“Come take a look at these slides,” Karel said, lifting his head from a high-powered microscope on the large table.
Nadia pressed her right eye to the lens. The picture resembled a scatter plot of pink circles on a white background. Some of the circles were darker, while others were lighter. More than a third of the picture, however, was white.
“That is the bone marrow of a primate that has been exposed to ionizing radiation,” he said. “Ionizing radiation is radiation with energy high enough to change an atom or molecule. Like X-rays or a nuclear reaction. As opposed to non-ionizing radiation, which is low energy. It excites the atom or molecule but doesn’t change its shape. Like radio or microwave. For our purposes, we are talking about ionizing radiation.”
Nadia kept her eye pressed to the lens. “What do the pink circles represent?”
“Red blood cells,” Karel said. “When a human being is exposed to radiation, the bone marrow is the most susceptible tissue, especially the stem cells that give rise to new blood cells.”
“There’s a lot of white here. Does that mean blood cells are not reproducing properly?”
“Correct. When stem cells die, blood counts drop. Two types of blood cells are especially crucial. The neutrophils, which fight infection and stimulate the immune system. And the platelets, which stimulate blood clots. When neutrophils and platelets drop, the risk of infection and hemorrhaging rises. At very high doses of radiation, the gastrointestinal and central nervous systems are also affected.”
Nadia pulled away from the microscope and batted her eyelid to straighten her lash. “If the body is already infected and hemorrhaging…”
“Treatments like blood transfusions and fluid management are basically comfort measures. Death is certain. Now, take a look at this one.”
Karel changed the slide in the microscope and stooped to adjust the focus. When he stepped aside, Nadia took his place and lowered her head.
A crash outside.
Nadia straightened herself. Glanced at Karel. He raised an index finger to his lips. They both looked at the front door, where the sound originated.
“Probably just a wild dog,” Karel said, motioning for her to take a look.
Nadia peered into the microscope. “I see clusters of pink horseshoes filling most of the white background.”
“Progenitors of neutrophils. New blood cells are being created despite exposure to radiation because the mouse was given an oral dose of five-androstenediol.”
Nadia stood up from the microscope. “What?”
“Five-androstenediol is a steroid that occurs naturally in the human body. Its benefits as a radioprotectant were first discovered by your Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in 1996. It’s known as five-AED. Five-AED stimulates blood cell growth and improves survival rates. But it’s not a true countermeasure. A true radiation countermeasure would have to do one of three things: prevent initial injury, repair all molecular damage, or stimulate surviving stem cells so aggressively that they counter the original injury.”
Karel picked up a third slide. When he was done loading it, he stepped back. His eyes gleamed.
“Take a look at this,” he said, swallowing the last word.
Nadia peered in. “The entire slide is pink,” she said.
“Surviving cells have proliferated at an exponential pace. The five-AED has been modified. New enzymes have been introduced. Proteins have been added that result in the synergistic benefits of a true radiation countermeasure.”
Nadia looked at Karel. “You?”
“No, no. I’m just a zoologist.”
“Then who?”
“A biologist by the name of Arkady Shatan. He conducted the original experiments with wheat in the Caves Monastery to discover why the bodies of the saints did not decompose. It was he who discovered that they produced a protective field of radiation. After the explosion at Unit Four, he was sent to Clinic Number Six in Moscow, where the most serious work was done on radiation effects on humans.”
“Is he here? Is his laboratory in Chernobyl?”
“He retired in 1997. He came back here to do his own research, though. Which is how we met in the café one day. Just as you and I met today—”
Fists pounded on the front door.
“Station Security,” a man said. “I am armed. Open the door. Now.”
“Quick, you must hide,” Karel said. “You have no papers. They cannot find you here.”
Nadia looked around. “Hide where?” Then a new idea came to her. “Open the door. I’ll handle this.”
Karel blanched. “What?”
“Trust me. Let him in.”
Fists pounded on the door again.
In a panic, Karel gathered himself and opened the door.
A wiry young man in a camouflage uniform pointed his rifle at Karel and sneered. “Oh. It’s you. What are you doing here so late?”
“Working. Why are you bothering me?”
The guard looked over Karel’s shoulder toward Nadia and squinted in the darkness. “Who’s that over there? Is someone else here?”
Nadia had yanked her shirt out of her pants. Unbuttoned it quickly and unzipped her pants. Swept the papers off Karel’s desk with the outside of her arm and straddled the corner of the table.
“Who else is here?” the guard said. He pushed Karel aside with his rifle and marched into the light.
Nadia grasped the desk with both hands and thrust her shoulders back. She thought of Anton and channeled his memory into her facial expression.
The guard froze when he saw Nadia. His eyes drew a line from her head to her waist and back up again. His mouth fell open. He glanced at Karel, face twisted with jealousy and disbelief.
Karel managed a grin and shrugged.
