Chapter 4
They drove until the truck broke down, which wasn't terribly long. The man made him get out and push it into some trees. That wasn't going to help. Grigori would notice the flattened grass. He tried to explain this, but the man clearly didn't understand a word and yelled at him some more. Then the man cuffed his hands around a tree while he tried to work on the truck.
The woman looked apologetic. She pointed to herself and said the word "Joyce" several times, then pointed to him. He wondered if he should answer. The man knew Smirnov's name, and kept calling him by it. Alexei had no idea why they'd want the mechanic, or even know his name – they must have a spy in the Russians' operation. Perhaps they would let him go, once they realized they had the wrong man? Not likely, but there was no harm in answering.
The woman – Joyce – looked happy when he said "Alexei." She clapped her hands as if he were a child saying his first words. This wasn't quite the interrogation he'd been led to expect. Maybe it was part of their partnership? The woman made herself seem like a friend, and the man would torture him if that failed? If so, it was in his interest to keep her side of the game going as long as possible, until Grigori could set him free.
He couldn't fathom why she was asking him about magnets, though. At first he thought she must mean something else, even though the word was so similar, but no. Her magnets had fallen. And then she said something about machines. Machines – machina. Who knew English and Russian shared so many words? He had no idea what that might have to do with magnets, but he could probably fix the truck, if that was what they demanded. But no. Not the truck.
She started to try again, but the man yelled. Alexei just stood quietly while they screamed at each other. At this rate, it would be easy for him to avoid giving up anything important before Grigori found him.
The man threw Joyce the keys, as if he'd fixed the truck. Alexei knew he hadn't, but even so, the grinding startled him. He'd never worked with an American car, but that sound clearly was wrong. The man didn't understand that, though, and he crawled under the hood. Alexei searched for something in English to explain, but all he could come up with was "Stohp." The man yelled at him but didn't look up.
Alexei knew they wouldn't understand, but he kept talking anyway, to get their attention. The man took his head out of the hood and came over to yell – probably telling him to be quiet – before it ignited. Joyce jumped clear before it exploded, and Alexei couldn't resist a sigh. "Stohp," he repeated, just so the man knew he'd been right.
The man must not have liked that, because he pushed Alexei along through the forest, so he'd stay ahead of the Americans while they argued. It was hot and the bugs were biting him, but otherwise it wasn't so terrible. It was the first time he'd gone for a walk in the sun in over two years, and the woods had a nice smell. The thought crossed his mind that this was supposed to be rough treatment for a prisoner, but the Americans looked more miserable than him. They just weren't very good at this, he decided.
They seemed content to ignore him as long as he kept walking, and he largely ignored them, until he heard his name.
"That's why you should've listened to Alexei," Joyce said. He wasn't sure what it meant, but the man didn't seem happy.
"Oh, right, yeah, your new boyfriend, right?"
He went on ahead a few paces. Arguments were unpleasant, even if he couldn't understand the words. Then he heard – cars? Cars meant a road. It would be much easier for Grigori to find him on a road. He looked back at the Americans and decided to run. He wasn't going to outrun them with his hands chained, particularly after so long underground without much exercise, but it didn't matter. Grigori could rescue him even if they caught him again. He laughed, both at the American man screaming after him and at the joy of stretching his legs after so long. This was starting to be fun.
He stopped once he got to the edge of the woods and let them catch him. His luck was better than he'd hoped for. There was the auto store, the "7-11." They would get some things to fix the car, which would keep them in one place until Grigori found them.
Alexei's eyes went big when they brought him inside. He didn't see any car parts, but the store must have every type of snack known to man. If he'd had money, he would have tried to grab one of almost everything. The food underground was enough to stave off malnutrition, but it was boring. He'd feel like a king with even a small fraction of this bounty. Joyce and the man went straight for the glass case in the back. They each took a red can, and Joyce handed him one. He had no idea what it was, but he drank it anyway. It was fizzy and sweet, something like Pepsi, one of only a few American products he could buy in Moscow.
He had a few minutes to explore while the man bought more of the red-can drink and what looked like a very skinny sausage. A machine with red liquid inside caught his attention, and he squirted a bit into his hand to try it. The man saw and rolled his eyes, but let him buy a cup of the delicious cherry ice.
After they'd finished, the man pushed him into the back of a yellow car. Maybe the owner was also a spy? Maybe he'd be better at it, which made Alexei shudder. But no – the man was yelling at the car's owner. Then he was telling the owner some sort of lie. That much was obvious, even without understanding the language. The man looked over several times, and Alexei figured he was part of the lie. He had no idea what the man wanted him to do, though, so he just drank his ice.
And then they were off. The music was loud and the wind was blowing in his hair as they sped away in the roofless car. Alexei couldn't help thinking that it might be all right if Grigori didn't find him for a while. This was the best day he'd had in years, even if his wrists were still chained.