Answering God's Call - Chapter 25

“….”

“We only need to go after Rebecca West, no, Natalia Makarov, and the classified materials she has, so since it’s come to this, we can just pin all the improvised explosives and grenades from the apartment on him—”

As her words trailed off slowly, she tightened her grip even more, and Samuel Gilmore’s scream of pain rang out long.

They had closed the gap thanks to Ruslan, and while overtaking them would be difficult, she thought they had at least caught up enough to stand side by side. Yet despite pursuing them without delay, they had come up empty again, and frustration was starting to rise.

Tatyana tossed aside Gilmore’s hand, now completely crushed, and smiled brightly.

“Let’s kill him. Cleanly.”

“Sounds good.”

Agreeing without hesitation, Ruslan slowly rose from his chair. Samuel Gilmore’s furious, profanity-laced shouts echoed through the room, but Ruslan and Tatyana’s expressions remained calm.

“Sister, you handle this. By this time, Branch Chief Hawkins should have returned to the office, so I’ll tell them to send someone to the Lubyanka embassy.”

“Yes. Go make the call. Give me the lighter.”

Taking the lighter from Ruslan, Tatyana placed the cigarette she had taken from him earlier back between her lips. As Ruslan left the small darkroom, Gilmore, his face twisted with fury, shouted, unable even to clutch his shattered hand.

“You crazy—what kind of strength does a woman even…! B-Bombs, what are you talking about, ahh, what do you mean!”

“Your acting is impressive. You must be out of your mind from the pain.”

“I’m not lying, I really don’t know anything, damn it! Fleming, yeah, I killed her. I did kill her, but what bombs are you talking about! I don’t even know how to handle something like that! I don’t know!”

“Yes, I’m sure. It has to be that way.”

From outside the darkroom came the sound of Ruslan speaking with Branch Chief Hawkins. Slowly rising from her seat, Tatyana gripped the loaded pistol and looked around the dim red darkroom. She had already seen it, but like the laundry, dust covered everything, making it easy to trace who had moved where.

“…I hear you smuggled out a list of people seeking asylum from Lubyanka.”

That list must be what’s on the film Rebecca West took. After briefly scanning the enlarger that showed signs of recent use, the leftover photo paper, developer, fixer, and even the partially developed photographs left midway, Tatyana turned and looked down at Gilmore.

“Recovering that list intact and checking for any additional leaks is the priority, but honestly, I only need the name of the political prisoner who escaped the Cherkubo Gulag and the location of the safe house where he’s hiding. Well, if possible, getting hold of the evidence of war crimes committed inside the Cherkubo Gulag that he supposedly has would be even better….”

“….”

Speaking clearly but in a voice low enough that only Gilmore could hear, the corners of Tatyana’s lips lifted slightly.

“I wonder if you memorized even one name. You’d need that to sneak him out without being dragged off to Military Intelligence, or at least to buy yourself some time.”

Tatyana bent slightly at the waist as if asking what he thought of her proposal. It would be good if he accepted, but even if he didn’t, there were other ways to find out, so it was up to him. The way she met his gaze carried that subtle meaning.

Clutching only his forearm because the pain in his limp hand and wrist wouldn’t subside, Gilmore shouted, “How would I know that! Why do you think I’m tied up like this here!”

“How would I know that? That’s for you to explain.”

A thin wisp of smoke rose from the glowing tip of the cigarette. Exhaling it in short bursts, Tatyana brought the barely smoked cigarette close to Gilmore’s eye, as if she might press the ember into it at any moment.

At the heat searing the skin around his eye, Gilmore’s pupils shook violently. Tatyana smiled brightly and lifted the corners of her lips even higher.

“And try raising your voice like that one more time. If it’s louder than mine, I’ll pull out your tongue and use it as a gag. Understand?”

“….”

Samuel Gilmore, his expression thrown into disarray by panic, drew in a sharp breath. Not anything else, but his tongue as a gag… it was a level of threat he had never heard or spoken of in his life.

The arrogant look he wore, believing he held the upper hand because they wouldn’t kill him without finding the leaked intelligence, stiffened into shock. As Tatyana watched his now unguarded face without interest, Ruslan returned to the darkroom after finishing the call.

“They’ll contact the operative planted in the Lubyanka embassy immediately, and they’re deploying operatives around the embassy as well.”

“That’s a relief. Any movement?”

