She moved from human exhibits to natural ones, passing several large animal enclosures. In one, three wolves lay together on a wide, flat rock, sleeping. In another a brown bear sat in the branches of a tree, staring back at her as she stared up at it. These were the animals she should have encountered in her hike out of Russia, but here they were instead. The bear looked comfortable, content soaking up the last of the day’s sun, but it was still in a cage. She wondered if it recognised a kindred spirit in her, and if it would have stayed happily sitting in its tree looking down at her if there wasn’t a high wall separating them.

She kept walking and came to a deserted Viking village. As she passed its large meeting hall and longhouses, it occurred to her how much Ledjo would have loved this place. He’d have been as excited as all the other children straining at their parents’ arms, running in and out of buildings, hopping through history and rushing to share everything he discovered with her. She wondered how different their lives would have been on this side of the Iron Curtain. They could have spent their weeks working and studying, and their weekends visiting the animals at Skansen or sailing around the Stockholm archipelago—everything she’d promised and never given him.

She stopped at a bench in front of one of the longhouses. She could feel her emotions starting to get the better of her and wanted to sit down before she fell down. But her sadness instantly turned to fear as she watched a man in a dark suit appear from behind the longhouse and sit next to her.

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

‘Hello, Irina.’

Her blood froze at the sound of her name, pronounced in perfect Russian with the drawn-out emphasis on the middle syllable. In an instant she knew they’d found her, and they’d come to take her back.

‘Who are you?’ she stuttered, staring straight ahead.

‘My name is General Grigor Medev. I am the head of the KGB scientific directorate. And I have come to apologise to you.’

‘Apologise?’ she asked, turning to face him.

‘For everything you’ve been through,’ he replied. ‘For the last three years.’ He turned, finally making eye contact. ‘I want you to know that Povenets B has been decommissioned, and Zukolev has been dealt with.’

Valera had waited a long time for Zukolev to face some kind of reckoning, and she hoped he had, but she had no reason to believe Medev.

‘He was a vain, arrogant man,’ Medev said, trying to calm the doubts he’d anticipated. ‘He did not deserve the responsibilities given to him.’

‘Who the hell is that?’ Bennett whispered to Knox.