Contents

Prologue

Today was an unusually lucky day for Lev, and it wasn’t even because of the summer weather with the bright and warm sun, or his possible reward in the near future, but cause today he would catch the long-wanted hitman he had been tracking for six months. An hour ago he received information about the exact location of the killer.

Abandoning all his business and leaving a freshly poured cup of coffee unfinished on the table, Baghov grabbed a light blue jacket on a hanger, quickly closed the office and ran towards the car. At the same time, he was looking for a number in his phone that he could call for a capture group.

«Yes, he’s there, we need everyone who’s here in an hour, that bastard is probably armed!» he declared in a loud voice, after which he quickly dictated the address and ran out of the department.

The asphalt in the parking lot was so hot that you could smell its strong synthetic smell, and there was an incredible heat from below. Having walked to his car, Lev jerked the driver’s door and climbed inside, immediately turning the air conditioner to maximum with the lever. When he found himself in the car, it seemed that he had landed in the Sahara, no other way, but the cool air quickly began to fill the room, pleasantly refreshing.

Without waiting for a confirmation call, the man shifted into gear and floored the gas, taking off. The car quickly jumped out onto the highway and sped toward the city, overtaking oncoming traffic, jumping between lanes as if playing checkers. He concentrated on gripping the steering wheel with a death grip, squeezing his knuckles until they hurt, and a bead of sweat ran down his forehead. He was constantly honked at from behind, but he didn’t care. The streets changed in a constant kaleidoscope, pedestrians rushed past, jumping back from unexpected misfortune, and ahead he could see pleasant green landscapes of trees swaying in the wind in the reflections of the sun.

Lev finally reached the desired ten-story building — «Brezhnevka» with a disgusting red-yellow color of peeling paint, stopped abruptly, blocking the passage to the yard, jumped out of the car and ran towards the entrance. All this time he had not received a call from the capture group, and the standard black minivan in which she usually hid was nowhere to be seen in the area. However, Baghov did not care at all. He took a pistol out of his holster, preparing for the expected fight and, grabbing the door of the entrance that was closing after the previous person, went inside.

The man found himself in complete darkness. The smell of dampness and stench from careless tenants hit his nose. Wincing in disgust, he moved on, opening the wooden door with a cloudy glass insert and starting to climb the stairs. A thin man in a gray duffle coat, which, to his surprise, did not sweat in such heat, with two full bags from the grocery store was already walking along it, but he was walking so slowly that Lev had no choice but to push him against the wall.

«Move aside!» he shouted, continuing to climb.

«What’s wrong? Can you be more careful?» the resident of this house was indignant, shaking off the whitewash from his right sleeve, but the investigative operative had already run far ahead.

Baghov reached the elevator, and it was conveniently standing below, significantly saving precious time. The man ran inside and pressed the button for the tenth floor with all the force of his finger, pushing it inward. The doors closed with an incredible creak, and the cabin, blinking a yellowish light inside, creating a frightening atmosphere, like in horror films, began to rise upward.

Suddenly the elevator began to rock violently from side to side, forcing Lev to grab the handrail. It was as if he was caught in a powerful storm at sea, forcing him to move around the deck with great difficulty and patience. With each passing second the vibration became stronger and stronger until the cabin suddenly stopped, forcing the man to fall to the floor in surprise. From above he heard the sound of a circular saw, and then it suddenly stopped and a voice came: «Bon «voyage, comrade Sidorenko,» after which the elevator began to fall down with a roar.

Chapter 1. The road to the airport

9:00 PM

The lights of the evening streets of Moscow flashed outside the window of a car moving in a dense stream. Despite the evening time and the summer period, the roads were still clogged, creating great inconvenience for city residents and an endless hum of drivers honking at each other until late at night due to dissatisfaction with the slow reaction to the traffic jam moving forward. Unlike the rest of the hot summer with its scorching sun, today it suddenly started to rain heavily, which only began to end closer to the night, drizzling a little on the already wet asphalt.

