The citywide search for the man posing as Bogdan Borisovitch Basov had intensified. The FSB had created several images derived from the photo in the passport. In these, the original photo was modified to represent the man with a wig, with a moustache or a beard. It was assumed that he wouldn't be able to disguise his height or the wrinkles on his face, but the FSB considered that he may change his appearance by adding padding to his slim body, or by using a cane and pretend to have problems walking. The FSB also speculated that he was working alone, and the security forces were instructed to keep a particularly close watch on single men that fit the above description.
Many innocent people were apprehended and questioned by the uniformed police force and by the undercover agents of the FSB. Most of them were released after they could confirm their identity as lawful citizens. Several men were detained and brought to Dom Bolshoy because of some irregularity, like not carrying an identification document, having drugs in their possession or some other minor infringement of the rules and regulations. The police officers and FSB agents didn't have time to process so many detainees, so they were thrown into overcrowded holding cells and their vociferous protests were totally ignored.
Yuri saw the numerous police blocks and easily spotted the undercover cops and agents and did his best to avoid them. He noticed that they stopped single, old men and not families, couples or people traveling with children. He wondered if he could hitch onto someone for cover. He saw an old woman, who was obviously from one of the Asian Republics, with a bad limp standing on the sidewalk, waiting for the pedestrian crossing light to turn green. He approached her and offered his hand to help her cross the street. She looked at him suspiciously — this show of kindness to strangers was not seen frequently in any big city and St. Petersburg was no exception. He smiled at her and said something that indicated that he, too, was not an original Russian from St. Petersburg. She hesitated but then took the hand he offered, and they crossed the road together when the light turned green. Two uniformed policemen watched them for a long moment and Yuri felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He expected to be challenged and had planned to push the old woman under the feet of the policemen and escape on foot as fast as he could. Nothing happened. He asked the old woman where she was going and when he heard that she was heading to Alexander Nevsky Monastery to pray, he said he would help her get there and told her to lean on him for support. He knew that the Tikhvin Cemetery was right next to the monastery and thought that he would be safer in there than just sitting as a lone man in a café, as he had originally intended to do. The old woman smiled at him gratefully, believing that her prayers had been answered even before she said them.
Once they entered the monastery, Yuri felt safe. He was in a protected area, where the police didn't normally enter, he had the company of the old woman for cover, and most importantly, he was just a few minutes' walk from his nuke. The only problem he had was the lack of information about Putin's whereabouts. He decided to strike up a conversation with some of the worshippers in the hope that they knew about the visit of the President of the Russian Federation. However, no one seemed to know about such a visit, or if they knew they didn't care. They were in the monastery to pray, or as tourists, and expressed no interest in politics. Yuri wondered, and not for the first time, that centuries of living in a country where there were no civilian rights, have conditioned the Russian people to mind their own business, certainly not share their opinion with strangers.
Yuri's frustration was growing by the hour. He had to find out where Putin was. He knew that it was risky, but the need for information was crucial, so he left the safety of the monastery and sought a café that had a working TV set, hoping to see something about Putin's visit. He noticed that some priests used a small side door, that was partly concealed behind a curtain, to leave the main hall of the church. This door was located just to the side of the iconostasis, the icon-screen that separates the nave in which the worshippers stand during their prayers, from the sanctuary where the altar is placed. He stepped to the side of the nave and sidled slowly along the walls until he reached the small door. He slipped behind the curtain and found a short flight of stairs that led to a dressing room that served as a wardrobe. No one was there to challenge him. He quickly grabbed a robe and put it on over his street clothes, and then nonchalantly walked back down the stairs and into the nave. With the robe and beard he had grown he looked very much like the other Russian Orthodox priests. In slow graceful steps he made his way to the main door of the church, and then stepped out of the main gate.
He turned right and in an unhurried pace walked down the street. People stepped out of his way and some even lowered their head in a gesture of respect, greeting the holy man. Yuri nodded in recognition, maintaining a somber expression, until he reached a café. A waiter approached him and bowed his head asking Yuri what he wanted. Yuri said that he needed to rest for a while and asked for cold water. He sat down and watched the TV screen. The waiter brought a glass of water and placed it in front of the priest, who nodded his thanks. Yuri watched a TV program that showed some talking heads discussing something about the great improvement in the economy under the leadership of President Putin but saw nothing about the president's visit to St. Petersburg. Then a 'breaking news' banner appeared at the bottom of the screen. Yuri couldn't believe his eyes. The message read, 'President Putin was called back to Moscow to manage a crisis in Syria and will return in two days to St. Petersburg to continue his private visit'. A short video clip showed the president and his small entourage boarding a helicopter. Yuri could see the Peter and Paul Fortress in the background. He barely managed to control a curse that crossed his lips. He rose from the table, thanked the waiter for the water and strode straight to the metro station. He returned to the apartment, still dressed in the priest's robe and noticed that the body of the old landlady started to discharge an unpleasant odor. He realized that he now had another problem — how to dispose of the body? As an interim solution, he wrapped it in an old rug and placed it on the old woman's bed. He decided to go out late at night, carry the body to some uninhabited building and leave it there without anything that could identify the body.
President Putin boarded the helicopter that landed in the courtyard in front of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The helicopter took off without delay and headed straight to Pulkovo airport where his personal plane was waiting, ready for immediate take off. Within 30 minutes of accepting the recommendation of the Mossad agent, Putin was 50 kilometers away from the center of St. Petersburg. He still wondered if the whole episode was a conspiracy to keep him away from St. Petersburg, although he could find no reason for this. Nevertheless, he decided to postpone his return to the city until the threat was removed.
David Avivi and Colonel Alexandrova watched the helicopter take off. The Mossad agent turned to the head of the FSB in St. Petersburg, "This solves one problem — at least President Putin is safe. But we must still find the terrorist and the nuke and neutralize them."
"I have the entire force out on the streets searching for the Chechen terrorist. They are sure to come up with something, or at least deter him from leaving the sheltered place he has found."
David said, "If the nuke is indeed hidden in the coffin my man has seen, then it is probably either in some funeral parlor or in one of the cemeteries. I suggest that you search these places again and focus on any coffin that has been delivered during the last few days."