He gave a short laugh and shrugged. “As you wish. You know better."

You bet I did! Of course, he was just trying to humor me. The third would be in the way as far as he was concerned. We would run down, just the two of us, and everything would be hunky-dory, no one would suspect anything about me. Except for the fact that I knew that people from the institute didn't enter the Zone in two's. The rule is: two do the work and the third watches, and when they ask him about it later, he tells.

"Personally, I would take Austin,” Kirill said. “But you probably don't want him. Or is it all right?"

"Nope,” I said. “Anybody but Austin. You can take Austin another time."

Austin isn't a bad guy, he's got the right mix of courage and cowardice, but I feel he's doomed. You can't explain it to Kirill, but I can see it. The man thinks he knows and understands the Zone completely. That means he's going to kick off soon. He can go right ahead, but without me, thanks.

"All right, then,” Kirill said. “How about Tender?"

Tender was his second lab assistant. An all-right kind of guy, on the quiet side.

"He's a little old,” I said. “And he has kids."

"That's all right. He's been in the Zone before."

"Fine,” I said. “Let's take Tender."

He stayed to pore over the map and I made a beeline for the Borscht, because I was starving and my throat was parched.

I got back to the lab in the morning as usual, around nine, and showed my pass. The guard on duty was the lanky bean pole of a sergeant that I beat the hell out of last year when he made a drunken pass at Guta.

"Fine thing,” he said to me. “They're looking for you all over the institute, Red."

I interrupted him right there, polite-like.

"I'm not Red to you,” I said. “Don't try that palsy-walsy stuff on me, you Swedish dolt."