"Maybe my head isn't screwed on straight." "But I just don't understand what we are doing." "Sasha," "I want to leave the newspaper." "AII these people..." "We write about them day and night." "But I don't really know them." "It's like I'm a dealer in dead souls." "When a new character appears, he becomes real." "It's weird:" "Like someone rising from the dead." "And asking why I summoned them." "Why do you keep mumbling to yourself?" "If you want me to listen to you, talk to me and not to your cigarette." "Huh?" "You smoke too much!" "Yes, now I can see exactly where my Iife is headed." "I have to see him." "He's like a turning point." "Don't get carried away, Marina." "Mr. Lvovich, this is colonel Lebedev speaking." "Cease fire and come out of the house with your hands up!" "The neighbours reported a disturbance at around eleven p.m." "They heard gun shots." "A patrol came round, he refused to open the door." "At the second attempt to enter the house, he opened fire." "He didn't even spare his own dog." "Is he drunk or something, this lawyer friend of yours?" "How should I know?" "I've only ever met him twice." "What do you know about him?" "absolutely nothing." "colonel?" "..." "Yes, yes:" "Marina!" "Why do you think he's asked for you in particular?" "I haven't the faintest idea." "Okay, I'm going in." "Have you lost your mind?" "You can't go in there." "There's something going on between you and him, isn't there?" "A perfect moment to start asking questions." "Either you don't say anything or you talk to yourself like a madwoman." "What's wrong with you?" "Don't you love me anymore?" "At last you've got the message." "He'II kill us!" "The children are upstairs,." "he's shut them up in their rooms." "He'II kill you too!" "Shut up, will you!" "Don't be afraid, I'm not going to kill anyone." "Everything's fine." "It was all just an accident, you see?" "I lost my cool:" "I just lost it, bang!" "I just couldn't take it anymore." "You have to help me." "You need to write it all down." "Can you do that for me?" "Okay, I'II do it." "Aren't you cold?" "No." "hold on:" "The whole truth, and nothing but the truth." "I know you can do it." "You're still alive!" "You can feel the truth." "Sorry, I don't understand." "What truth?" "I don't even know your story." "I'II tell you everything you need to know, because I know everything." "I understand everything." "It's all so simple." "You can't begin to imagine how simple it all is!" "Okay, are you writing?" "Yes." "Write it all down." "We don't have much time" "They'II kill me in few minutes and I want you to remember everything." "Listen," "nobody wants to kill you." "Look, don't try an argue with me!" "You have to listen!" "ToIya!" "..." "I told you to shut up!" "They've got it all mixed up." "They've devoured love." "We're all empty." "They've just hoIIowed us out inside, you get it?" "And we have no excuse whatsoever." "ToIya!" "Shut your mouth!" " only love!" "hold on a second!" "..." "Wait!" "You can only live if you have love." "You understand?" "only love!" "Remember these words!" "Let's go," "let's go!" "There, you've got what you wanted." "Hardcore." "Who's been hanging around here?" "None of your business." "You could at Ieast close the door." "What the hell are you doing here anyway?" "I haven't seen you for ages." "You haven't picked up the phone for the past three days." "well, what are you doing here?" "Come on, Marina, we're buddies, aren't we?" "Give me a drink then, buddy." "Listen, we're friends, right Marina?" "The thing is, I'm totally snowed under." "Fyodor's out of action, you resigned." "And there's a story that desperately needs doing." "Come on Marina" "I really need your help!" "And at the end of the day, I helped you get out, didn't I?" "I did you a favour after all, and the money's still good." "You really are an arsehole aren't you, Sasha." "That's debatable." "So here's the deal." "At the Fifth, in the special division they've got one happy chappy." "Move your leg." "He's a serial killer, a pedophile, he even drank people's blood." "Isn't that a Iot forjust one guy." "AII in a day's work." "So this, um, man worked at the Lurie high-schooI." "He was a history teacher, and taught a couple of optional classes too." "The children respected him, the teachers were even jealous of the way all the kids loved him." "By the way, what's the difference between a teacher and a pedophile?" "A pedophile likes children." "That's an old joke." "Yeah?" "Uhuh." "Oh well:" "Anyway, a year later the kids start spinning all sorts of crap." "About the day ofjudgement, karma, the golden mean...." "Tantras, mantras and all thatjazz." "And in two years there were two overdoses, one unexplained suicide and so on and so forth." "Sounds like a nice school...." "Yeah,... but that's only the beginning." "It turns out he also tore women's heads off." "You know, in his free time." "And he fucked one of his students to death." "beautiful girl, top marks at school." "From a clinical perspective, it's quite a mundane case." "That's what you call mundane?" "!" "Yes, mundane, mundane." "Paranoia, delusions of grandeur, sexual abuse as a child, the usual story." "What bothers me is something else." "In our troubled times his symptoms were allowed to grow unchecked for several years." "And he wasn't living alone in the woods all these years, was he?" "He was in constant contact with people." "And had the chance to wound children with his deluded ideas." "'Let's follow Nietzsche and open a superman class,' he would say." "'And we'II make sacrifices to the pagan deity of Mercedes Benz!" "'" "Which "Mercedes"?" "Aha, yes, "Mercedes"." "Now everyone shudders when they remember that, but back then they laughed. 