Looking ahead once more at the practically motionless column of cars, Vitaly pulled back the sleeve of his grey checkered jacket with his right hand and looked at his watch. Exactly 9:00 p.m., a little over an hour before the plane.

A cheerful song started playing on the radio, and the pleasant voice of the host was heard: «Good evening, it’s 9:00 PM in the capital. Let’s discuss the main events of the day. The mayor of Moscow opened a new metro station on the „Kalininsko-Solntsevskaya“ line. The joy of the city’s residents knows no bounds — after all, now they can leave for work fifteen minutes later.»

Starting to get a little nervous, the man began to beat out rhythmic music on his knee with his fingers. Noticing these movements out of the corner of his eye, the taxi driver smiled, saying: «Don’t worry so much, we’re already here, ten minutes left at most!» at the same time turning down the volume on the old double-DIN radio with the scrolling circle.

These words calmed Nosov down a little, but the worm of doubt in the depths of his soul continued to dig the earth, playing a complex musical composition on his nerves, making his heart start beating faster from the rolling excitement.

«Yes, there’s only a mile and a half left. Where are you flying to?» the interlocutor decided to ask, looking again at the address in his navigator «Vnukovo Airport», deciding to try to calm the worried passenger down a little.

«To Vladivostok,» Vitaly answered briefly, stuttering a little.

He had this speech disorder since childhood. His parents even took him to a psychologist and a speech therapist, but they couldn’t do anything — the problem was somewhere deep inside, and the child’s strong isolation did not allow him to share it and open up to doctors. Therefore, now, at the age of twenty-seven, Nosov continued to stutter. When everything was fine and calm, the defect was hidden and remained practically unnoticed, but as soon as his nerves broke free, everything immediately became visible.

«Wow, so far. Are you wanting to pick up a car from Japan?» the taxi driver asked, looking through the rearview mirror at the passenger’s face.

«No, it’s much more prosaic, the Far Eastern Forum,» Vitaly answered in a much more even voice, distracted by the conversation and beginning to calm down little by little.

At that moment on the highway, which resembled a clogged narrow pipe, it was as if a plug had been pulled out, and the flow of cars began to move, gradually accelerating. Nosov looked at his watch more measuredly: an hour before departure. «The main thing is to have time to check in,» he thought.

Since childhood the man, then still a boy, was interested in mathematics and riddles. He always managed to solve problems of any complexity much faster than his peers. Realizing that he had a gift for this, his parents sent him to study according to an individual program in order to further develop the necessary skills. In middle school, he managed to win the All-Russian Olympiad. Then came the international level. After graduating from school, he managed to enter the Academy of Cryptography on the first try. And then both of his passions combined. In his class, Vitaly continued to maintain the status of one of the most successful and promising specialists, so a job offer from the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information did not come as a big surprise to him. Tomorrow, he and his colleagues will have to present to the Government at a closed presentation a new computer program for decryption, which will send the «blockchain» technology back to the last century. The passenger was one of the authors of its algorithm, so success was something personal for him.

«If it’s not a secret, what are you planning to show?» the driver continued to ask, changing lanes to the right lane as the turn signal crackled.

«The future,» Nosov answered dryly, realizing that he couldn’t tell him more.

«And what, even he will be there?» the taxi driver asked, pointing his index finger at the ceiling.

«Everyone will be there,» Vitaly smiled.

At that moment, the car pulled up to the airport entrance with a bright blue sign illuminated in the night, then stopped abruptly, the driver turned on the hazard lights and opened the trunk. His interlocutor quickly walked out onto the street while the driver took out the suitcase he had packed an hour ago.

«Well, we made it, as I said, have a nice trip,» the taxi driver said, smiling happily.

«Thank you, and you too!» Nosov answered him and quickly rushed to the door.

Chapter 2. Airport

9:15 PM

With a flying gait, dragging a heavy suitcase behind him, its wheels creaking on the polished floor, Vitaly ran into the airport building. An unpleasant smell, typical of rooms with artificial ventilation, immediately hit his nose. At the entrance there was a standard inspection point, separating it from the cherished goal in the form of a check-in counter. The main task now was to print out tickets and check in luggage before such an opportunity closed, and there was not much time left for this — no more than ten to fifteen minutes.

