Black Knight in Red Square by Stuart M. Kaminsky Read Free Book Online Page B

groaned open, and two of the muggers stepped forward to grab the operator, but the woman was not there. Instead, a stubby washtub of a man with a dark scowl and muscular, hairy arms seized the two men. Both came skittering out almost instantly, one thrown across the corridor against the wall, the other sliding back on his rear.
    Tkach straightened up and slammed the heel of his hand into the nose of the leader. The man screamed, and stumbled back, holding his face in his hands.
    The other mugger, the one who had ridden up in the elevator with Tkach, had his knife out and was advancing on Rostnikov, who stepped out slowly, staring at him. There was no time for Tkach to move, but neither was there need. Rostnikov ducked low as the man with the knife lunged, then grabbed the man’s arm with one hand and his belt with the other. He lifted him and hurled him against the wall, where he sagged to the floor next to the man with the broken nose.
    Tkach heard a sound behind him and turned to see the second man, whom Rostnikov had thrown out of the elevator, reach into his pocket. He kicked the man in the stomach and was satisfied to hear an escape of air not unlike the one he had let out when the leader punched him.
    Without a word, Rostnikov herded the four muggers into the elevator with kicks and pushes and motioned Tkach in, giving a sour look at the whimpering leader.
    Then he pushed the elevator button for the first floor.
    â€œI—” Tkach began, trying to put his clothes back in order.
    â€œNot now,” said Rostnikov abruptly, “I have important work for you to do. You do speak French, don’t you?”
    â€œI speak French,” said Tkach.
    â€œ Bon ,” said Rostnikov, turning so that neither Tkach nor the muggers could see the satisfied grin on his face.

FOUR
    P ROSTITUTION, OF COURSE, DOES NOT EXIST IN THE Soviet Union. It has not existed since 1930. This disease of exploitative societies, according to the official Soviet Encyclopedia , “has been liquidated in the Soviet Union, since the conditions engendering and nourishing it have disappeared.” Lenin said that “lack of self-control in sexual matters is a bourgeois characteristic, a sign of demoralization.” Therefore, following a brief flurry of free love movements after the revolution, the Soviet Union effectively ended the sexual exploitation of women.
    Which is why it took Emil Karpo almost half an hour to find the prostitute he was looking for in Moscow. Normally, time and duty permitting, Karpo met Mathilde in the Café Moscow off Gorky Street at seven in the evening on the first Wednesday of each month. They would then go to the apartment Mathilde shared with her aunt and cousin, who would be conveniently absent for an hour. Mathilde worked as a telephone operator during the day and as a prostitute at night. She was a sekretarsha, or “secretary,” not a full-time prostitutka.
    Mathilde was not at the Café Moscow, but the waiter who set her up with clients stood leaning against the wall, his black bow tie clipped on at an odd angle. His name was Anatoli, and he was somewhere between forty and sixty. His hair was thin, his body sluggish, and his expression sullen. He saw Karpo coming and feigned indifference as he turned to start a conversation with another waiter.
    â€œSo,” he told his friend, “if I can get an extra ticket, and you want to pay the twelve rubles, you can have it.”
    â€œTwelve rubles?” asked the man incredulously, removing the black papirosi cigarette from his mouth. “I wouldn’t pay more than seven.” The papirosi had a long cardboard filter and smelled like burning rope. Karpo, who never drank, smoked, or even considered abusing his body, was revolted by all smoking and drinking, which meant he had much to be revolted by in Moscow.
    â€œAnatoli,” Karpo said, stepping behind the waiter.
    The other waiter glanced up at Karpo, smelled cop, and