A blanket of snow covered the roof of the train car. There is no sign of anybody. It’s dangerous up here. I repeated the images over and over. By the time the officer’s hat peeked over the edge, he was breathing hard and glancing to the ground below. Looking past me, he sighed in relief.

“No one’s been up here- the snow’s untouched.”

“Damnit! Where is she?” The voice that answered was older, more authoritative, cold as the snow on the ground and hard as the rock under it.

“Dunno, but I’m comin’ down.” The police man’s head disappeared.

Using my mind, as a surgeon or a pianist might use their instruments, I took the greatest care in planting suggestions and tweaking emotions- in Vasily.

“She’s heading back to the chemical plant!” Vasily screamed in frustration. “We’ve been fooled!”

“Chemical plant? That’s absurd. The plant’s far too close to camp for Katya to hide there. She’s a lot of things but stupid is not one of them.”

“She thinks to hide there while we exhaust ourselves in a fruitless search.”