'What an eccentric, they would say. 'A real intellectual!" "'" "I am Death, give me fire," "let me die." "I hate you swine!" "Wait for me here, I'II be right back!" "What are you doing?" "give me fire!" "I'm afraid we won't be able to speak to the patient today." "to speak to the patient today." "Aha" "Another attack.." "We're giving him a tranquilizer and he'II rest up for a while." "please come through to my office." "Come in, come in" "Perhaps it's all for the best." "He's not at all in his right mind." "Progressive delirium is no pretty sight." "Don't be surprised if he takes you for an angel," "or a giant spider." "I don't know which is worse." "Yes, yes!" "You are just like I had imagined you would be." "Like what exactly?" "They recommended you to me." "They said you were bold, ironic, quick on the uptake." "God, who could possibly have said that." "A..." "Yes, precisely!" "Come in, Marinochka, come in:" "But you sleep badly, don't you, Marinochka." "Do I Iook as bad as all that?" "No, you look wonderful, but your emotional life, if you will allow me, is somewhat adrift." "I think I just need some sleeping pills." "How can such a beautiful girl have any problems in life?" "No, no problems." "But a few sleeping pills wouldn't hurt." "I understand," "I understand." "I'm not going to ask you any more questions, and I shan't prescribe you anything either." "Just take these." "They're very strong." "If you're using them as sleeping pills, you'II need three or four." "These ones are for children." "You'II find your mood improves immediately..." "Thank you" "You'II feel like you're flying." "Have you ever seen a seagull hovering over the ocean?" "This sensation is very similar." "The beating of the wings, flap, flap, flap:" "And you can't feel a thing:" "Smooth flight, gliding through the air" "So I walk into reception, it's pitch black." "I turn on the light" "And see Antonov there with some chick." "Hey there!" "Hi!" "well, how's teacher of the year going?" "I don't know yet." "But as for your head doctor, honey," "he fobbed me off like a real pro." "That's no big deal." "You wanna drink?" "No." "Marina, I got together some material for you." "Photos, video, it'II keep you up all night." "Give us a look!" "Hey!" "Hey!" "You pervert, Sasha," "what do you force the poor girls to do?" "Give it back!" "Give it back, I said!" "Are you looking for a fight or something, ilya?" "'Cause I'II knock your block off, no sweat.." "You reckon?" "No problem!" "Wait here!" "Yes?" "hello?" "Yes, I'm at Pravda." "What's going on?" "A bit of work for you." "Did you know that Marina's going to be working for us?" "That's not entirely true." "She's leaving that abattoir where she's been working." "It's gonna be a good team." "Big hugs, bye!" "Come on, Marina, drop all this muck and come work for us." "We've got a serious TV station, you can present the movie programme." "will they give it to me?" "So, Sasha, she left you, and you got your revenge, right?" "No,he got his revenge long before we broke up." "But we made a deal, this revenge will be the Iast, right?" "Yup." "Listen, Marina, you crush that psycho even if you don't get to see him." "I'II see him, don't worry." "Yeah?" "Perhaps he'II be able to explain a few things." "You forgot your bag." "Merci." "I'II see you out." "You can see yourself out." "only be careful when crossing the street and don't mix it with alcohol under any circumstances." "hello." "hello." "I'm from the newspaper, I've come to see the head doctor." "Here's my pass." "You can't visit the hospital today." "I don't think you understand." "The head doctor is waiting for me." "You should have been informed, I'm a journalist" "You can't visit the hospital today." "What's going on?" "I'II tear off your epauIettes and take your head off with them!" "You'II be the next one sitting in his cell." "I told you, he's notjust mad, he's a hardened criminal, he's killed four people." "He's a psycho, get it?" "!" "Yes" "Damn!" "What a bloody mess!" "If you don't find him, if your whole department doesn't pull the finger out:" "Ok" "Yes, Andrey Petrovich," "same as usual." "A total mess, but we're getting on top of it." "I don't want to hear anything more!" "That's enough!" "dismissal will be the least of your problems!" "wait me, please" "Ah!" "Marinochka!" "hello!" "hello." "An invincible country." "You, for example, Marina." "Come through here." "How ever did you get in the building?" "It's my job, it opens some doors and closes others." "No, no, you're always welcome here, but there is a certain protocol." "And to be honest..." "I