"Thank you very much, Mr. Wainwright," Hauser said, shouting over the wind. "That was very impressive."
Hauser was standing next to Natalya-but to Benjamin's surprise, he wasn't holding her. She was simply standing there, staring at him, with an utterly indefinable expression on her face.
"Boris," said Benjamin, not quite sure if he was asking a question or not.
"He's not the only predatel, the only betrayer here, Benjamin," said Natalya.
Benjamin went completely still.
"You?!"
Natalya said nothing-as though words wouldn't convey what she felt. Boris merely shrugged, smiled.
"Whatever is," he said, pointing with the tip of his rifle to the bundle under Benjamin's arm, "worth many rubles. I'm just businessman."
"And you, Natalya," Benjamin said, the words biting like acid. "Are you just a businessman?"
"Never mind about that, Wainwright," Hauser said. "It's been a helluva ride. I never thought you'd get this far. Congratulations."
Benjamin was still catching his breath. He wanted to stall for time, even if he wasn't sure why.
"You knew?" he shouted through the wind. "All along, you knew it was here?"
Hauser laughed. "Hell, no. We didn't know where the damn thing was. We didn't know if it really existed. Just rumors, over the years. And it was their problem, not ours. Until Fletcher got too curious."
"And too good," said Benjamin. "So you killed him, then used Samuel and me to track this down."
Even as he talked, he was furiously trying to figure out a way to separate Hauser from Natalya and Boris. Then he remembered the Makarov in his pocket. Boris's rifle was sloping down at the ground, not pointed directly at him. If I just slip my hand into my pocket…
Hauser chuckled. "And just like a good hunting dog, you brought us right to it. With a little push from that Amazon Gudrun." He smiled when he saw the surprise in Benjamin's eyes. "That's right, bright boy. But I guess not too bright, eh?" And then the smile vanished. "Now, set the package down and step back."
Benjamin bent slowly, placed the bundle on the ground, then stood and took a step back. He calculated he was about eight feet from Hauser. But if Hauser stepped forward to get the bundle, and if it took a few seconds for Boris to react…
Hauser took a step forward, then turned and dragged Natalya with him.
"And what do you get out of this, Natalya? A promotion?" Benjamin sneered.
She shook her head, even as she struggled in Hauser's grip. "You don't understand…"
"Yes, you've said that a lot since we met." Even though Benjamin's chest was rigid with anger and pain, he wanted to keep talking while he moved his gloves toward his pockets, as if trying to warm his hands. "To betray a naive American, that I get. But your own father?"
Natalya bent her head, silent. Hauser stepped closer.
"Ancient history, Mr. Wainwright," he said. "And now that we have Fletcher's computer back, all the loose ends have been… snipped off."
"Then Anton is with you, too," Benjamin said. It wasn't a question. Did they also know about the copy of the program on the CD, which was back at Boris's cabin? They had to; Natalya would have told them.
But then, what did any of that matter? He didn't think Hauser was letting them go anywhere.
"Or you've killed Anton," Benjamin said. His hands were inches from his pockets. "Like Dr. Fletcher and Mrs. Gadenhower."
"You have to be committed for the long haul," Hauser said. "That crazy bee lady thought it was all just an idea, just a theory. That's how you academics are, isn't it? Big ideas, but when the time comes to ante up…" He finished with a shrug.
Hauser had reached the bundle. Benjamin expected him to bend down and pick it up.
"Now, Ms. Orlova," Hauser said, keeping his eyes on Benjamin, "if you would kindly pick that up for me."
Natalya looked back at him, to Benjamin. Then she moved toward the bundle.
Benjamin had to interrupt him, to distract them.
"And what then?" he shouted at Hauser. "You'll kill us all?"
"He just wants package," Boris shouted. "Give it to him, we all go home, nobody dies."
"You're a fool, Boris," Benjamin said, keeping his eyes on Hauser. "They can't let us go. Not now that we know it exists. He'll have to kill you, too, just for being here."
He saw Boris look toward Hauser's back. Natalya, too, turned from where she knelt near the bundle, looked up at Hauser.
"That was not the arrangement," she said steadily.
"Nobody gets killed," Boris said. He raised the rifle a little, moving it toward where Hauser stood. "That is deal."
Hauser swiveled toward Boris and fired before Boris could react. Benjamin saw Boris's head twist to one side, his rifle discharging with a loud roar up into the sky.
Even as Boris fell, Benjamin launched himself at Hauser. As Hauser was turning back toward him, Benjamin slammed into his chest, pinning Hauser's arm and sending them both down onto the ground.
Benjamin heard the explosion of Hauser's pistol and felt the blow in his shoulder simultaneously. It was a searing pain, like a white-hot poker shoved into his flesh. As he flinched, Hauser pushed him to the side. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Natalya crouching, as if about to to leap- but at which one of us?
And then Hauser had fought free, was standing over him, pointing his pistol at Benjamin's head.
Benjamin's hand had found the Makarov. He pulled the trigger, firing through his parka.
There was an eruption of fiber and down from Hauser's parka as the bullet creased his arm. Before Benjamin could fire again, Hauser recovered, raised his pistol, aimed it again at Benjamin's head.
There was a tiny puff of snow at Hauser's feet, and a sound, faint in the wind, like a tree limb cracking. Hauser instinctively looked down at his feet. As he did so, there was another crack, this time much louder. Everything seemed to stand still.
Hauser towered over him, like a statue, the gun still pointing downward; Natalya was half crouched, startled and motionless; Benjamin could feel the burning in his shoulder, the warmth of something liquid running down his chest inside his parka, the frigid wind brushing across his face. His vision started to narrow, and he knew he was passing out.
Hauser toppled to the ground like a felled tree. His head was lying on its side, only a foot from Benjamin's own. Benjamin could see a dark red stain spreading across the ground, under Hauser's head.
And then Benjamin knew he was hallucinating.
Because, as his vision narrowed even further, he saw Samuel Wolfe bending down over him. And in this hallucination, Wolfe was dressed all in white, like a ghost.
Or an angel.