The Funicular by John R Aarons

Author:John R Aarons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, crime, mystery
Publisher: Austin Macauley

Chapter 12

Moscow, October 20

After a good night’s sleep and a leisurely breakfast, Carlos and Martin were picked up around 10.00 in a large Russian built Lada police 4-wheel drive with two uniformed officers to escort them. They were driven to Alexei Nagormy’s warehouse by the same policeman who had taken them to Red Square the day before. The warehouse was located in a run-down industrial area of Moscow. On the way there, Martin observed to Carlos, “Many buildings are in a very poor state of repair, particularly the Soviet era grey concrete high-rise apartment houses. Most of the balconies are so cracked and broken they look as though they would collapse if anyone dared to walk out onto them. The buildings appear to be in such decrepit condition, it is hard to believe anyone lives in them.” Carlos asked their driver who had overheard Martin’s comments, “Does anyone actually live in these derelict buildings?” and he replied, “Yes, as far as living conditions are concerned, particularly in Moscow, not much has changed in public housing since President Gorbachev’s ‘perestroika’. It was really tough living under communism but for some people it’s even worse now.” He paused to concentrate on his driving for a minute as the vehicle had become stuck in a traffic jam.

He went on, “These terrible buildings have only one kitchen and one bathroom on each floor that must be shared by all the residents on that floor. Even with these awful conditions, the apartments are generally completely full with families with little money. Because the rents are only a few roubles a month, there are long lists of people waiting to move in the moment any become vacant.”

To hammer home the point, he finished up by saying, “I know about this from personal experience because my wife and I have been waiting for more than two years to get one of these places. With my paltry police salary, we haven’t enough money to afford anything better!

“On my days off, I have a job as a security guard at a bank to increase my income and fortunately the security agency pays me in cash as police employees are not supposed to take on second jobs. It is common knowledge that some police officers take bribes but this depends on the position they have in the force. Traffic cops are in a perfect situation for this. Whenever they stop a driver for an alleged offence such as speeding or going through a red light without stopping, they offer the chance not to have a ticket in exchange for a small fee. My work is mainly in the office assisting the chief and driving him around so does not bring me face to face with offenders very often so I am always looking for other means to supplement my income.”

On arrival at the warehouse, they were greeted by a pleasant young woman who introduced herself as Olga Petrova and told them she was the personal assistant to the company’s owner, Alexei Nagormy.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.