Doctor Gavrilov by Maggie Hamand Read Free Book Online Page A

couldn’t read on his face; there seemed to be a question in it. Tim felt uneasy; he could see that he had put his foot in something, though he didn’t have the least idea what it could be. Katie said, sitting down opposite him, ‘I’m sorry… Why do you expect Mitya to know anything about this?’
    Tim was confused. He said, ‘I don’t know… I didn’t mean anything specific… I just thought you might know, scientific institutions, organisations, government departments…’
    Gavrilov asked, ‘Don’t you have a correspondent in Moscow? Don’t they know these things?’
    â€˜Yes, of course, I’m going to phone them tomorrow. It was only an idea… I’m sorry, forget that I asked.’
    Tim felt dreadfully uncomfortable; he wished he hadn’t come. Ingrid, lying naked downstairs in the bath, suddenly seemed a much more inviting prospect. Katie, as if for something to occupy her, asked if Tim wanted more coffee, and to give her something to do, he said that he would. She poured it out. Dmitry helped himself to sugar, fiddled with the spoon, turning it over and over in his hand. He said abruptly, in a flat, uninterested tone, ‘Well, you should try talk to someone in the military about the controls on materials from nuclear warheads… I think it is the Twelfth Chief Directorate which is responsible for transport and storage… Let me tell you in advance that you’re not likely to get a great deal out of these types.’
    Tim had taken out his pen and notebook, was jotting this down.
    Gavrilov said. ‘Of course, you must realise this case is a little exaggerated… the quantities picked up in Vienna were negligible, from the fuel rods of a reactor, not highly enriched at all, as some reports claimed. These people are small-time crooks, con-men… Russia is full of them these days.’
    Tim said, ‘Well, it’s not so small-time… they are prepared to have people killed.’
    â€˜Of course. Why not? Drugs, arms, nuclear materials… it’s the same thing to them…’
    Tim asked, ‘Well, what about the other risks? What about all the scientists, without jobs or on low pay…’
    Gavrilov interrupted rudely. ‘Ah yes; the scientists; all these lucky scientists who are going to be offered vast sums of money to go and work abroad. Of course, some might be tempted. Well, why not? Can you give me one good reason why they shouldn’t go?’
    There was a silence. Tim thought that there was something slightly wild, unbalanced in Dmitry’s voice; in fact Tim wondered for a moment if he had been drinking. He said, ‘I don’t know. Apart from the moral issue… perhaps the KGB or FSB whatever it’s called these days would try to stop them.’
    â€˜Ah; yes, that’s good, that’s very probable. Of course, what else are they there for these days? That is indeed very likely.’ Dmitry got up from the table, walked across the room to stand by the mantelpiece and put a few lumps of coal on the rather miserable fire, and then walked back again. All his movements seemed too fast, slightly exaggerated, as if he was on the point of losing control. He began to walk up and down, to the window, to the table, and back to the fire. ‘But then, who knows what these people might do. They might try to stop them, but then, on the other hand, they might try to encourage them. Well? Have you thought of that idea?’
    Tim thought that this was so odd that he couldn’t understand what might be behind it; he thought, there’s something wrong with him, he’s off his head. Katie was looking at the floor, clearly embarrassed; Tim felt sorry for her. She said, ‘Mitya, please. I don’t know what you’re going on about. Can’t we talk about something else?’ Tim felt he ought to stop, for her sake, but he couldn’t, he was fascinated. He