Free A Killing Winter by Tom Callaghan

couldsmell his sweat, the sweetness of vodka, the tang of his
papirosh
. He stared at me, unblinking, his face as serious as death. When he did speak, it was in a whisper so low I could barely hear him.
    ‘I can tell you where the dead child came from.’

Chapter 10
    Latemorning, and Kursan and I were on the road to Karakol, pretty much the other side of Kyrgyzstan, an eight-hour drive at the best of times. Which, being winter, it wasn’t. We were crawling along, Kursan driving, which was fine by me.
    ‘Relax, I know what I’m doing, there was one time I brought a cargo of furs in from Tashkent over to Osh. No paperwork, you understand. The snow was as thick as an Uzbek’s neck; I couldn’t see out of the windscreen, so I just stuck my head out of the window. Try driving like that for five hours!’
    We’d passed Bosteri about an hour ago, so we were skirting the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, about halfway to Karakol. I’d grabbed a couple of hours’ sleep, left a cryptic message for the Chief, then we’d set off. A
ment
drove us as far as Tokmok where, at Kursan’s insistence, we changed cars, into an elderly but serviceable BMW.
    ‘They all know this car, believe me. Don’t worry about the traffic filth, I hand out enough
som
all year, we won’t get stopped for speeding.’
    I thought that the likelihood of us going any faster than a brisk walk was pretty remote, but I didn’t want to stop Kursan in full flow.
    ‘I love a good mystery, but maybe you can tell me why we’re going to Karakol? Only so that, when they drag me up before the disciplinary board, I can give them some half-arsed excuse. Before Tynaliev’s men drag me up in front of him, and I lose my arse altogether.’
    ‘Brother, I’m family, remember. Would I let anything happen to you? Don’t forget, I know people.’
    He grinned, and lit another of his stinking
papirosh
. Somehow, I didn’t think that Kursan’s ‘people’ would want to take on the might of the State Security Office, but I kept my doubts to myself.
    ‘You know a little about my business,
da
? How I can get things at the right price for the right people, without those wolves in the White House taking their piece and leaving nothing for honest folk? Fuck your mother, that’s what I tell them!’
    He looked round at me, genuinely indignant. I smiled at the thought of Kursan telling a set of strait-laced bureaucrats about his assignations with their mothers, and pointed in the direction of the windscreen, just as a gentle hint about his driving. He gave a dismissive snort.
    ‘Don’t worry, only an arsehole would be out driving on a day like this. Me, I know this road like I know my old woman’s tits.’
    He wrenched at the wheel as a giant truck loomed out of the whiteness, and I bounced against the door as the wheels locked and skidded. I had visions of us being dug out of a snowdrift in about three months’ time, but Kursan set us back on the road, and brought us to a halt.
    ‘Fuck off!’ he yelled into the blizzard, then turned to me and grinned. ‘Told you I could drive,
nyet
?’
    Despite myself, I had to grin back.
    ‘Anyway, I do a little trading, a little bobbing and weaving, you understand. Takes all sorts. A little weed, it grows by the side of the road around here, and it’s herbal, natural. But you know I never touch any of the hard shit. You sell
krokodil
, to me you’re scum. Same with pimps. Arseholes!’
    Kursan’s always told me he doesn’t handle pills or injectables. And unlike a lot of smugglers, he’s totally opposed to trafficking; it’s the reason I’ve been able to turn a familial blind eye to his activities for all these years.
    ‘There’s other shit I won’t touch as well. Parts.’
    ‘Parts?’
    ‘Animal parts, you know, all that stuff those slant-eyes over the mountains take, to make their little yellow dicks stand up.’
    Cross over the Tien Shan Mountains into China and head to the market in Urumchi, and you can find all