“Nina, you’re sleeping or what?”
Nina opened her eyes.
“I say, what’s that they’re talking about on the radio? It looks like there’s a crisis on. A global one, too!” the neighbor said excitedly. “You’re like an economist, so it’s for you to explain what it’s all about.”
Nina approached the fence. The neighbor’s portable radio was giving out news; it was being reported that the major stock exchange indices had plummeted, the business community was seized by panic, and rumors were abroad of a global financial crisis. Nina borrowed the radio set from the neighbor, and listened to it holding it tight to her ear.
While she had been experiencing her love, the world had been hit by formidable events. Everything developed exactly the way Nina had anticipated, but that did not make her happy at all.
The reality reached her in her refuge and thrust her out of her love trance. Her holiday was over; it was time for her to go back to the city and settle her affairs one way or another. Nina had no idea what she was going to do, but she knew one thing for certain: she was not returning to Gradbank. She had known for some time already that she had had enough of big business. She had to leave, and it was all the more obvious now: her working in the bank would be awkward if she and Samsonov were together, and it would be right impossible otherwise. Clearly, that page of her biography had been turned anyway.
She was about to lock up the dacha when a block of domestic news started on the radio. Among other things, a road accident was mentioned – a Volga fell down into the river from a bridge on the North-West highway. The ordinary event had attracted the observer’s attention by some curious details. A local herdsman who had been grazing cattle nearby was reported to have seen four trucks coming in the opposite direction. On the bridge, the trucks regrouped to form a rank which occupied all the lanes, so the driver of the Volga had no choice but to break through the side barrier and fall down. However, a denial soon followed. A road police spokesman said that no trucks had passed the bridge at the time. The accident had obviously been caused by a punctured tire and the driver’s want of skill. Apparently, the man had got killed, although his body had not been found – it had probably been dragged away by the stream.
Chapter 10
Samsonov was sitting with his head clasped in his hands, looking aside from Nina.
The interrogation was being conducted by Sinitsin who had a jacket slipped over his shoulders and one of his arms, bandaged picturesquely, in a sling.
“Is your name Kisel?”
Nina’s heart dropped.
“My name is Shuvalova…”
“You know what I mean: was your birth name Kisel?”
“Yes.”
“Is your father Kisel Yevgeniy Borisovich?”
“Yes.”
“Did your father own a civil engineering company which has been sold to Gradstroiinvest?”
“Yes,” muttered Nina, barely able to move her benumbed lips.
Aside from Samsonov, Sinitsin and Nina, Ariadna Petrovna was present in the director’s office. The woman was sitting aside, taking no part in what was going on.
Nina was exposed. As she had been interviewed for a position in the bank, she had held back some important information about herself. But what did it matter now? She wanted to reach out her hand, touch her man and say, “Darling, I love you. That’s the only thing that matters.”
“Is it true that Yevgeniy Borisovich Kisel felt keenly the problems his company faced and had a stroke as a consequence?”
“… Yes.”
“Did he believe that Gradstroiinvest treated him unfairly?”
“Yes.”
“Did you believe so, too?”
Nina faltered. How could she explain all that had been going on at that time – her father’s impracticality, the severe pressure by Gradstroiinvest, her involvement, the salvation of a major part of the capital, and as a result – her falling out with her father which had never been really repaired?…
“Yes,” she said.
In his good hand, Sinitsin was holding a file. It was impossible to say by his facial expression whether he was satisfied with the way the interrogation was going on. “What was the purpose of your coming to work in Gradbank?”
Nina felt as if an enormous weight had been laid on her shoulders. She was unable to wriggle and lie – she only wanted all that to be over.
“I had a desire to take revenge.”
At his table, Samsonov sighed heavily, turned away and stared at the wall.
“But that was nonsense, I was just being childish. Afterwards, I forgot all that and simply worked,” Nina hastened to explain, speaking to her man who was not looking at her.
“Alas, that is hard to believe,” Sinitsin said calmly.
Nina was puzzled. What else had the vice director cooked up against her?
Sinitsin opened his file and took out a small object in a plastic folder. He laid it down before Nina.
“Do you recognize it?”
Of course, Nina recognized her memory stick – the one on which she passed, at the last minute, her salvation plan, Plan C, to Samsonov through Sinitsin.
“Yes, it’s mine.”
“And how do you explain this?”
He took out some papers and laid them down before Nina. It was a printout of Plan B.
Nina was dumbfounded. “But where did you…?”
“What was the purpose of your foisting on Gradbank’s management proposals that are bound to cause great damage to the bank in the time of crisis? Is it how you revenged your father’s distress?”
Nina gasped. “But that’s not true! I made an optimal anti-crisis plan which I called Plan C. That’s what was on my memory stick!”
She looked pleadingly at Samsonov, drawing forward to him with all her body. She expected any minute that he would burst out laughing and say that it was all a stupid joke – that of course, she had passed him a good plan which was going to bring huge benefits to the bank.
But Samsonov kept silent and would not turn to her.
“This was printed out from your memory stick. There was nothing else on it. In the situation of emergency that the bank was in at the time, your proposals were adopted without any verification and included in the project which was then submitted to the contest committee. You’ve attained your objective, Miss Kisel – you’ve dealt Gradbank a deadly blow.
Everything went dark before Nina’s eyes. Could it be that, in a hurry, she had copied the wrong plan on the memory stick? No, that was impossible! Or was it? …
Nina was drowning – an awful abyss was swallowing her – and her man who was quite close would not reach out his hand to her.
“No, it’s impossible! You can see it on my computer: I prepared two alternative plans – the worst and the best. Could I, by mistake, … No, I don’t believe it!”
Sinitsin watched her reaction closely.
“The computer that you worked on is in the junkyard already, its hard disk destroyed,” he said. “That’s security protocol.”
Nina was trembling uncontrollably.
Samsonov turned to her at last. His face was terrible.
“You… I trusted you. How could you?”
“But I swear, I never…” muttered Nina.
Samsonov banged his heavy fist on the table and got up, his massive figure towering over the scene.
“Get out of here!”
Nina fell unconscious.
Epilogue
In late March, the weather was wet and windy. Except for Nina, there was not a soul in the cemetery which she visited at this time every year.
The crows which were swaying on bare branches watched indifferently Nina squatting by a simple grave to sweep away the blanket of litter. She had difficulty squatting, hindered by her belly.
“You see, mama, my baby is due soon,” said Nina. “It’s a girl, just as you wished.”