‘I’m not sure.’
Iain ran along the eerily quiet corridor and back through the equally deserted arena. Heikki followed, then overtook him and was in the main hall before Iain. He saw a lonely female figure waiting in the middle of the vast space.
‘Maija,’ Iain shouted.
‘Where’s Pia?’ Maija asked.
‘She’s not with you?’ Iain said.
Maija’s face turned white. She looked at Heikki, and then back at Iain. ‘Where is she?’ she whispered.
‘We have to find her,’ Iain said and grabbed Maija’s hand. Followed by Heikki, they ran through the cold car park to the back of the building. ‘Get into the car!’ Iain threw the keys towards Heikki.
Iain ran to the bins and looked behind them. The Russian’s car was gone. He flung himself onto the driver’s seat, next to Maija.
‘What’s going on? Where’s Pia?’ Maija asked. Iain swerved dangerously out of the car park. Damned ice, there’s no grip. He forced his voice to calm, ‘Don’t worry, Maija.’
Iain was now on the narrow lane with the pot-holes. It was dark, and impossible to avoid them. Iain pushed his foot down onto the floor of the car and wished it could go faster.
‘Where are we going?’ Heikki said from the back seat.
Iain half turned to say something to the boy but saw Maija was holding onto the dashboard. Her eyes were wide with fear. He decided not to tell them what he feared had happened to Pia. The next moment, he misjudged the sharpness of a bend in the road and the front wheels hit the edge. Snow was billowing in front of them. All Iain could see was white.
Maija screamed.
Iain turned on his windscreen wipers. He could see the main road a few metres ahead. Without stopping he turned right. There was a slow car in front of them. ‘Hold on,’ he said to Maija and went to overtake. He narrowly missed an oncoming lorry.
‘What are you doing?’ Maija shouted.
‘We have to get to Pia. I think she’s on her way to Moscow.’
‘What?’ Heikki said. Maija was quiet, too quiet.
‘With Kovtun?’ she said.
‘No, I don’t think so,’ Iain said. ‘I think Kovtun is on his way to a ship with his daughter.’
‘The ship?’
‘Yes,’ Iain said.
‘What’s Kovtun’s daughter got to do with Pia?’ Heikki said. He was leaning towards the front, in between the back seats.
‘I don’t understand…?’ Maija said.
‘Look Maija, you’ve got to trust me – and you too, Heikki,’ Iain glanced at the boy through the rear-view mirror. ‘I think the Russians have taken Pia instead of Kovtun’s daughter. If I’m right, Pia is at this moment in the Russian bus, somehow disguised as Kovtun’s daughter.’
‘Oh my God!’ Maija put her hand over her mouth. ‘I saw him, with the girl, and she had Pia’s coat on. I thought she must have the same kind of coat.’ She was quiet for a moment, and then said, ‘I could have stopped him.’
Iain pressed his foot hard on the accelerator.
Maija was quiet for a while, then she said, ‘And what happened to you?’
Iain touched his face. It hurt and he was ashamed, but he forced himself to tell Maija how he had been attacked and shut into the Russian girls’ changing rooms.
Iain drove on, feeling the warmth of Maija’s presence next to him. She was a good woman, he thought. If he’d be in her situation, he doubted whether he’d have the kindness of heart to be friendly.
Iain overtook a few more cars, but otherwise the road towards the Russian border was quiet. Maija had told her she’d seen the bus leave about 25 minutes before Iain found her. But it could easily have been more than that, Iain thought. He looked at the speed they were making, nearly 120 kilometres per hour. They were now on the outskirts of Hamina. He’d seen a sign as they were approaching the small seaside town, saying the border at Vaalimaa was 48 kilometres away. Assuming the bus was also breaking the speed limits, Iain knew there was little hope of reaching the border before the Russians. Iain looked over to Maija. With her hands on her lap, she was staring out of the window. She’d been like that for the past hour, quiet, despondent. But as they came into the centre of the town, she pointed to a small church.
‘That’s where Ilkka and I were married.’
Iain looked at the small neoclassical church. ‘So you know this area?’
‘Yes, I was born northeast of here, a small place called Juvakkala, near Lappeenranta,’ she said, sounding absentminded, as if none of her past mattered.
Iain was thinking.
‘Isn’t that on the Russian border?’
Maija turned to look at Iain, ‘Yes, very close.’
‘But…’
‘Look Iain, it’s less than half an hour to the border from here, if you’re right and Pia is on that bus, we must hurry!’ Maija’s voice was quivering. She was holding back tears.
‘It’s alright, Mrs Mäkelä, I’m sure we’ll get to Pia,’ Heikki said.
Iain glanced at the boy. He too looked pale and miserable. Iain blamed himself for being such a fool to allow Pia to take part in the tournament and then get himself knocked out by the Russian. Now here he was, on a wild goose chase after a bus that by now could be closer to Moscow than the border.
They left Hamina and the street lights came to an end. Iain drove as fast as the little car could go on the deserted country road. Suddenly the road widened and became straight, with generous curbs on either side. There was a sign ‘Vaalimaa Border Crossing’.
There was still no sign of the Russian bus.
Suddenly Heikki shouted, ‘Look, there are lights ahead!’
‘Yes, I can see them too. Iain drive faster!’ Maija put her hand on Iain’s knee again.
Iain skidded as he pushed the car to its limits. But he got to the coach just as it reached a sign saying ‘Border Control Ahead 1 km’. Iain overtook the coach, then turned the car so that it came to a halt in front of it. The Russian coach swerved, but stopped just short of Iain’s car, diagonally blocking the road. Maija looked at Iain. ‘Thank God!’ She stumbled out of the car, but Heikki had pushed past her and was in front, running. Heikki was already at the door of the coach and was banging hard on it when Maija and Iain got there.
‘Why aren’t they letting us in?’ Maija said. She was standing a little behind Iain, in the headlights of the Russian coach. The fumes from its exhaust filled the air. Iain looked further along the road, at the lights of the Customs building in the distance. Would they see what was going on? If the Russians didn’t let Pia go, would the Finnish border police come and help? The Colonel would not like this, Iain thought. He pushed Heikki aside and banged the glass with his fist, harder. Suddenly he heard the noise of a lever being released and the door swung open. A man in a black shiny jacket stood on the steps.
‘Can you help us?’ Iain said in English. He took a step into the coach, but the man would not let him pass. Iain shouted, this time in Finnish, ‘You are holding one of the Finnish gymnasts!’
‘Pia!’ Maija came up behind Iain and was trying to force herself past Iain into the bus. The man’s face registered surprise and he looked behind him. The Russian trainer had come to the door and stood in front of the guard. She was at least a foot taller than him.
Maija stood close to the woman and started talking in Russian.
Iain stared at Maija, but she continued talking, waving her arms about. Once, she turned around and said something about Iain, pointing to his face. Iain touched his cheek.
For a long while, the Russian woman stood and contemplated.
Heikki stepped forward and said something in Russian.
Everyone is speaking Russian all of a sudden, Iain thought.
Without saying a word, the trainer stepped back and let Maija into the coach. ‘You stay here,’ Iain said to Heikki. The boy hesitated, but stood still when Iain stepped inside.