Snippet #1564422

As the girl replied in German, Rüdiger noted something familiar about the way she spoke. It eluded him until she eventually spoke in English, and suddenly his mind cast back to a military exercise in the Med which was also attended by a Scottish division. After two weeks with them he had just about been able to understand them. This girl’s accent was somewhat milder than theirs fortunately.

“I am from Germany indeed.” he said, uprighting himself as the crowd began to make slow progress towards the stairwell, “And I’m here for the same reason as you I imagine; to enjoy all the highlights of Western decadence, without the marked up price. That is your plan yes? To Moscow to join the party?” We should travel together.”

He took a long drag from his cigarette, giving Caitlin a glance up and down and smirking suggestively, “I may be here for the Moscow experience, but Scotland is also a country I’ve yet to sample the delights of.”

There were some loud metallic noises as the ferry made contact with the dock. And to anyone above deck, where Rüdiger and Caitlin were, it would have been noticeable that there was a great amount of human noise coming from the land, audible even above the sound of the sea and the ferry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Somia saw the flamboyant man begin to force his way through the crowd, and although she rankled at his lack of consideration, the opportunist in her saw the chance to stick close behind him and benefit from his appalling behaviour. She couldn’t see past him very well, but the tell-tale chill of the open air soon started to bite at her legs and ears, and she caught a glimpse of light as they neared the exit. At last!

But her good fortune couldn’t come in one long continuous stream, and once again they came to a standstill, as something stopped the flow of the crowd which apparently even her unwitting consort couldn’t power his way through. She moved around, coming alongside him to see what was happening. She tried to crane herself up to see over the sea of heads (Damn those tall Russian men and their ridiculous enormous hats!), but she was distracted by an ostentatious shudder from the man next to her, who then turned and spoke to her. She looked up at him with contempt.

“Well that’s where you went wrong,” she sneered, “buying it before you came. Don’t be surprised if you see the exact same coat in St Petersberg for a quarter of the price...less if you can pay in dollars. But then I suppose that’s why some of us are in business and some of us...”

She glanced at him again, trying to look for any clue as to what might this man’s job, profession, or even raison d'être might be, but came up a blank.

“...well, you get my point.” She finished curtly.

Up ahead, at the start of the ramp down to the dock, some men in military uniform began shouting aggressively, barking orders in Russian, but Somia couldn’t make out what was going on.

~~~~~~~~~~

Lt Karpenko tightened his grip on his Kalashnikov, as a few of his men yelled down the slope at the crowd in front of them, separated only by a chain-link gate. He’d encountered scenes like this before, but in St Petersberg dock?

On the other side of the gate, masses of people surged forward, crying out pleas to be allowed onto the ship. Parents held up their children as evidence of their deserving to be let through. Others waved American dollars, or tried to offer expensive watches through the gate. All in desperation to be allowed through.

Karpenko’s detatchement was not on with the Russian army, they belonged to a PMC who had been hired to escort an important diplomat to Moscow. Karpenko had, with the ferry captain’s permission taken a few men to secure the base of the ramp before the passengers were allowed off, but the scene that greeted him was unprecedented.

“Shiryayev!” he addressed one of the soldiers, speaking in Russian. “Go back and tell the captain nobody is leaving until we get these people cleared! Where the hell are the police? The army? Does anyone have the slightest clue what is going on here?”

There was some chattering over handheld radio, and then Shiryayev replied with trepidation.

“The captain says that is not acceptable. He’s authorised the disembarkment of all passengers immediately.”

“Did you not explain about the crowds?”

“I did sir. He said that anyone who is found on board without a valid travel ticket will be ejected from the ship and prosecuted.”

“I don’t think that’s going to mean much to them.” Karpenko said, looking at the frenzied people on the other side of the gate. He sighed reluctantly. "Alright, start bringing them down but don't open the gate until the last second. And radio Blotski, tell him that our man leaves the boat last. I don't want him getting lost in the crowd."