Snow Wolf by Glenn Meade Read Free Book Online

hitting him in the
shoulder, spinning him around, and then she started to run toward the bridge.
    There was mayhem behind her on the
Russian side, sirens going off and voices raised, as the soldiers came rushing
out of the guardhouse. She was barely aware of a voice behind her screaming for
her to stop as she ran toward the Finnish barrier fifty meters away, dropping
the revolver as she ran, her breath rising in panting bursts, her lungs on
fire.
    Up ahead, Finnish guards in gray uniforms
appeared out of nowhere, unslinging their rifles, one of them pointing over her
shoulder, screaming something at her.
    She didn't see the Russian guard thirty
meters behind her take aim, but she heard the crack of a weapon and saw the
frosty cloud explode in the snow off to her right, before the bullet ricocheted
off the metal bridge.
    And then another rifle cracked and she
was suddenly punched forward, losing her balance, a terrible pain blossoming in
her side, but she kept running, weaving across the bridge.
    As she collapsed in front of the Finnish
barrier she cried out in agony. Strong hands suddenly grasped her and pulled
her aside.
    A young officer, his face pale, barked
orders at his men, but she didn't understand the words. Other men fumbled at
her bloodied clothes and carried her toward the guardhouse.
    There were sirens going off now but she
was aware only of the flood of pain in her side and a terrible feeling of
tiredness, as if a dam had burst inside her head and all the pent-up fear and
exhaustion had come spilling out. She was crying now, and then everything
seemed to go at once, vision fading, sounds muted.
    The young officer was looking down at her
face and she heard the urgency in his voice as he screamed at one of his men to
fetch a doctor. She closed her eyes. All she remembered after that was
darkness. Sweet, surrendering, painless darkness.
    Helsinki.
    October 25th A man with gray cropped hair
sat beside Anna Khorev's bed.
    She looked at him.
    The rugged face that stared back at her
was pitted with fleshy skin and broken veins and his mouth looked set in a grim
impression of aggression. It was the face of a man who had seen a lot of
unpleasant things in life, cautious and wary and full of secrets, but the light
gray eyes were not without feeling and she guessed they missed nothing. One of
the Finnish intelligence officers had told her the American was coming and that
he wanted to talk with her. The Finns had questioned her, going over and over her
story, but she hadn't told them everything. Not because she hadn't wanted to
but because the memories seemed too painful just then, and the anesthetic had
made her feel sensitive. And besides, she had got the feeling that they were
only going through the motions of something that really wasn't their concern.
But the man seated beside her bed seemed different. She could tell that simple
answers were not going to satisfy him.
    He looked in his early forties and as he
sat back in the chair his big hands rested on his knees. His Russian was fluent
and his voice soft as he smiled over at her.
    "My name is Jake Massey. They tell
me you're going to make a full recovery."
    When she didn't reply the man leaned
forward and said, "I'm here to try and fill in some of the gaps in your
story. Your name is Anna Khorev, is that right?"
    "Yes." She saw the sincerity in
his eyes as he said, "I realize you've been through a difficult time,
Anna, but you must understand one thing. Finland gets a considerable number of
people escaping over the Russian border." He smiled again, gently.
"Not all so dramatically as you did, perhaps. Some of them are genuinely
trying to flee Russia, But others, well, let's just say their intentions are
not entirely honorable. Your countrymen send people over here to spy. You
understand what I'm saying Anna? I need to make certain you're not one of those
people.' She nodded and the man said, "You feel well enough to talk?"
    "Yes.
    "The doctors say they hope to have
you