know, it's a bad time." "I can see that." "So, our client has run away?" "You've found that out a bit late, haven't you?" "hello, pavel." "Where have you been?" "How did you let him run around here?" "He shouldn't have been allowed to leave his bunk, he should have put down roots like a vine." "What are you batting your eyelids at?" "Sorry, it's just that vines don't really put out roots, they grow on other trees." "So this is your emergency situations expert, right?" "Keep your temper." "And you can play the commissioner in your own office." "Marina isn't from our system, she works for a newspaper." "Maria Antonovna, wait there a moment!" "please excuse me." "By the way, if it weren't for you I wouldn't have been let in here." "And the head doctor's certainly not the one to blame." "What do you want?" "Don't be afraid, I'm not dangerous." "I'm from the Pravda crime section." "So we would have had to meet anyway" "Maybe you're right." "Don't wait around, you won't find out anything here today." "Are you sure?" "completely." "Are you afraid there will be a leak of confidential information?" "would you Iike a lift?" "I'm going to the station." "And on the way we can talk about flowers, films:" "Or about sex?" "So as not to talk about the real situation." "What's that?" "That's the 'Vibrator' factory." "A top-security site, fuIIy-waIIed." "understandable, considering what they make there." "That's a pretty lame joke." "Sorry, you can't smoke in here." "It's fine.." "Orders are orders." "And what's this, Captain?" "A military base." "CouIdn't he have stayed in the wood?" "The wood is just a few trees, not a real wood at all." "And where's the railway line?" "You can hear the trains from the hospital." "That's in another place altogether." "Here?" "Yeah, that's the a switch point." "I never ran away from a loony bin, but if I were in the woods I'd go towards the sound of the trains." "And you would wind up straight back at the hospital, at the front gate." "Where all the guards are asleep." "Scary!" "Okay, so he ran into the woods, came to his senses." "The woods are dark, and he doesn't know where to go." "He hears the train and goes towards the tracks." "He gets to the factory, does a loop around the hospital." "So, how far is it from here to the train station?" "A bit over three kilometres." "Get some men down to the switch point, quick!" "Send his description into the department!" "Ok." "And get me all the trains for this morning." "In all directions!" "Yes." "Okay, and the details?" "Who shot the evidence?" "Got it." "Have you notified the road police?" "What are they doing?" "Got it." "Okay, block all the roads, I'm driving out." "When did this happen?" "An hour ago." "You see the curve in the road?" "He was speeding along on that thing" "Iike a formuIa-one racer." "So?" "So the bus left the stop, he swerved right and flew off the highway." "And have you checked all the traces?" "What traces?" "I'II tell you where he went." "Through the bushes over onto that path." "You see where it comes round to the bus stop." "How do you know all that?" "The trained eye of a hunter." "Nah, they saw it from the bus." "And he went along the path into the warren." "Where?" "You know, into the dacha village." "Now you'II have a hell of a time finding him." "It's a bloody Iabyrinth." "You've got to be kidding." "Yeah, it's ten by eight kilometres." "Those plots are a quarter-acre each." "Even the people who live there don't know how many of them there are." "Now the village is being knocked down to build a new terminal." "They bought everyone out except for a few Ioners who can't let go." "They don't even have electricity anymore." "They've turned it off so the whole thing doesn't burn down." "It's full of people who have nowhere else to go." "You can break into any house and sit quiet as a mouse." "Every spring we find loads of corpses when the snow melts." "Can't recognise any of them." "AII vagrants." "It really is a rabbit's warren." "It looks like a circuit board." "Do you have a map of the place?" "only a general one - main streets, shops." "It was some kind of cooperative, there are still some of the administrators around." "But that's no use at all." "should we call in the army?" "But there'II be a Iot of messing around before they send in the dogs." "You have to search it from the ground, he hasn't had time to get his bearings yet." "He's going to run in as deep as he can, that's for sure." "Yeah, it really is like a rabbit's warren." "Creepy, isn't it?" "Everything looks the same." "That's no big deal." "The dogs be in soon, they'II get his scent." "Look!" "There's a guy over there." "hold on." "Do you know how to drive?" "After seeing you, I'm inclined to say no." "Okay, sit behind the wheel and block all the doors." "If anything happens, honk the horn." "But I.." "please don't argue with me," "okay?" "Okay." "Change sides, quick!" "What do you want to do?" "call Gusev, it's the Iast number." "Get him to bring in a helicopter." "Okay, just give me the phone when he answers." "How's it going?" "congratulations!" "We're outside the service zone." "Damn, we would have had him." "Do you think