The door slammed open. ‘Sir’ stood there scowling. His jacket bulged making me suspect he had retrieved his gun.

“Plans have changed. You’ve seen what we wanted you to see. Remember this, " he said pointing to the Polkovnik, “the next time you decide to let your emotions get the better of you. Now it’s time to go. We’ve hid our involvement as much as we could. Apparently it wasn’t enough.”

His heavy hand guided me back to the compartment.

Kseniya had her back to us and stood as if measuring the passage of time in the changes in scenery. Her voice had a hollow quality as it reflected off the window. “Someone has been working very fast if they managed to radio ahead of us.”

“No matter. They won’t have anyone there who has the authority or ability to deal with us.”

“On the contrary Martin, this changes everything.” She paused. “How did she do?”

“Black Ops training. You know how tricky the four-forty-eight is? She knew where the safety was and checked to see if it was loaded.”

“That wasn’t what I meant.”