The guard looked at Nadia again and shook his head. “Fucking scientists,” he muttered as he headed back to the door. “No guests in the facilities after six o’clock. You know the rules. Make sure she’s out of here within ten minutes. Ten minutes. That should be plenty for you, eh, old man?”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Karel said. “We scientists know the benefits of being deliberate and patient with our research.”
After he left, Nadia dressed quickly. Karel looked interested, but her face told him it was for show only. They left via the rear path along the cooling ponds, circled back to the main road, and took off back toward the village. When he got to Oksana’s house, Karel continued along a dirt road for another mile. He stopped beside a tree with a purple ribbon tied around it near a thick patch of evergreens.
Nadia crouched behind a large boulder. Her dosimeter chattered lightly. Karel put on a pair of long rubber gloves and walked thirty yards away from Nadia toward a stream. He tossed some brush to the side and revealed a circular container buried underground. Its top protruded four inches and had the circumference of a manhole cover. He pulled a chain of keys out of his pocket, found the right one, and unlocked the cover. Lifted it off the container and placed it to the side.
When he joined Nadia behind the boulder, he was out of breath. “Now we wait,” he said.
“For what?”
“You’ll see.”
A minute passed. Nothing happened. Four more minutes passed. Nothing happened.
Nadia’s knees ached. She stood up to stretch them.
A rustle among the evergreens. Karel grabbed her hand and yanked her back down.
A wolf emerged from the brush. Muscles flowed beneath its gray-and-black coat as it stalked around the container. It stuck its mouth inside the bin for a moment. Walked around the periphery of the container again and stopped. Turned toward Nadia and Karel. Its eyes glowed yellow-green in the dark.
The wolf’s eyes met Nadia’s. It pulled its pointed ears back in an aggressive posture but relaxed them just as quickly. It howled.
Five more wolves appeared. They looked inside the container also. When they found nothing, they followed the leader of the pack upstream.
“The
wolf saw us,” Nadia said. “But it didn’t run.”
“Only in the Zone,” Karel said. “Let’s go back to the house.”
When they arrived at Oksana’s home, she let them in and went to bed. Nadia and Karel sat in the small dining area.
Karel said, “The common explanation for the wolf not running is that humans are no longer present in the Zone. If you remove the hunter, you remove the fear. That is certainly true, but it’s not the only reason.”
“What was in that container?”
“It once contained a sample of modified five-AED. Notice there was a stream nearby. I wanted to see if animals would gravitate to the medicated water on sheer instinct. They did. Within two weeks of when I put it out, every local species was drinking out of that container.”
“It looked empty.”
“It is. But the wolves were waiting for more. They want to protect themselves from the next nuclear catastrophe.”
“Animals sense things.”
“Ever see a cat an hour before a storm? Maybe Reactor Four will blow again. Maybe it will be one of the other reactors. Or a terrorist. Or nuclear war. But it will happen. The wolves are telling us it will happen. But now there is a countermeasure.”
“Are you telling me that modified five-AED cures existing radiation damage in a living organism?”
“The longer you wait after exposure, the more blood cells break down and the less effective it becomes. It’s most effective when administered immediately after exposure. It has all the necessary attributes. Arkady said it is cheap and easy to make, has a long shelf life, and is easy to administer.”
“Chemotherapy and radiation treatment will be changed forever. This formula will save lives.”
“Or cost them,” Karel said. “In 2004, the United States commissioned a test to determine what would happen to a city like Washington, DC, if a ten-kiloton nuclear device were detonated. The conclusion was that sixty thousand people would die from the explosion, but two hundred and fifty-five thousand would die from radiation poisoning. More than eighty percent of the deaths would be caused by radiation. In the hands of a single country, possession of this formula would be a tactical advantage.”
“It could turn their enemies’ nuclear weapons into conventional bombs.”
“We cannot let the wrong man get his hands on this.”
“Still,” Nadia said. “You have to get this formula out there. There are people dying every day from treatments their bodies could handle if they had this drug. Why haven’t you and Arkady published this yet?”
“We were waiting for you.”
Nadia pulled back in surprise. “Me? Why me? Surely a scientist and a zoologist—”
“No,” Karel said. “We cannot trust our government. We cannot trust our colleagues because they work for the government. But we can trust you. That is why your uncle sent your mother letters asking for your help. Your uncle told us you are a person of integrity.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.”
“You broke up a criminal enterprise in America.”
“I had a lot of help.”
“You are a mathematician skilled at problem solving. You are resourceful. You know people in America.”
Nadia’s vision went green. “Millions of dollars” was a gross understatement. “You have the formula? On you right now?”
Karel shook his head. “No. Arkady was an eccentric man. He shared his results with me but never the formula.”
“He was an eccentric man? Past tense?”
“He died ten days ago from natural causes.”
Nadia felt the air go out of her. “That’s terrible. I’m so sorry. And the formula?”
Karel shook his head sadly. “He kept everything in his head. He put nothing on paper. He was notorious for it.”
“What about his laboratory? Didn’t he have a laboratory?”
“Yes. In Kyiv. I must confess, I searched it before I destroyed it. But there was nothing.”