it was him?" "It doesn't make any difference - what I think." "It's so silent," "maybe we'II hear something." "Uhuh." "Anyway, it's nice and quiet here:" "Yeah, just wonderful." "Even if it's him we just scared him." "At least now we know what to do." "We have to get back onto the main road, call in the special forces, and he's in the bag." "hold on a second." "We're lost together in such a remote place." "Do you remember back in school when they told us about the atom bomb?" "How it kills all the people, but everything else stays as it is." "This is pretty much how I imagined it." "I don't know, I didn't go to school much." "Didn't you get in trouble?" "Nup." "I was the local.." "boxing champion." "Wow!" "That's pretty cool." "But I liked literature classes, they were interesting." "Then I grew up, and became a cop, as you can see." "well, being a cop's also romantic." "Your whole life's like one long, interesting book." "That's just how it looks from the outside." "I know, I know." "It's interesting talking to you." "I never know entirely what you mean." "Do people like you?" "people or women?" "You didn't understand what I was trying to say." "Look!" "What are you gonna do?" "Come on!" "Faster!" "What do you want with him?" "We'II catch him and find out." "But he's just a kid." "exactly, he can lead us to the grown-ups." "What are you doing?" "You'II knock him off his bike." "Of course I will." "Stop right there, or I'II run you over!" "Fine, you have to know when to stop." "There's no way of getting it out now." "Yeah, we haven't scored a whole lot of points in this game." "But we do have a consolation prize, we've broken out of everyday life." "Look how beautiful it all is!" "You think you can just laugh at everything, don't you?" "When women like you go criminal, there's nothing more terrifying." "They wind everyone round their little fingers." "should I take that as a compliment or a threat?" "As honest recognition." "I'm very flattered." "It's a miserable job being a cop." "You lose your feeling for people, you start to see traps everywhere." "Those are the tactics of the job." "You delude everybody, lead them astray, then crack them right open." "Then you stop and think, 'What the hell am I doing?" "' always the same old game, and I'm not even at work." "Look, why are you telling me all this?" "Am I boring you?" "No, it's interesting," "just a bit too personal." "But I think you get my meaning." "It's when you don't tell the truth and don't do what you really want to." "And then it turns out that there is no truth, and everything's just fine the way it is." "It looks like we're going to have a chat with the inhabitants of the circuit board." "Stay back." "So, the pigs have arrived." "Yeah, he's stuck all right." "It's like he's dug his own grave already." "That's some set of wheel's he's got." "But the chick's not so hot." "Look, he's got a piece." "I suppose it's time for us to scram." "That's one thing you've got right." "But first shut up and listen." "And don't make any false moves." "Be so kind as to take your hands out of your pockets." "Don't try and strut your stuff here, pig." "We don't give a fuck about your gun." "We're not afraid of death, we're members of the taliban." "Turn off the motor." "bloody hell, old man!" "What the fuck did you kill him for?" "Did you want him to get you instead?" "Are you a psycho or something, we could have traded him in." "Don't even look at him, bitch." "Stand still if you don't want the same thing to happen to you." "well, motherfucker, Iearnt how to drive?" "Okay, Iet's get the lady." "Take the battery." "We'II use the battery ourselves, VaIya." "Go ahead then." "Give me the spare tyre." "You can't use a tyre, it'II float up and take her with it." "Just like that nigger you dumped!" "Rest in peace, and know that your life was not in vain." "And although you were unable to understand:" "That's enough." "We're going back to base." "You can finish your rousing speech there." "A-a-a-a!" "Go away" "So what is this noise about?" "Stay where you are and don't move!" "Where are you going all alone in the dark, huh?" "Let's go home." "So Edik's come home, has he?" "Yeah, and he's brought himself a chick." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Edik!" "Get off me." "Why?" "I've fallen in love with you!" "Get off!" "Why?" "You slut!" "calm down" "Sit down!" "Sit there and shut up." "Now,..." "Now you're gonna have a tribunal." "You scared, huh?" "He's mine." "No-one else can have him!" "Listen," "I didn't ask you for him." "You just try and ask!" "Sit the hell down!" "rolled in the hay with him you did!" "billing and cooing!" "'Course you did, he's pretty hot stuff." "You're not even worth shitting on!" "Okay, so he's a drinker, and he'II go after anyone when he's had a few." "I forgive you." "Let's have another drink then we'II go to bed." "I'II wait until it gets light, then I think I'II go." "Where are you gonna go?" "I'II make your bed up over there." "We'II sleep, then leave together in the morning." "There are real weirdoes wandering around here at night" "If you bump into the Terminator, But there all just small