Free Rasputin's Bastards by David Nickle Page A

noticeably on the displaced ocean, and Alexei noticed with a chill that there were no markings on the submarine — at least none above the water line. Holden’s crew lined the edge of the lounge, gaping. Evidently they weren’t expecting this any more than Alexei was.
    Or Holden. He grabbed Alexei’s shoulder. “You better tell me what’s going on,” he said.
    Alexei shrugged — in so doing extricating himself from Holden’s grip.
    “How should I know?” he said. “You won’t even tell me what you’re up to.”
    “I’m going to buy some children,” he said. “Haven’t you worked that out for yourself?”
    Alexei opened his mouth and closed it again. Did Holden know that he’d found the smuggler’s hold? He dismissed the thought quickly, though. Holden was on a different tack.
    “Even if they own a submarine, which I wouldn’t have thought possible, why have they got it doing this kind of work?” Holden’s face was reddening again. “It’s like putting up a fucking flag — look at us, Mister U.S. spy satellite! We’re selling children off the shore of the fuckin’ United States! They could kick off a fuckin’ nuclear war!”
    Much more of this, and my troubles are over
, thought Alexei.
He’ll give himself a coronary
.
    “You are purchasing children?” he asked innocently. “Do you buy them for fucking, or just to change your linen when you jerk yourself off?”
    Alexei had hoped to push Holden that little bit farther — if not to a heart attack, then at least toward some further indiscretion. But the words had the opposite effect. Holden’s face drained of red and he regarded Alexei calmly.
    “I’ll kill you, you keep talking like that — you know that?” he said. “Remember whose boat you’re on.”
    Holden jammed his hands into the pockets of his windbreaker and turned away from Alexei, watching the submarine rise. Which was good. Alexei wasn’t sure how the old man would have interpreted his smile if he’d seen it.
    The Zodiacs were wheeling back around now, making sharp smacks as they crossed the waves made by the surfacing submarine. Behind them, the door to the lounge swung open. Alexei turned and saw two of the Romanians from the bridge. Both had their AKMs slung over their shoulders. One of them caught Alexei’s eye and motioned him over. Holden, preoccupied an instant longer than Alexei by the spectacle of the unanticipated submarine, hurried to catch up.
    “You come with us,” said one of the Romanians. He pointed at Holden, and then at Alexei. “You also, heh?”
    “And her,” said Holden. He pointed to Heather. “And him.” He pointed to James. “And — ”
    “Enough,” said the other Romanian. “She may come also. But no more than that.”
    “Fine.” Holden patted Heather — on the shoulder this time, but it might as well have been her ass to Alexei — and moved to follow the Romanians. Alexei gripped the asp in his pocket and followed them all onto the deck.
    The submarine’s captain was a slight woman, with black hair cropped short and eyes wide as a fawn’s. Alexei thought two things about the captain: first, he recognized her from somewhere — where, he couldn’t say, but familiarity stuck in him nonetheless. And second, to his eye, she was no older than twenty. She would not have been born when this submarine was taken from service.
    Alexei shivered. The submarine was growing nearer the bow as the Zodiac turned once more towards it. The young woman who behaved like the submarine’s commander was looking out at the Zodiac now, her arms crossed, black hair blowing in the ocean wind while her crewmen stood still around her.
    God, he recognized her from somewhere. But where? The memory was locked from Alexei.
    The Zodiac’s outboard throttled back, and Holden sat back, folded his hands conspicuously on his gut. Alexei met Heather’s eye, and he shrugged.
What do you want me to do
?
    Alexei had been a great many places in the service of the