I glanced over at Danny. He was on all fours on the rug, talking to the kids about the house they were building from Lego bricks, going down on his belly to look through the windows. They didn’t speak the same language but he was making himself understood by miming. He panted and made dog ears with his hands: is there room in the house for a dog? The kids laughed and he did a giraffe, then an elephant. The woman was watching him, too, and gave me an approving nod. He’d make a good father, this one.

I knew he would. It made the gray emptiness inside me ring and ache. He would make a great father. But it wouldn’t be with me.

I looked at the woman. “Did your father ever mention a Svetlana to you?”

She shook her head…but then looked doubtful.

“Anything,” I said quickly. “Even just a mention.”

Danny looked round, listening intently.

The woman sighed. “He used that name once. When I was a child. He was drunk, and I was on his knee. He said he had to take care of Svetlana, because she was his sister.” She shook her head. “He didn’t have any sisters, he was an only child.” She shrugged. “He was very drunk. It’s probably nothing. Svetlana is a common name.”

We thanked them and left. Twenty minutes later, we were back at Katharina’s apartment. We brought the others up to speed and then we all sat in a circle, trying to figure it out. The room fell silent as we racked our brains in grim silence. We were at a dead end.

A heavy knock at the door made us all jump. Katharina frowned: it was too late for visitors. She put a finger to her lips, then walked over to the door. She put her eye to the spyhole and then jerked back in shock. She turned to us in panic but before she could speak, there was another pounding on the door and a voice yelled for her to open up.

I recognized the voice from Siberia.

Otto Becker was at the door.

54. Danny

54

DANNY

Katharina pointed to the window. Then she yelled through the door to Becker, trying to stall him.

We had to move fast, but we had to be silent, too. We crept over to the window and opened it, wincing at every tiny sound. Gabriel and Gina went out onto the old iron fire escape but then Gabriel started pointing urgently back inside. What? JD mouthed at him.

Gabriel had to mime firing a gun before we got it. All of our weapons, equipment and clothes were spread out around the apartment. If Becker searched the place and found those, he’d know we’d been there.