fish." "that'II be the end of you." "There's an evil spirit here, you know?" "The Terminator." "He's like a demon." "I think I saw him." "What did you see?" "Big, black, on a horse." "On a horse?" "And what happened?" "Nothing, he went straight past me." "I was hiding." "Lucky!" "Yeah?" "people who have met him" "can't say much about him either." "They just howl like babies." "Do you know this place well?" "We came here just like you did." "Just to find a place to doss down." "And we've been stuck here for the past three months." "Lyutik came from the South, I'm from the North." "We fell head over heels, fate brought us together." "It's great when people love each other." "Yes..." "Here's to you and Lyutik!" "tell me where, Has it all gone?" "My life's has gone all wrong." "I want to drink, I want to eat, I want..." "A very good evening to you, ..." "brothers and sisters!" "Look VaIya, they sure know how to have a good time." "They're looking after their guest." "Their beautiful guest." "Why doesn't the hostess invite us to sit at the table?" "I think they're not pleased to see us." "We'II sit down all the same." "There's something we wanna discuss with you." "Lavrenty." "VaIentin." "Marina." "Here's to happiness!" "Without it, life is not worth living." "Isn't that right, my little mermaid?" "You said you had something you wanted to discuss." "That's what I said." "But your sweetheart.." "has passed out, and it's him we wanted to talk to." "Come back tomorrow then." "We've got a couple of questions for you too." "Is she your guest?" "She's my best friend." "We've been together our whole life." "She's a great girl, an actress." "An actress?" "And have you been here long, young lady?" "I said we've been together our whole life, what's the problem?" "She's from the North pole too?" "So what?" "Come on, Lavrenty, Iet's go have a piss." "Yeah, VaIya, Iet's stretch our legs." "Get lost, bunch of idiots!" "They push us around." "They're the ones that bring in the cars." "And Lyutik keeps working for them, he does everything." "He's got golden hands, he does." "They pay him almost nothing." "They take advantage of him ' cause he's wanted by the cops." "Bastards!" "I hate them." "God!" "I've poisoned my Iife, I've ruined everything." "Shhh.." "You know.." "I was going to go to university in St. Petersburg, you know." "I wanted to go on the stage." "Dance, sing songs." "It's no big deal." "It'II all work out." "Everything's fine." "Everything's fine." "I've got lot's of time, and no money, and no-one left to visit." "Zoika!" "Why are you here so late?" "Hit a pothole?" "We don't hit potholes, Lyutik." "The road of our life is always smooth." "What've you brought in today?" "You're very serious when you're awake." "Here's to liberality!" "To legislative and juridical policy." "To the right of man to struggle." "That's right, girly, warm yourself up." "No, thanks." "Come on, come on!" "We wanted to ask you over to our place, madam." "And keep your mouth shut!" "What did you say?" "I'm a mademoiseIIe." "An honest answer." ":" "Here's to honesty!" "You're in my house here, so keep your cool." "I, Mr. Lyutik, never lose my seIf-controI." "You piece of shit!" "You're a worm!" "You're ripping me off!" "And don't touch my women!" "Why?" "I know and respect Zoya Fyodorovna." "And sympathize for her." "She's the one who sympathizes for you!" "You're afraid to even look at her!" "What would you do with a woman like that?" "She'd tear you up into little pieces!" "If I don't do it first." "I can't take this anymore." "hold my watermelon." "I'II bury you!" "I'II dig your grave!" "Go to hell, Lavrenty!" "You wanna drink?" "We stayed friends after the break-up." "Right, Marina?" "These ones are for children." "They improve your mood in the morning." "What did you want to say?" "I'II murder you!" "That's only the beginning." "You can't hide from me." "You're still going to be mine!" "Here's to the purifying fire!" "To the lightning of evil!" "How pretty!" "A flower in the dust!" "What a dignified face!" "What are you doing here?" "Then again, I'm here." "Where is this all going?" "Your heel was broken." "I fixed it." "Look, I fixed it." "I stuck it on the best I couId." "But it's still better that way." "Was that you playing?" "What?" "Yes, that was me" "I should have lived," "instead I played." "What time is it?" "Good morning!" "You can say that again." "'I flew on wings of silver, I was a true aesthete.'" "Uhuh." "'My body reached out for love.'" "What comes next?" "I've forgotten everything." "Don't bother, you've got it all wrong." "'From the other side of the glass, I Iooked for what was missing here.'" "That's right." "'And you and I need so few words, and now the winter's passed.'" "'And won't it be a blessing, sister, when we're home at last!" "'" "You're mixing up all the lines." "Sorry," "It's just that I thought poetry was dead." "It is dead." "You don't have to accept that as a fact." "You know the poem, you remember it." "And no matter you hard you try, you can't get rid of it." "That only happens in fairy tales, where hearts grow cold and memories fade." "Thank you!" "If we still have poetry, it