BooksBarbecue
Back The Asset
Chapters (86)
  1. Foreword
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. 35
  37. 36
  38. 37
  39. 38
  40. 39
  41. 40
  42. 41
  43. 42
  44. 43
  45. 44
  46. 45
  47. 46
  48. 47
  49. 48
  50. 49
  51. 50
  52. 51
  53. 52
  54. 53
  55. 54
  56. 55
  57. 56
  58. 57
  59. 58
  60. 59
  61. 60
  62. 61
  63. 62
  64. 63
  65. 64
  66. 65
  67. 66
  68. 67
  69. 68
  70. 69
  71. 70
  72. 71
  73. 72
  74. 73
  75. 74
  76. 75
  77. 76
  78. 77
  79. 78
  80. 79
  81. 80
  82. 81
  83. 82
  84. 83
  85. 84
  86. Afterword

“Come on,” Laurel said, exasperated.

“It’s knowing when not to pull the trigger.”

Laurel leaned back, surprised. That wasn’t what she’d expected.

“I see,” she said.

Roth had taken some dental floss from his leather pouch and was in the process of wrapping it around his fingers.

“That doesn’t sound like what we do,” she said.

“It’s not,” Roth said.

“You don’t like it.”

“When you’re in my line of work,” he said, “someone not pulling the trigger is the scariest thing in the world.”

“Even when they’re right?”

Roth shook his head. “They’re never right.”

Laurel wasn’t sure what to make of that. All she knew was that she was not going to stay there and watch Roth floss his teeth, getting bits of food all over the bed they were supposed to be sharing.

“I think I’m going to go out for a bit,” she said.

“Out? Where?”

“A drink.”

She’d seen a bar on the drive in that looked like it would suit her purpose.

“A nightcap,” Roth said. “Maybe I’ll join you.”

Laurel shook her head. “No.”

“No?”

“No offense, boss, but charming as your company is, I think I could use a little break.”

11

The Yaroslavsky Train Terminal in Central Moscow had the distinction of being mile zero of the longest railway line on the planet. The fact was commemorated by a small, concrete marker just outside the station with moss on its north side and a barely legible 0 carved into its west face. The marker was placed in 1916 by a young engineer from Petrograd named Myasnikov who personally oversaw the placement of every single marker along the ten thousand kilometer route. Myasnikov died in 1937 in a Siberian gulag, within sight of marker 3,434. His crime had been to suggest ‘improvements’ to a later route drawn on a map by Stalin himself with ruler and pencil.

A passenger on the Trans-Siberian could get on a train in Moscow and pass Myasnikov’s markers at a rate of one per minute for seven days, finally disembarking on the Pacific coast in Vladivostok, or Beijing, or even Pyongyang if they had the paperwork.

Marker 1,816, the only one located on a bridge, marked the spot where the train left Europe for Asia. The bridge spanned the Iset. The peaks of the Urals were visible in the distance. Across the river rose the Soviet-era buildings of the city of Yekaterinburg.

It was there, in 1723, that Peter the Great ordered the construction of a massive iron-making plant that would later become one of the largest metallurgical facilities on the planet.