With a heavy and bitter heart, Nosov accepted the rules of the game, loaded his suitcase onto the X-ray machine, took his phone and house keys out of his pocket onto the counter, and then walked through the metal detector. It beeped furiously, indicating the presence of metal objects.

«What do you have there?» the guard asked discontentedly, who had seen the same picture every day for ten years, and during this long period of time practically nothing in the technology and the habits of the passengers had changed.

«I don’t know,» Vitaly answered briefly, stopping abruptly.

«Please go out and come back again,» he said, getting up from his chair.

Following his instructions, Nosov performed this maneuver, but the metal detector frame continued to scream at full volume.

«Very timely,» flashed through the man’s head.

«Come here,» the guard said more insistently, taking out a rectangular device with the same functionality.

After making small movements over his body, he discovered that the source of the device’s disturbance was an ordinary metal waist belt.

«At the next inspection, please take off your belt,» he muttered under his breath, «you can pass.»

Nodding in agreement to the remark, Vitaly quickly grabbed the suitcase from the scanner and ran towards the check-in desks to the sound of disapproving sighs. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the departure board to find the windows he needed. There were no more than five to seven minutes left. Realizing that the only remaining number he needed was «eleven», Nosov reached it, dumping all his documents on the table, causing the woman sitting there to flinch in surprise.

«Hello,» the man whispered, a little out of breath.

«Good evening,» she answered, «Vladivostok?»

Vitaly just nodded, unable to answer anything.

«Okay, let’s see now,» she continued, starting to type something on the computer.

«Can you please hurry up? I’m late,» Nosov pleaded, stuttering loudly again.

«I’ll try to do everything in my power,» the woman replied, seeing such passengers every day.

Realizing that all he could do now was to wait and hope for the best, the man loaded his suitcase onto the scales, slowed down and caught his breath, hearing loud conversations behind him at the entrance. Turning around, he saw an old lady in high heels, a fashionable cap, a long skirt, a white blouse and a stylish scarf unable to pass through the metal detector, which was confidently signaling a problem.

«Honey, please let me through, check-in for the flight is ending, and I need to get to my grandson’s birthday party!» she said, lisping slightly because of her dentures.

«Sorry, but the rules are the rules,» the guard replied. «Take off everything metal and go through again.»

Frowning a little, the grandmother did as asked, and then walked through the frame again, which rang again.

«It’s all just a bunch of slapstick!» she said indignantly, looking for the departure board.

After listening to her suggestion, the man again ran his stick along the entire body, and then lowered it to the shoe to the incredible ringing of the device.

«You see, I told you so,» the woman smiled with relief.

«You shouldn’t be wearing heels at your age, it’s time to something simpler and more modest,» he scolded her, coming closer to the bag that had come out of the scanner. «And what’s this? Show me please.»

The old woman calmly reached her things and unzipped the zipper with a light movement of her hand. A pile of personal items led inside — towels, a toothbrush, clothes, hygiene items, and also simple religious beads. Frowning, the guard poked around, then, feeling several bulky pieces of plastic, pulled them out.

«A construction set for my grandson, it’s his birthday, I have to give him something!» Grandma exclaimed, adjusting the cap on her head.

«He’s lucky with his grandmother, come on in,» the guard said after looking at them for another minute.

«Thank you,» she said, running towards the check-in desks.

At this point, Nosov’s paperwork was already in its final stages. He couldn’t wait for the young woman to return his passport. Now she printed out the necessary stickers and began to place them around the suitcase.

«Here you go, your tickets,» the airport employee said, handing over a document with a piece of paper tucked inside.

The luggage quickly went somewhere into the depths of the hall, disappearing behind a dark rubber door.

«Thank you,» Vitaly answered happily and, more calmly, went to undergo the remaining necessary procedures.

Chapter 3. SMS

9:20 PM

Gennady liked his job. Even if many people consider it unacceptable or even immoral, each task should be handled by a specialist.