means we're not in hell." "You have trouble telling the difference?" "In hell, nobody knows any poetry." "No, on the contrary." "In hell that's all they do know." "No, on the contrary." "In hell that's all they do know." "That's what I thought until a while ago." "Then I discovered that we are in hell already." "We torture each other with such shameless relish." "And people don't understand that this is atonement." "That doesn't make sense." "It's not people that atone for their sins, but souls." "And souls aren't capable of torture." "It's the demons that torture us." "We're not in hell... we're just in the shit." "And that's a whole lot better." "But the soul and the demons are all inside." "One day I understood that I was torturing everyone else." "How did you understand?" "I fell into a new set of circumstances." "It turned out that you have to pay for everything you do." "I thought I Ioved, but in fact I was a torturer." "I tortured myself and everyone else." "No, no, no!" "I didn't butcher people, stretch them on a rack or slaughter them in a dungeon." "What's the problem then?" "I just understood the inevitability of evil and the inevitability of its victims." "I myself am an inevitable victim." "hold on, you're talking in riddles." "Everyone always speaks in riddles." "Sometimes they even fool themselves, and no-one knows the answer." "Hey!" "Your porridge is going to burn." "Here's.." "Here's a typical example." "Stay with me for a little while." "surely you don't have somewhere you have to go." "No, I just wanted to try on the boots you so kindly repaired for me." "You want to go." "I have no right to keep you here." "But perhaps you're not in such a rush after all." "Let them fly over first." "Don't show them you're here, I beg you!" "I don't know who you are, and what relationship you have with the authorities." "But my relationship with them has seen better days." "Who are you?" "What are you doing here?" "I'm a man without a past." "Don't ask me about anything!" "But you already began to tell me something." "No!" "I just let a few things slip out." "It's been such a Iong time since I spoke to anyone." "How long have you been here?" "You are.." "You have a smile like an angel," "like you're holding my Iife in your hands." "Stay here, I'II be back in a second." "Why?" "!" "Just tell me why?" "What do you want with my Iife?" "!" "Why do you want to torture me?" "Bitch!" "Stop right there!" "slut!" "Now we've got her!" "I hate everyone!" "We'II bring her.." "..to justice." "I hate your whole world!" "Fuck!" "You look just like.." "Like what?" "Like a haIf-arsed fucking viking." "We wanted to ask you a few questions yesterday, sweetheart." "But as soon as it got rough, you left without saying goodbye." "For that you will now feel the purifying fire." "still hopping, little bunny rabbit?" "I told you that you couldn't get away from us!" "Now we're gonna have our way with you." "Are you awake, kiddo?" "tell me who you're working for!" "Hey, Lavrenty, go inside the house and have a look." "They sure got your cop friend." "Squashed him like a fly." "Don't worry, sunshine, we'II get everything we want from you." "You'd be better off telling me why you were snooping around here and who thatjoker is." "Maybe I should try it the nice way, huh?" "Bitch." "What have you done to him?" "I killed him!" "VaIya!" "I killed him!" "Let go of him!" "Forgive me, bright eagle." "I'II get you!" "I don't understand anything!" "Who are these people?" "What do they want?" "Who are they?" "I'II get you for this!" "Why did you lock me inside, and now you're saving me?" "We have to make it through to the road!" "Where?" "Which road?" "Bastards!" "I can't go on any further either, but we can't stop here." "Stand up." "careful!" "hold on, you're from the police, aren't you?" "No, I'm not." "What do you mean?" "!" "But they were screaming. ..." "It's all an illusion" " the fairy tales, the poetry, your eyes." "Of course, of course..." "You are ...you.." "You are my judge and executioner." "I invented you, and I invented yourjustification as well." "I..." "Be quiet." "Be quiet." "Shhh!" "Be quiet." "They're looking for us, but they can't find us." "Because we're already dead." "I told you we're in hell!" "Look, it's not Iike that at all." "We're on earth, it's just a bizarre set of circumstances!" "When hell began, that was also a bizarre set of circumstances." "Listen,..." "Okay, I can't let you go, or I'm cooked." "And I have to go right to the very end." "That's the Iaw of hell!" "You see?" "You see?" "Don't move, he won't touch you without my command." "Everything's okay, young lady." "You don't have to be afraid," "I won't do anything bad to you." "When people want to do something good, they don't hide their face." "Yes." "I'm not hiding my face, I just don't have one." "What's that?" "Shhh!" "." "Every time the same bloody treatment." "Get out of here!" "He's come for you." "Everything's going according to plan." "Go away!" "Get lost!" "What are you playing Jesus for?" "I'm not playing anything." "Turn me in, it's over!" "Look, please don't turn us in." "Okay, then hide in there," "and don't even