years before when he had first infiltrated the revolutionaries. But on hearing it, no one would be in any doubt. Luka was a spy; an oprichnik; an agent of the Ohrana. What his punishment would be was down to the Executive Committee, but their motto had always been ‘pour encourager les autres’. There would be no more risk that Luka would tell what he knew of his Uncle Vasya.
But there was still the matter of Iuda’s freedom. There the People’s Will would not be called on for help – a higher power was required. Fortunately such a power was just as able to eavesdrop on the tapping of the pipes as any revolutionary. He would start with something simple, but something that would make them prick up their ears. No requests, no demands, just an announcement of who he was. He began to tap again on the pipe.
5,6 2,6 – 1,1 – 2,4 – 3,3
Я Каин
I am Cain
CHAPTER XII
LUKA MARCHED DOWN maksimilianovsky lane, his hands deep in his pockets and his eyes fixed on the snowy path in front of him. It was dark now. He had taken a circuitous route back to the apartment, but he’d seen no one following him from the fortress. It hardly mattered – the Ohrana knew about this place anyway. Titov, the dvornik – always sitting in his little room at the door, watching who came and went – was in their pay. Luckily, he was in the pay of the People’s Will too. That didn’t mean he kept quiet to the authorities, but everyone was aware of what he’d told them. At least he was honest in his treachery. Luka preferred that to what Mihail Konstantinovich had done, the way he’d played on Luka’s friendship with Vasya.
His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp, penetrating tapping sound, three reports, then a space, then three more, repeatedly. He looked up. The sound was coming from the tavern on the street corner. Someone was at the window, banging against it with a coin or something similar. In a moment he realized who it was: Mihail. Luka returned his gaze to the snow and carried on walking.
He was almost at the door of the house when Mihail caught up with him.
‘What do you want?’ asked Luka, making no attempt to hide the bile in his voice. He knew that he should string the man along, make him think he was trusted and then use him against his paymasters, but it was too sickening even to be in his presence.
‘I wanted to talk to you again,’ Mihail told him. ‘I’ve not been entirely straight with you.’
‘Really?’ There could be no mistaking the cynicism in Luka’s voice.
They had stopped at the door of the building. ‘Can I come in?’ Mihail asked.
Luka felt the urge to spit in his face, but what good would that do? Perhaps it would be better to take him up to the apartment and then kill him. There was a pistol up there – it would be very easy. But he shouldn’t be too hasty. He must report what he had learned to the committee. If Mihail were to die, they would decide and would deal with it safely. If not, they would turn him to good use as a conduit for false information back to the Ohrana. Even so, it would be worth taking him up to the rooms, sitting there with him for a little while to hear him spin out his lies, knowing that the revolver was just a short reach away, hoping that he would force Luka into doing something delightfully rash.
‘If you must,’ he said.
They went up the stairs and sat down in the living room. This time Luka made no offer of tea.
‘So you lied to me,’ he said.
Mihail nodded. ‘I did, though not entirely.’
‘Not entirely?’ It was typical of the equivocation of an ohranik.
‘My connection to you is not through Vasiliy Grigoryevich.’
‘You astonish me. Not in that you don’t know him, but in that you have the honesty to admit it. But then I suppose you already know that I’ve been to see Vasiliy. Your spies at the fortress would have told you that. I’m only surprised you heard so quickly.’
‘You’ve found him?’
‘Don’t play games,’ sneered Luka.
‘He’s at the fortress? The Peter and Paul? A prisoner?’
‘A prisoner that you put there – or at least your boss Otrepyev did.’
Mihail’s reaction to his colonel’s name was evident. He rose to his feet and turned away from Luka, preventing his