Gromov liked killing even at the age of ten. At first these were bugs and small insects, but the inclination for such an activity captivated him more and more with each passing year. Moreover, unlike serial killers and maniacs, it did not bring him any psychological pleasure, it was not some kind of attraction that was impossible to overcome. Gennady admired the process itself and selected various methods for this, which later predetermined the scope of his future specialization.

He always did his job flawlessly, it was impossible to find fault with him and find even one flaw, except for one single time, which made him shake in convulsions at the mere mention. The man tried to throw this moment out of his head in every possible way, but the problem could not be solved in any way.

Realizing that he couldn’t console himself and that it was impossible to forget, after a long break he took up what he loved most — his work. Yesterday evening he received his first text message from a new client. However, unlike what usually happened, he had no details at all.

Gromov would not have taken on this case, but the playful interest in trying something new for himself and the tidy sum offered, one zero more than the standard, made him change his mind. Of course, at first it seemed to him that this was a scam, so the killer decided to request an advance payment, which was promptly received into the account, further dispelling doubts about the need to complete the task.

The message was incredibly short: «Moscow-Vladivostok, tomorrow, 9:40 PM, Vnukovo. Target — location 3E.» Usually the victim’s name was immediately known, and there was plenty of time to prepare, but now the mystery and speed frightened him. Along with the advance payment, the «Customer» had also sent a ticket, so he needed to figure out how to smuggle weapons onto the plane and carry out the mission in such limited conditions.

Now Gennady had checked in for his flight and was going through airport security. Considering it unrealistic to bring a gun, especially with a silencer, the man decided not to take any risks and do without this luxury, coming up with something quieter and more inconspicuous. To do this, he took an ordinary clothesline with him, rolled it into a ball and shoved it deep into his carry-on luggage between the clothes he had taken for the sake of appearance and personal hygiene items. The hope was that the airport employee, when examining its contents, would not attach any special importance to such an item and would let it through without any problems.

Everyone present stood in a long line, holding boxes with their belongings in their hands. The crowd moved quite slowly, making the man even more nervous, which was very inconvenient right now. Stress in his profession is the last feeling that should be experienced, because it interferes with concentration.

The cherished moment — the things pass the scanner. A second, two, three, they seemed like an eternity, and now they are already coming out the other side. Then the woman sitting at the monitor suddenly jumps up and heads towards him.

«Did you really notice? It can’t be, I foresaw everything!» Gromov exclaimed in his mind, turning pale with fear that his entire mission was falling apart before his eyes.

However, as it turned out later, the employee was not heading towards him at all, but towards the man in the grey checkered jacket behind him. She furiously opened the zipper on his bag, pulling out a bottle of water.

«Sorry, I forgot,» Vitaly answered, whose hand luggage had been handled accordingly.

The woman rolled her eyes to the sky, which was hidden somewhere far away behind dozens of sheets of metal stacked on top of each other in the ceiling, after which she threw the liquid into a nearby trash can, after which she allowed them to pass on.

With a heavy sigh of relief, Gennady picked up his bag and went further into the Duty-free department. A cacophony of smells from various perfumes immediately hit his nose, causing both a feeling of pleasant pleasure and a monstrous disgust from an incomprehensible tart-bitter mass hanging in the air, causing slight nausea. Passing by the bright signs and expensive goods, the man sat down in the waiting room and looked at the time on his wristwatch: «Exactly 9:30 PM.» Boarding had already been announced, but he was in no hurry to go inside, because the more people sat down in their seats, the higher the chance of spotting his target in advance and preparing a plan for its elimination by the time of takeoff.

After thinking about it for a few minutes, Gennady decided to get up and head for the exit, listening to a woman’s brisk announcement in several languages that boarding for the flight to Vladivostok was ending.

Chapter 4. Wife

«Hello, darling, how are you, are you awake?» Vitaly asked, deciding to have time to calmly talk to his wife while he was heading to board the plane.

He moved through a large crowd of people gathered in one place, shifting from foot to foot along the narrow tunnel of a special «sleeve» through which people usually like to get directly onto the plane, so as not to participate in traveling along the runway in a packed bus.