breathe." "We've got an emergency out there." "I know, Bobrov came round yesterday." "Have you caught the guy?" "Nup." "He's a nippy son of a bitch." "And the chick's gone feral." "We got Beria, he squealed that they're together." "Says it was them who got VaIentin with the pitchfork." "well, they did a good deed." "The chick's also a shady character." "I think maybe she bumped off the detective." "Use your brain if you've got one!" "TaIibs killed the cop and traced her the whole day then .." "OrIik and Timokha got him, they were searching for the girl all day afterwards." "Beria knows all this." "And he knows how to use OrIik," "you press the right buttons, and he cracks." "You..." "Don't try to teach me the rules of the game." "You're not in the Caucasus here." "Don't talk about things you don't understand." "They could send you there as well." "Shut your gob." "You want some vodka?" "Not on your life!" "The heat's on out there, all the bigwigs are here." "Anyway, that's the situation." "We have to find the chick right away." "She's the main reason for all the fuss." "well, see around." "And if you meet the psycho, feel free to knock him off." "We're sick to bloody death of him." "Do you have a description of him?" "He's just your normal everyday psycho, in pyjamas and a jacket." "They say he likes to play the idiot," "And he knows how to handle a knife." "Here's to peace!" "So what's the story?" "We're waiting." "It all started with Masha, Masha Korovina." "She was a beautiful girl." "Too beautiful even for herself." "And there was a boy in love with her, Roma." "She used to torture the boy, she didn't know why she did it." "But she teased him, Iike a real woman, you understand?" "My students were such lonely children, all alone with their problems." "I talked to them, and they ended up confessing to me." "Once Masha came round to my house in the middle of the night." "She was shaking all over," "I couldn't turn her away." "I knew she had nowhere else to go," "and there was no-one left to help her." "only you?" "My students trusted me." "I never taught them, I just told them what I knew." "But I listened to them, I heard them." "Then Roma came round." "He was blind drunk and terribly overwrought." "I think maybe he was on drugs." "He thought that Masha and I were together." "And he killed her." "He just killed her." "Broke down the door, stormed in and calmly cut her throat." "Like he was killing a chicken." "He was a strange boy, totally spoilt." "His father was a wealthy businessman who has gone into politics now." "Lensky's his name, I'm sure you've heard of him." "I called him and he came right away, he didn't listen to me at all." "I watched very attentively the idiocy with which he manipulated the fixed order of his world." "I didn't know that they had already thought it all through." "And I only understood the force of this idiocy when they'd put me in the cell." "And when they read me the accusation in the morning, of course I argued, I proved to them it wasn't true." "Then I just blew up, and they put me in solitary, then took me to the hospital." "Then PaveI Petrovich came, my investigator, who soberly explained to me that a corpse had been found in my apartment." "An underage girl, and that I had raped her before stabbing her to death." "And that I had no alibi, and no witnesses." "Whereas Roma had been in a rehab clinic switzerland for the past week." "And he has loads of witnesses." "Then they offered to make a deal with me." "They said that if I pleaded guilty, there would be a closed trial." "I'd be deemed of unsound mind, then everyone will forget about it and I'II be out in a few years." "They'II give me a Iot of money and send me abroad." "Then PaveI Petrovich hinted that if they wanted they could just solve the problem by force." "He said that we are all pawns in the game of Iife, and that we don't decide the outcome." "'You have to understand his father,' he said." "'He works for the people, for Russia, and his son could compromise him.' In the end I backed down." "I understood that no-one could help me." "And all I couId hope for is that they will keep their promises." "They would have just got your cellmates to strangle you." "I didn't think about that at the time." "well, I thought about that as well, but.." "I really lost it when I imagined coming out of jaiI.Two whole years have passed, Lensky and Roma meet me with flowers, cognac and a big cake." "They give me a passport with a visa, money, slap me on the shoulder and say,'thanks a Iot!" "'" "But I'm a historian, and I know how the history of the world works." "And when I finally lost it, I understood that history shouIdn't work like that." "I'm against that kind of world." "And I said, 'that's it!" "'" "I told them to get stuffed." "'I'm not playing anymore', I said" "That takes strength." "My words were the only strong thing about me." "That was when the injections started, and everything went fuzzy." "I started having dreams." "Not really dreams, but events." "Like it wasn't happening to me." "They took me to a park." "pavel Petrovich filmed me on a video camera and said I had stabbed a woman there." "Then