“They passed Rebecca West’s transit permit photo to nearby agents, but she hasn’t shown up yet. They’ve sealed off the city and reinforced inspections at Checkpoint Two and the surrounding posts, so she won’t get out easily. We just have to hope she hasn’t changed her appearance.”

Tatyana nodded and began examining the scattered photographs on the darkroom worktable one by one, when Gilmore, who had been watching Ruslan for an opening, suddenly shouted as if he had been waiting for this moment.

“Hey, hey! Do you know what that woman just said to me?”

“What did she say?”

“She said if I tell her the name of the political prisoner who escaped from the Cherkubo Gulag and the location of the safe house, she’ll get me out to somewhere safe so I won’t be dragged off to Military Intelligence!”

Having exposed Tatyana’s proposal exactly as it was, Gilmore flashed a sly, triumphant grin at her. As his boastful shout ended, an awkward silence settled over the darkroom.

It was ridiculous that he believed it at face value, but his mouth was even looser than it looked. Letting out a hollow laugh at the absurdity, Tatyana simply flipped through the photographs as if telling them to do whatever they wanted. Ruslan gave her a brief glance, showing no sign of being flustered by Gilmore’s tattling, then slowly rubbed his forehead.

“So?”

“…What?”

Startled by the unexpected response, Gilmore blurted out a short question. Tatyana, whose eyes widened though not as much as his, also glanced at Ruslan. With a single word, he had startled both of them, yet he remained calm on his own.

Turning her body fully, Tatyana studied Ruslan as closely as she had examined Gilmore, who had revealed his true colors. Ruslan blinked, as if organizing his thoughts or suppressing some emotion that rose for no clear reason, then opened his mouth.

“You said the nun made you an offer. What do you want me to do about it?”

“N-No. I was trying to report an agent who was plotting something else—”

“Whether someone like you lives or dies isn’t my concern, but she kindly told you how to save your life, so you should’ve just listened. What do you expect me to do, listening to you ramble on about every trivial detail? Did you already forget that just a moment ago we said there was no need to take you alive?”

“….”

“What are you looking at? Did I say something wrong?”

“I, I’m talking to you, Father….”

“Talking, my ass.”

Flat and harsh, Ruslan replied as he sat in his chair and met the gaze of Gilmore, whose face had gone blank. Leaning his upper body slightly against the backrest, he asked, “Do you think you’re in any position to report someone?”

“….”

“And you dare report the nun?”

“But she’s not even a real nun, so why….”

Gilmore trailed off, as if he couldn’t understand why the word ‘dare’ was even being used. If the nun’s side had been so vicious in its threats that it left him speechless, then the priest’s side left him flustered because nothing he said seemed to get through.

Tatyana agreed with that part as well. Who was she for him to be talking about daring….

But Ruslan clearly didn’t think the same. Moving his leg, he lightly tapped Gilmore’s knee three times, as if knocking.

“Wh-why are you, getting angry like this….”

As if to say he could just not believe it if he didn’t want to, why take it this far, Gilmore’s face showed he had run out of things to say. Ruslan stared at him for a moment, then rose to his feet as if he had no other choice.

“…Right. I am getting angry.”

Leaving the photos he hadn’t yet checked for later, Tatyana, who had been lightly leaning against the worktable, straightened her back.

That line, that he was angry, didn’t sound like empty words.

Was it because Samuel Gilmore had been acting so contemptibly? There was almost no change in his expression, as flat as his voice, yet it really did seem like he was angry.

She hadn’t known Ruslan for long, but the unfamiliarity of that face struck her anew. Setting aside Samuel Gilmore’s deception and performance, what was the cause of that quiet anger? She couldn’t grasp what lay beneath him, something he rarely revealed, and her gaze kept drifting toward him.

At that moment, Ruslan, who had stood up, pushed his chair back in a long scrape. As if securing space to move freely, he swept a glance around and asked, “Your name. Samuel Lucas Gilmore, correct?”

“…Huh? Yes, that’s right.”

It was a sudden and unexpected question, but Gilmore answered obediently for the moment. The atmosphere emanating from Ruslan’s upright posture was unusual enough that Tatyana asked with a puzzled expression, “Father, what are you about to do?”

“I heard it in passing, but when starting an exorcism, they ask the name of the demon or evil spirit first.”

“…Ah, is that so?”

“Or maybe not.”