«Of course not, firstly, it’s half past four AM, and you would have woken me up if anything happened. But today I’m on duty,» Tatyana answered, crumpling the written draft into a ball and throwing it like a basketball into a nearby trash can, happy with the hit.

The woman worked in the security service and usually lived in Moscow with Nosov, but was currently on a short business trip to Vladivostok. By a lucky chance, they would meet in this city long before she returned home.

They met at one of the New Year’s concerts, where, by a lucky coincidence, civil servants from various fields were gathered, regardless of departments and regalia. However, this meeting was not something sublime from what Hollywood love movies like to abuse. Their acquaintance did not happen due to an accidental encounter on the street, when stacks of documents spilled on the floor, and the heroes frantically tried to collect them at the moment when their glances met. Everything was much simpler and more interesting: Vitaly spilled his juice on her.

It was already late evening, it was getting dark outside, and the dim light from the lamps overhead slightly outlined the huge space of the concert hall. People in sequined dresses and bright black tuxedos were scurrying around everywhere, holding glasses of champagne in their hands. Loud music was playing in the speakers, bursting your eardrums if you walked past. The guests were talking animatedly among themselves, actively gesturing and grimacing. Nosov was by no means a sociable person. He always had difficulty making new acquaintances, and even with the «old» ones there was nothing much to talk about. A man dressed, unlike the rest of the polished gentlemen, in an ordinary shirt and a shabby woolen vest. Greasy hair slicked sloppily to the side. Taking a glass of apple juice in his hand, trying to somehow match the high-ranking and sophisticated crowd, the man began to move around the room, proudly stamping each step, causing only laughter behind his back from the women whispering among themselves.

And then there was a power surge, the lights in the room flickered and then went out for a couple of seconds until the backup generator kicked in automatically, and Vitaly tripped over the carpet on the floor, spilling the contents of his glass somewhere to the side. As soon as he could see everything around him, he realized that he had spilled juice on a young woman in a chic bronze dress standing sideways to him. Her chestnut curly hair was neatly tucked behind her back, and her hands were frozen in a half-position, as if trying to figure out what had just happened.

«Excuse me please, I didn’t do it on purpose,» Vitaly muttered, starting to stutter loudly and trying to brush the wet yellowish drops off the fabric.

«What are you doing, stop it, you’ll rub it in now and it will be even worse!» she exclaimed, abruptly moving away.

«Sorry, I really didn’t mean to, what can I do for you?» the man asked, being put in an even more awkward position.

«Never mind, never meet me, never get to know me, and never show up here again,» she muttered under her breath, grabbing a dry napkin from the nearest table and starting to blot her soaked dress with it.

«Come with me, we definitely need to wash it off, otherwise you’ll be walking around with a stain all evening,» Nosov babbled, gesturing for her to follow him to the toilet.

«Where, in the female toilet?» she growled discontentedly, throwing her clutch bag on the table with a bang.

«Not at all, it’s common here, I checked, you can believe me,» Vitaly answered, finally beginning to calm down a little and stopping stuttering.

«Well, let’s go, what can we do with you?» the young woman switched to the informal «you» and, to the whispers of her friends, she walked proudly after her offender.

Together they reached the toilet, and the man, like a true gentleman, opened the door for the lady making a face. It turned out to be incredibly spacious inside: a huge area for washing and drying, as well as ten stalls standing in a row and at an angle. Now it was completely empty, and the semi-darkness reigning inside with dark tiles shimmering in the light and artificial flowers standing in pots, as well as small sculptures, did not make the atmosphere any more cheerful. As soon as the air freshener sensed that someone had entered the room, it immediately sprayed a stream of pleasant lavender scent overhead.

The young woman went to the sink, looked at the large yellowish spot on the right half of her chest, and then tried to spray her dress by opening the tap, which was turned on by a motion sensor with gusts of water every other time, but nothing good came of it. Realizing that nothing was working, she loudly clicked her heel on the floor tiles and turned to Vitaly.

