Maija ran along the isle of the coach and shouted, ‘Pia, Pia!’
Iain walked behind Maija, past two serious-looking muscular men, one of them the man who’d opened the door. They sat at the front, and behind them, along rows of seats were the frightened, upturned faces of the Russian girls. Iain looked closely at their faces. No Pia.
The back of the coach was nearly empty.
Iain heard the trainer say something in Russian behind him, but then Maija screamed, ‘Pia, what have they done to you?’
Iain ran to the last but one row of seats and looked down at Maija, who had her arms around an unconscious girl. She was wrapped in a blanket, and when Iain pulled it away to reveal her face, he saw Maija was right. Pia’s eyes were half-open, and she looked drowsy. She was dressed in a white jogging suit, with the Soviet hammer, sickle and star sewn onto its chest. ‘Mum,’ she muttered and put her head in Maija’s lap. Iain turned around to face the Russian trainer. She had her hand covering her mouth, staring at Maija and Pia. Behind her, the two men looked equally astounded. ‘As I thought,’ Iain said. Addressing Maija, he said, ‘I’ll carry her out of here, follow me.’
As they left, Heikki nodded to the trainer, but said nothing.
23
When Leena came to, she realised she was hunched up on the floor of the car. There were angry voices. She saw Vadi was leaning towards the front, his body filling the middle space between the two front seats. Leena didn’t understand a word of the Russian Vadi and the woman were speaking, but she could tell it was bad. While her father was arguing the girl was very quiet. Leena wasn’t sure but she guessed they were arguing about her, because every now and then Vadi glanced angrily at Leena. She tried to pray, but it wasn’t helping. She couldn’t for the life of her remember the words of the Lord’s Prayer, even though she’d learned it as a child and always followed the pastor word for word in church. Leena leant her head against the seat in front of her, and suddenly she remembered. ‘Isä meidän joka olet taivaassa…’
The slap came as a surprise. ‘Quiet!’ Vadi hissed. His eyes were blacker than Leena had ever seen them. Leena tried to crouch further into the corner of the floor and continued praying silently.
Suddenly the car came to a halt. Vadi got out. Leena was shivering. She tried to be silent, but kept hearing a noise. She realised it was her own whimpering. Vadi opened the door to her side and took hold of Leena’s arm. ‘No, no,’ she whispered. Vadi held the gun close to Leena’s head. Leena stopped breathing and felt her bladder weaken. She sobbed as she felt the warm liquid flow between her legs. Vadi said something in Russian and sniffed the air, disgusted. The woman and the girl in the front seat looked behind them. Their eyes were wide and still.
Vadi pulled her out of the car and flung her onto the ground. Leena felt cold snow hit her face. She tried to sit up. She was surrounded by darkness, broken only by the bright headlights of the car. Leena saw how Vadi brought his daughter gently out of the car. He hugged her and placed something over her mouth. The girl went limp in his arms. Hurriedly, he laid the girl in the back seat and closed the door. Leena could hear the woman shouting loudly in Russian. She got out of the car and started screaming, and hitting Vadi. But Vadi punched her hard in the face, and threw her down on the ground. Her limp body landed on Leena’s stomach. Vadi was holding a gun, pointing it at Leena and the woman. Leena shut her eyes, and continued her prayer, ‘tapahtukoon Sinun tahtosi …
‘Are you just going to let them get away with it?’ Heikki said when Iain had been driving for a while. They’d not waited to see whether the border police were alerted. Iain wanted to get away. He hoped the Colonel would not get to know how close they’d come to involving the Finnish police.
Heikki and Maija had changed seats in the car. Heikki was now next to Iain while Maija was sitting in the back seat, clutching her daughter.
‘No,’ Iain said, keeping his eye on the road. ‘I’m not going to let him get away with it!’ He glanced at Maija in the mirror, ‘Is she waking up?’
‘No, but she’s breathing normally. What has he given her?’ Maija’s voice was trembling.
‘Maija, I need you to trust me.’ Iain turned half around and took hold of Maija’s hand. She looked at him, with tears running down her face. ‘We need to get to Kovtun before he reaches the West. He needs to pay for this,’ Iain said.
Maija nodded.
Iain thought about the Russian Maija had been speaking. Then he remembered how Maija had called Linnonmaa by his first name.
‘I didn’t know you spoke Russian,’ Iain said.
Maija was staring at him through the rear-view mirror.
‘I was a Russian translator at the Vaalimaa border before Pia was born.’
Iain nodded to himself, ‘And Linnonmaa?’
‘He worked there, too, but not with me. He was some kind of Internal Affairs official.’
Iain glanced at Heikki. The boy had been unusually quiet.
‘You know anything about this?’ Iain said.
The boy shook his head.
‘Iain, my work for the Customs has nothing to do with this!’ Maija said. Iain glanced at the mirror again and saw Maija had tears in her eyes.
‘Maija, it’s OK.’
Maija nodded. ‘I don’t think the Russians will report any of this.’
‘Why?’ Iain tried to keep his eyes on the road while watching Maija’s face through the rear-view mirror. She looked pale and spoke quickly.
‘They were very embarrassed. The two men said no one was to know and the trainer agreed. They just wanted to cross the border as soon possible. I guess she’ll pay for it when they reach Moscow. Poor woman.’
Iain sighed and turned to Heikki, ‘And you, how come you’re here?’ The boy looked at Iain. ‘Though I’m glad you are. Goodness knows how long I would have been lying there, unconscious…’
Heikki’s face was earnest when he spoke. ‘I was in the audience. When I saw Kovtun leave and then couldn’t see you anymore, I came to investigate. I was worried when I didn’t see the Lyceum team turn up at the prize giving.’
‘Good lad,’ Iain said, and tapped Heikki’s shoulder.
Just before they reached Töölö, Iain heard Pia stir. Maija spoke to her in hushed tones. Iain overheard Pia tell her mother about being tied up, and the smell of the cloth that Kovtun had put against her mouth. Chloroform? That would wear off in time, but still the girl should be looked at by a doctor tomorrow morning. You never know with the Russians, they could be using something new. Iain looked at the clock on the dashboard. They only had an hour before Newcastle was due to sail back to the UK.
Pia felt incredibly cold. Iain had insisted she wear his new winter coat, but underneath she had only her jogging suit over the gym costume. Heikki too had offered her his leather jacket, but Pia had turned him down. She was ignoring him. In the car Heikki had asked how she was feeling. Pia wanted to say ‘What’s it to you,’ but hadn’t had the energy. She’d just closed her eyes.
Iain pulled the car up to the jetty. There were a number of cars parked up by the ship. ‘Can you walk?’ he said. Pia nodded.
Iain hurried Maija, Heikki and Pia along the dark jetty towards the ship. The upper deck lights of the frigate were shining brightly against the Helsinki night.
As they climbed the narrow gangway up to the flight deck, Pia wondered what she must look like with the large coat on. She put her hands inside the pockets and felt something heavy and cold against her fingers. She pulled her hand away quickly and looked at Iain. He was speaking to a man who touched his cap in a rigid salute when they stepped onboard the ship. There was a breeze coming from the sea.