Road of Bones by Don Pendleton

Author:Don Pendleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worldwide Library
Published: 2012-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“My family and I live near one of the old reeducation camps,” Famintsyn said. “It held around two thousand prisoners in Stalin’s time.”

“You chose the site deliberately?” Bolan asked, hoping he didn’t sound too critical.

Famintsyn shrugged and answered, “Land was cheaper there. I also helped myself to some of the materials. For building, da?”

“Makes sense,” Bolan replied.

They’d had no difficulty with the bike since their new driver’s truck came with a sturdy metal ramp for loading awkward cargo. Once the BMW had been wheeled aboard, they covered it with tarp, tied it down and climbed into the Ural’s fairly spacious cab. Anuchin winked at Bolan as she took the middle seat, Famintsyn beaming at her from behind the wheel.

He’d told them that his castle, as Famintsyn called it, was located eighty-five miles east of where they’d found him with the bandits, all reposing now, inside their old box truck, which Bolan had maneuvered off the road into a narrow kind of lay-by where it only blocked a portion of one lane. He didn’t know when they’d be found, or what condition they’d be in, but it was none of his concern.

Gaining the distance with Famintsyn in his Ural rig had several advantages for Bolan and his passenger. First thing, although the truck’s top speed was somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty miles per hour, it was big and tough enough to tackle obstacles that could’ve stalled the two-wheel travelers for hours. They’d already crossed two rushing streams and miles of broken ground that would have been a major challenge to negotiate by motorcycle.

Second, while they traveled with Famintsyn they were off the grid, at least to some extent. If aerial or satellite surveillance had been used to follow them and spot them for the soldiers in the Black Shark gunship, further peeping from on high would be a wasted effort now. Eyes in the sky would search in vain for Bolan’s motorcycle on the Road of Bones, until tomorrow’s dawn arrived.

Which brought him to the third advantage. Staying overnight with their new friend, he hoped for several hours of decent rest, in relative security. Of course, there was a chance that FSB teams would be running up and down the highway all night long, after their skirmish with the chopper crew, but that was all the more reason for them to briefly vanish, frustrate their pursuers, leave the hunters wondering how they had pulled off the disappearing act.

The downside, Bolan recognized, was a risk of betrayal. They had saved Famintsyn’s life, and while his gratitude struck Bolan as sincere, he also had the look of someone who was used to living by his wits. There was a chance, however slim, that once he’d thought it through, Famintsyn might decide to sell them out.

Unlikely, Bolan thought, based on his reading of the man, but anything was possible. The antidote for being caught off-guard was making damned sure that you never let your guard down in the first place.

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