«So what are we going to do now?» she asked mockingly, turning up her nose and resting her hands on her waist.

«I think it would be better to take it off and wash it properly with soap under running water, and then dry it with that fan,» the man suggested, pointing with his palms at the proposed objects.

«And strip naked in front of a strange man in a public toilet, where someone can enter at any moment? No thanks,» Tatyana hissed, heading for the exit.

«Stop,» Nosov stopped her, grabbing her by the shoulder.

«What are you doing, let me go, otherwise I’ll scream,» she said, trying to break free.

«We’ve already switched to „you“, haven’t we? You take off your dress and wash it calmly, and I’ll turn away and hold the door so it doesn’t open.»

He immediately let go of her hand, and after thinking for a second, the young woman turned around and went to the mirror again, leaning both hands on the sink, thinking about something. Tatyana understood perfectly well that she couldn’t spend the entire gala evening with such a huge stain, but everything that was happening now was clearly not what she had dreamed of all her life.

«Okay, but I think that since you came here, you understand what kind of people surround us, so if something happens, it will be very easy to find you,» she proudly declared, turning to her interlocutor.

«Okay,» he answered briefly, smiling. «Shake on it.»

Having fulfilled his part of the deal, the man immediately turned to the exit and pressed the door with his shoulder and foot, securely blocking the door in this position from any penetration from the outside. He liked her very much, and seeing that there was no wedding ring on her finger, he decided to begin more active courtship. Having waited and carefully watching his actions, the young woman began to unzip the zipper, being ready to zip it up again at any moment. Realizing that the guy was waiting patiently and did not even move, she finally took off her outerwear and went to the sink, immersing the dirty fabric in water and pouring laundry soap over it.

«By the way, my name is Vitaly,» the man suddenly broke the silence, continuing to do his job, which scared her quite a bit.

«Tatyana,» she answered, having calmed down a little, turning in his direction and realizing that she was not being watched.

«Nice to meet you, what an evening indeed.»

«It would be better if it didn’t exist,» the young woman muttered having finished washing the dress.

«Well, why not? Then we wouldn’t have met,» Nosov objected, trying with all his might to resist the desire to even slightly peek at what was deliberately hidden from view.

«Don’t worry, as soon as we leave this room, we won’t see each other again,» Tatyana answered, walking up to the fan and starting to dry.

«I’m afraid you’re wrong, I, as a practical mathematician, can tell you about the law of universal connection and mutual conditioning, so that accidents are not accidental,» Vitaly proudly declared, deciding to show off his intellect.

«Isn’t that the theory of determinism from philosophy?» the young woman teased him, slightly offended by his decision to pose.

«And you, I see, are not only beautiful, but also smart,» said Nosov, beginning to smile more and more and become imbued with his unexpected acquaintance.

«Where do you work, sycophant?» she practically ignored the compliment, finishing the procedures and starting to get dressed again. Surprisingly, the stain was completely gone, as if it had never happened.

«In encryption, but I still haven’t solved the riddle of your heart, have you?» he answered, not understanding what had suddenly come over him.

«And I’ll come to you if your skills are needed,» Tatyana stated briefly, deciding not to reveal all her cards.

«Or maybe not only, say tomorrow, at about six PM on „Okhotny Ryad“?» Vitaly suggested, hearing the sound of a zipper being fastened, as a sign that he could turn around.

«Maybe I’ll think about it, just put on something more decent,» she replied, pointing her finger at the life-worn vest, after which she grabbed the handle of the door the man had let go of.

«Wait, what’s your phone number?» Nosov asked, jumping out of the toilet, shouting this after the young woman as she walked away.

«You don’t need him yet, if I come, you’ll see me yourself!» she declared, quickly walking back to her friends.

Three years have passed since then, and the romance that had begun had engulfed them with such speed and passion that they had not had time to come to their senses. Surprisingly, both were perfectly suited to each other and understood each other at a glance, and the connection was somehow unearthly. Vitaly, speaking about the theory of interrelation, was not mistaken.

