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Back A Shadow Intelligence
Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Oliver Harris
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. TWENTY-THREE
  26. TWENTY-FOUR
  27. TWENTY-FIVE
  28. TWENTY-SIX
  29. TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. TWENTY-NINE
  32. THIRTY
  33. THIRTY-ONE
  34. THIRTY-TWO
  35. THIRTY-THREE
  36. THIRTY-FOUR
  37. THIRTY-FIVE
  38. THIRTY-SIX
  39. THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. THIRTY-NINE
  42. FORTY
  43. FORTY-ONE
  44. FORTY-TWO
  45. FORTY-THREE
  46. FORTY-FOUR
  47. FORTY-FIVE
  48. FORTY-SIX
  49. FORTY-SEVEN
  50. FORTY-EIGHT
  51. FORTY-NINE
  52. FIFTY
  53. FIFTY-ONE
  54. FIFTY-TWO
  55. FIFTY-THREE
  56. FIFTY-FOUR
  57. FIFTY-FIVE
  58. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I told the driver to stop once we’d crossed the bridge. I could already see police vehicles parked on the main road. It would be wiser to approach on foot. The men refused money. As soon as I was out the driver pulled a fast U-turn that left me wondering what I was heading into.

I kept to back streets. The few who were out and about were moving quickly, nervously. Patrols of men, military and police, appeared every other block. Most shops were closed, phone signal intermittent.

The main public square had been taped off, with teams of armed police at each corner. The ground had been hosed but broken glass glinted in the cracks between paving slabs. A block away I found a café open beside a small frozen park. A stone Lenin rose up above the cold shrubbery of the park, right arm thrust out as if seeking to shake hands. Most of these monuments had vanished over the last two decades, usually removed in the dead of night, and I wondered what kept this one here. Proximity to the Motherland? Distance from brave new Astana? I ordered coffee and a hot pastry, took a seat in the centre so I could see the windows but would be mostly obscured from those looking in from outside.

I warmed my hands on the coffee, then sipped, my insides contracting in surprise. I ate the pastry slowly, then I ordered more food and another coffee. Events of the previous twenty-four hours repeated in my mind, with stabs of dread, interwoven with a sense that I was still walking in Joanna’s footsteps. When I had caffeine and carbohydrates inside me, I focused on the view.

The patrols were a mix: local police, Ministry of State Security, Kazakh army. I wasn’t inclined to get involved with any of them. Enough escaping death for one day. I brought up a map of the town on my phone, checked the routes out, the location of the police station, the university. According to conversations around me, four bodies had been released to the relevant families. There were ongoing disputes over the rest: relatives were being told that their loved ones’ bodies wouldn’t be released until they signed waivers. Relatives had been arrested. A funeral scheduled for tomorrow morning had been cancelled. A mix of ethnicities had been killed.