuri's wife. Yuri thought about the food chain for bribes and was impressed by Le Docteur's funds and connections. He wondered how far up the totem pole the corruption went and whether high-ranking government and church officials were also paid to approve the burial.
After the coffin was buried in a shallow grave, Yuri handed generous tips to the laborers at the cemetery. When the manager of the cemetery asked him about the tombstone, he said that the unique tombstone would be ready the following month. He added that it would have his wife's face carved in basalt stone and over it there would be a mushroom shaped white cloud, commemorating her love of wild mushrooms. The manager thought that it was strange, but was paid to keep his mouth closed, so remained silent. Yuri laughed quietly at his little joke — he knew the mushroom shaped cloud would rise from the center of St. Petersburg directly to the heavens above.