«Okay, go ahead, have a good shift, I’m already boarding the plane, can you imagine, I was almost late,» he said, walking past the smiling and greeting flight attendants at the entrance.

«For some reason I’m not surprised. If you had left ten minutes earlier, as usual, then you would have definitely arrived on time,» the young woman quipped.

«Very funny, I’ll be there in about eight and a half hours, we can meet for lunch somewhere.»

«Okay, go ahead, have a nice trip,» Tatyana replied, kissing the phone’s microphone.

«Kiss you,» he said, hanging up the phone and holding out his hand with the ticket, trying to match the combination of letters on the piece of paper and the luggage racks.

Chapter 5. Takeoff

9:40 PM

Gennady continued to move through the crowd heading towards the plane. Deep down, he was still a little nervous, because he had never had to carry out a task on board. Of course, working in confined spaces was nothing new: elevators, buses, trains, but now the level of training and complexity increased incredibly while simultaneously decreasing the chances of a possible error, because in case of failure, he would be trapped at an altitude of six thousand miles with no way to get out and hide from pursuit. With these thoughts, he went inside the cabin.

«Hello!» the stewardess, wearing bright red lipstick, immediately greeted him.

«Good evening,» Gromov answered dryly, starting to move towards his seat.

At the same time he naturally glanced at seat «3E» — his goal for the day, but it was not yet occupied. Cursing to himself that, even after waiting for the plane to be almost fully boarded, he could not identify the victim, Gennady moved on to his seat «28E», squeezing through passengers who were putting suitcases on the overhead luggage racks. A strong, specific smell of ventilated air hit his nose, causing his head to immediately begin to swell from discomfort.

Having finally reached the right spot, the killer unzipped the bag, rummaged around in it for a minute and pulled out the desired coil of clothesline and the pills needed for the job from the very bottom, after which he closed the zipper and threw the bag away from himself, starting to squeeze his way to his seat in the very middle of the entire plane. Looking around, he immediately realized that he was «lucky» — on both sides there were heavyset men, occupying both armrests with their thick arms. Smiling slightly at them and cursing the man who booked his ticket, Gromov fastened his seat belt and stared forward, waiting for the plane to take off; anyway, it would be a long time before he could move freely around the cabin. The flight was eight and a half hours long, so it was necessary to choose the exact time of the murder, and also figure out how to close the toilet from the outside.

Gennady’s plan wasn’t perfect, but there was no other. Taking a laxative with him, he would somehow lure the victim into the toilet closer to the middle of the flight, and then carry out his plan, barricading it afterwards. But how to pull off the first part? There was no answer to that question.

The passengers slowly began to take their seats, and the flight attendants began to close the open luggage racks. «Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking, our plane is preparing for takeoff, on behalf of the entire crew and the airline, I welcome you on board the Boeing 747. Travel time will be approximately eight hours and thirty minutes, have a nice flight!» a hoarse male voice came over the speakers. Then he repeated the same thing in Russian.

Two flight attendants stood in the aisles to give safety instructions on using life jackets and masks, while others walked up and down the aisles, checking that seat belts were fastened. One of the fat men coughed sharply, causing Gennady to wince at the stench coming from his mouth.

«Well, the flight will be incredibly comfortable,» flashed through his head as soon as he stretched his legs forward, resting his knees on the next seat.

A few minutes later, he felt the plane move and taxi down the runway, preparing for takeoff. The overhead lights suddenly went out, plunging everyone around him into pitch darkness, punctuated by small lights indicating no smoking and seatbelt signs overhead. The loud whine of the engines on the wings became audible.

A few more moments, and the ship began to accelerate sharply, until it reached a monstrous speed and smoothly lifted off the ground, lifting its nose upward. The body immediately felt as if it were in zero gravity, and then a contradictory feeling of attraction to the ground while moving towards the sky. Almost immediately, a slight congestion appeared in the ears due to the difference in pressure, and somewhere in the distance, experiencing this for the first time, a child screamed.

«Well, here we go. Bonne chance avec ton travail,» Gennady whispered, smiling contentedly.