“I saw what happened, Lance. I saw how they backed Sofia into a corner. It was all Yevchenko. And I’m not going to let him get away with it.”

“You want to go back for him?”

“A thousand people died in this city because of what he did.”

Lance thought for a second. “Who am I to stop you?” he said.

Vasily looked at him. “Thank you.”

“Take this?” Lance said, handing him the CZ 75 and silencer.

“You’ll need that,” Vasily said. “I know where I can get a gun.”

“It’s not going to be easy, what you’ve decided to do.”

“I can handle myself,” Vasily said.

Lance shook his hand. “Well good luck, Vasily Ustinov.”

Vasily nodded. “Good luck to you, Lance Spector.”

They heard the noise of the Trans-Siberian pulling into the station.

“That’s your train,” Vasily said.

Lance nodded. He turned to leave, then turned back.

“Hey, you think Khabib’s going to win his next fight?”

Vasily laughed. “That’s all anyone cares about.”

“Well?”

“Of course he’s going to win,” Vasily said.

Lance turned and hurried back to the platform. The train was just beginning to pull away and he had to jump on and force the door open to get in.

Once on-board, he found Olga and Sofia. They were sitting in the dining car sipping hot tea.

“Where’s Vasily?” Sofia said.

“He’s not coming.”

“What do you mean?”

“He wanted to go back for Yevchenko.”

“And you let him?”

“It was his choice.”

“It’s suicide,” Sofia said.

Lance didn’t know what to say. It was dangerous, but Vasily was his own man. He could handle himself.

Lance sat down but the two women didn’t speak to him. They were angry. He stood up.

“Where are you going?” Olga said.

“To see the conductor. I’m going to upgrade our tickets to a sleeper.”

“Let me go,” Sofia said. “I don’t want your accent giving us away.”

Lance sighed. He looked at Olga.

“I’ll come with you,” she said.

Lance sat there for ten minutes before realizing they weren’t coming back for him. He went to the sleeper section and knocked on the first door. It opened and he saw a family getting ready for the night. The next door was answered by a priest.

He knocked on the third and Sofia opened.

“Can I come in?” he said.

She sighed and let him in. The sleeper was a small, self-contained cabin with two sets of bunk beds facing each other and a foldout table by the window. The two women sat on one of the beds, leaving the other for Lance.

They stared at him for a minute before Sofia broke the silence. “I don’t think I can sleep now.”

“Why don’t I go to the bar car and get us something?” Lance said.