Swimming Electric Blue Water. Samantha Holmes

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      Ingra hung up the phone, grabbed her boots and coat, and ran out of the apartment. She was crying and sobbing “No!” over and over again. Yuri, she had to get to Yuri. He would bring Anna home and make everything all right.

      • • •

      Markovo was in the warehouse district. No one lived there except for a few homeless people who would occasionally break into abandoned buildings to avoid the cold. Yuri ran 8 kilometers, arriving at 12:28 A.M., exhausted. His head pounded and his knees were weak as he pulled open the large door to 6600 B. Rats scurried away as the door screeched open. There were fresh scrape marks on the concrete. Yuri made his way out into the center of the warehouse. His breath was returning, although the cold, dry air burned in his chest, and his mind raced like his heart.

      They want to scare me. They probably want me to leave the running for the Olympics. That’s okay; there are other races. Just let Anna be all right. They wouldn’t hurt a baby. God, if she’s hurt, oh Lord….

      The door slammed shut behind him. A low, evil laughter came from different locations all around him.

      “Where is my sister?” he yelled.

      It was very dark with the door shut. Only a single streak of light from a street lamp came in through a high window, illuminating a small patch of ground. Yuri moved toward it, trying to gain some comfort from it.

      He heard footsteps and some mumbles. Were there two people… more?

      “Yuri… Yuri… over here…” said a voice, taunting.

      Was that Saviar? Even in a whisper, the voice registered.

      “Do you want me out of the race? Is that it?” Yuri shouted, bolder than he felt. “I can do that, but you must promise to let my sister go.”

      More laughter and footsteps and bangs seemed to come from everywhere. There were more than two of them.

      “I can see you, can you see me?” Biskovich’s voice again, Yuri was certain.

      “Come out, you cowards! I told you what you want to hear.”

      A figure stepped toward him, but it was hard to make out who it was. He was wearing something on his face, like goggles that glowed green.

      “You wanted to see me, you piece of shit,” Saviar’s voice was like a growl. “Go ahead, Dog, let’s get it started.”

      Yuri thought the comment was directed at him, but immediately, a man behind him responded with a vicious strike to Yuri’s back near his kidneys, throwing him forward. Yuri yelled in pain, staggering to stay on his feet. There were more men surrounding him, emerging from the shadows like nightmares. Some brought clubs made of found pipes or wood. A glint of a knife flashed.

      Blows rained down from every direction. Yuri’s chance of defending himself decreased with each strike. When there was a pause in the beatings, Yuri fell forward and curled into a fetal position to guard his head. More blows landed, smashing his ribs, breaking his arms, and bursting his spleen and kidneys. He felt the knife cut him, slashing at his arms to get to his chest.

      “That’s it! Hit him harder!”

      Yuri heard Saviar chanting at them. Soon, he felt very little. He could still hear the ringing in his ears, mixed with their muddled voices.

      “Is he dead? He sure looks it. God, I’m going to be sick,” said a familiar voice.

      Yuri held his breath, but that hurt. He was wet. For a moment, he thought he was in the pool, and they were finally heating the water.

      “Biskovich, you wimp,” Micki said.

      “Fuck you, Micki!” Biskovich snapped back.

      “If he’s not, he will be soon,” Dog commented.

      “What should we do with the little brat?” Saviar asked.

      “We can drop her off outside of town,” Micki ordered. “The plan stays the same.”

      Saviar viciously kicked Yuri’s head two more times. The ringing finally faded as Yuri slipped into unconsciousness.

      “So, who is going to win this weekend, Biskovich?”

      “I don’t know, Saviar. I got a good workout today, and my time is improving.”

      “Have you been drinking? You swim slower than my mother…”

      It went silent. There wasn’t even the sound of Yuri’s own heart beating, just a dreamless void. That wasn’t so bad; it was far worse when the dreams came.

      • • •

      Ingra stood outside the gate screaming at the building. Snow was falling. Her ungloved hands were numb, and her face burned in the cold air.

      “Yuri! Yuri!! YURI!!!” Her voice broke more with each scream.

      “Who’s yelling out here?”

      The guard had been watching the television and was annoyed by the interruption until he saw Ingra shivering at the gate.

      “You’re Ingra, Yuri’s girl?”

      “Please help me!” she sobbed, collapsing to her knees in the snow.

      The guard opened the gate as quickly as possible. He helped Ingra into the building. She tried to protest, but was too weak to fight.

      “What is it, Ingra? Shush, shush, try to take some breaths.” He rubbed her cold hands with his warm ones.

      “Where is Yuri? I’ve got to find Yuri.”

      “He left about an hour ago.”

      “No, he has to be here. Grigori is … gone.”

      “Yuri left after he received a note. I’ll go check to see if I can find it.”

      The guard left while Ingra sobbed. After a few minutes, the guard returned with the hair in his hand.

      “I could not find the note, he must have taken it with him. But I did find this.”

      Ingra stared at the blond curl. She did not have to be told whose hair it was. She had been concerned for Anna before she couldn’t find Yuri, and now she might have lost both of them. She tried to push all those thoughts away. She didn’t know what was going on. Please God, let Anna be with Yuri so everything would be all right. Her whole family could not be created and destroyed in just a few hours.

      Chapter 2

      Situated in the heart of Gemini Corporation headquarters was System Room Twelve, an innocuous title, given the room’s impressive contents and size. It was over twenty-five meters high and fifty meters in length with polished, metal walls and flooring that infinitely reflected warped images. Sitting like rows of stainless steel giants, the furnaces, blowers, and other equipment whirled and hummed with their hidden СКАЧАТЬ