“You destroyed it? Why?”
“Because that was his wish. He wanted all trace of his work to die with him.”
“But you must know the chemical compounds.”
Karel shook his head firmly. “No. I only saw the product of his labor. Never the formula. I swear to you on my wife and child’s graves that I am telling you the truth.”
“The formula’s lost?”
“Gone. You asked me what five-androstenediol is. You deserved an explanation. I have given it to you. But I’m afraid you are too late. The formula is gone forever.”
CHAPTER 43
DAMIAN AWOKE AT 7:45 A.M. Nadia waited patiently as Oksana made him tea and fed him stewed prunes. After she was done, Nadia went into his bedroom.
Damian didn’t waste any time. “Karel says I have Chernobyl syndrome,” he said, propped up and lucid. “That the structure of my brain is changing. I have fevers, rashes, and paralysis of the legs. The fevers come and go. I faint during the day for no reason. My brain is like a computer going bad.”
“Why aren’t you in a hospital?” Nadia said.
He smiled. “Hospitals are for citizens, not for ghosts. I don’t exist. There’s no record of me. No hospital in Ukraine would admit me. Besides, Karel brought a doctor from the power station who looks in on squatters from time to time. He told me I have two to three weeks to live. That was two weeks ago.”
Saddened by this news, Nadia started to reach for his hand.
“No, no,” he said, pulling it back. “It’s not safe for you to touch me at this point. I’m too hot.”
Nadia fidgeted, uncertain what to do. She had wanted this connection to her father, to the family she had never known, and now her nearest relative over here was at death’s door. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m at peace now that I know you’ll take my son with you to America.”
“What?” She had forgotten about that part. “Oh, no. That’s not—”
But Damian was already off down memory lane. “I met his mother in the café eighteen years ago. She was for hire. They earn extra here in the Zone, where a woman never knows if a man is infected with a lot more than a venereal disease. I paid. We danced. She fell in love. I did not pay again.”
“I’m sure you charmed her.”
His eyes bored into Nadia. “A true thief can make anyone his willing accomplice.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was addicted to painkilling medication. And other drugs. She died of an overdose.”
“Oh. I’m very sorry.” Nadia returned to what they’d been talking about before. Ever since she had come to Ukraine, she had been followed by men who were trying to kill her. How could she bring a boy into that situation? “What is your son’s name?”
“Adam.”
“Where is he now? I ask, but please understand, there’s no way—”
“He lives with a man who used to work in the shelter with me. He played on the Soviet Olympic Hockey Team in the 1970s. When he killed a man in a barroom brawl, he was given the choice of life in prison or fifteen years’ labor in the shelter because of his status as a national hero of the old Soviet Republic. He chose the latter, and this is how we met.”
She was relieved to hear that the boy lived somewhere else. She couldn’t imagine a child growing up here. “That explains the hockey uniform.”
“Eh?”
“The hockey uniform. In the picture you sent.”
“Ah, yes. You saw the picture. Good, good. How is your mother?”
“She is well.”
“And your father, he died.”
“Yes. Did you know my father?” she asked hopefully.
“Of course.”
“He told me about his time with the Partisans. It sounded so exciting, so noble.”
Damian studied her for a moment, as though debating something internally, and shook his head. “I’m not going to lie to you.”
“Lie to me? Lie to me about what?”
“Yes, your father joined the Ukrainian
Partisan Army. After he moved to Lviv with your mother. But he was with me first.”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean, he was with you?”
“What do you think it means?”
Nadia felt like a building block of her past had been yanked loose. “I don’t know.” But of course, that was a lie. She knew exactly what he meant.
“Your father was one of my crew. One of the three that got away.”
“What are you saying?”
“Your father was a thief, Nadia. You are a thief’s daughter.”
The walls closed in on Nadia. Her father wasn’t who she’d thought he was. Whatever her issues with his parenting, however demanding, strict, and unrelenting he’d been, she had always respected him. He was a man of integrity. Maybe she didn’t always like him, but she looked up to him. Now it turned out he’d been a thief, a criminal, and, by definition, a liar.
“Surely you’ve noticed that you have a certain resourcefulness. Who do you think you inherited that from?”
She was a thief’s daughter, Nadia thought. It was in her genes. And all this time she had thought she was just clever.
Damian saw how shocked she was. “What does it matter? Let go of the past. Look to your future. Your father would want it that way. You are his legacy. My boy is my legacy. He is a good boy. You must take care of him.”
They were returning to the big problem. “Uncle Damian, that’s just not realistic.”
“He has never been hugged,” Damian said, ignoring her comment.
“What?”
“He has never been hugged. His mother never touched him after she gave birth. She had problems, and she wasn’t the mothering type. Oksana takes care of me for the money. As for the coach and me…Men don’t hug their sons.” Damian nodded confidently. “You will hug him.”
Nadia shook her head as she searched for the right words to tell him that just wasn’t realistic.
“There are the hockey games, of course,” Damian said. “But they don’t count.”
“Excuse me?”
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