some girls said that I had dragged off their friend and they hadn't seen her since." "And I tried to argue, I tried to say that it was the first time I'd been there." "I tried to prove it to them, but it was like my body, my tongue and my brain were all switched off." "And I was floating, floating." "Just like the Manchurian Candidate." "There you go, you don't believe me." "And I don't even believe myself." "I don't believe it either." "How did you get out?" "I just ran through an open door." "One day I woke up in a completely different world." "They must have changed the drugs." "I began to understand everything very clearly." "I understood that it's all just the injections, that it's all psychochemistry." "And I just walked through an open door and walked and walked and walked." "Now I know I'm free." "I know that I'm a mad killer." "But I don't know whether I'm asleep or not." "As soon as I'm back in Moscow, I'II get to the bottom of this." "It won't change a thing." "let's see." "I'II take the young lady outside." "You stay here." "Sit quiet, and don't leave the house." "There's a fierce dog outside." "Our helicopter caught on fire." "The navigator was killed by shrapnel, and I managed to grab his goggles." "That's how I saved my eyes." "I came out of hospital a complete social invalid." "My arms, legs and head were all fine, but I had a rag instead of a face." "What do you mean a rag?" "They gave me a bandage." "My face is one big scar." "I was burnt down to the bone." "How did you guess that he's not guilty?" "I don't know," "I couId feel it." "You would feel it too if you weren't afraid of him." "It's a skill I learnt in the Caucasus." "Everything's upside-down there, and a Iot of people tell lies." "You look at a person and you can see what he's done and what he hasn't." "What are you going to do next?" "I'II stay here until Spring, then they've promised me work in a lighthouse." "then they've promised me work in a lighthouse." "In a bird sanctuary." "The sea, waves, albatrosses, and no people." "That's a fine horse you've got." "Go on." "Best of luck!" "Yeah." "Come on, come on!" "He sure was stuck in there." "Yeah, it got snagged under that root." "Let's have a look in the car." "well" "Get on the radio!" "He took the car!" "alive?" "AII right!" "ShmeI, this is Lesnoy, answer!" "BumbIe-bee, this is Park Ranger." "Do you copy?" "Misha, I've lost the second patrol, see if you can reach them." "Neva dva, Neva dva, answer to Lesnoy" "Attention all units!" "I'm beginning pursuit of the suspect." "Did he want to get back on the highway with you?" "I think the helicopter scared him." "He said he couldn't stay on the territory any more." "And would you say, Marinochka, that the man is in his right mind?" "I think he's quite sane." "Comrade colonel, he's got a car from the local station." "They were investigating the murder site." "There's been some sort of cock-up." "A golden eagle, whose gaze is bright and unforgettable." "Stop!" "Stop right there, mate!" "I don't want to go to hell!" "H.Q., I'm still in pursuit of the suspect, we've just passed the twelfth kilometre." "H.Q., this is the traffic post, they've gone through our section, they're in the industrial zone." "That's it, mate!" "You've had it!" "That was quite a run you gave me." "We have new information." "The criminal is armed, I repeat, the criminal is armed." "tell them not to come any closer!" "Attention guys!" "He's pointing a gun at me." "He says for you not to approach the car." "You're up to you're neck in it now, mate." "How are you planning to get out of here?" "For Christ's sake be quiet!" "Got it?" "Then make the announcement!" "Attention, this is the traffic police, we have an announcement." "He wants to make an announcement for TV, radio, the press and,.." "The vice-governor!" "The vice-governor.." "Lensky and the journalists must be here within two hours." "And there has to be TV cameras." "Otherwise he takes no responsibility for the consequences." "What responsibility has he ever taken," "Any ideas?" "We can't get him from behind, there's a wall." "What if we go through the roof onto the wall and get him in the back of the head?" "Too dangerous." "The bugger will notice and that'II be the end of the traffic cop." "That's it, feIIahs, I've had enough of him." "Finish the bastard off by any means necessary." "Pyotr Andreyevich, perhaps you should listen to his demands?" "They're not that unreasonable." "Marinochka, why don't you do yourjob and I'II do mine." "I told you that I'd be more than happy to give you an interview after the operation." "only not now!" "Look, he's a sick man, and he hasn't been proved guilty in a court of law." "Okay, then I'II be straight with you!" "I say" "A sick man should be lying in bed and not making this bloody havoc!" "Sorry, we're working here." "Don't you want to inform the vice-governor?" "Get her the hell out of here!" "I think he has a right to know!" "Come on, come on, this is no place for you." "Leave me alone!" "Come on" "Let me go please." "He really is mad." "Why did he do all this?" "He wanted to prove that he's no worse than anyone else." "He's totally lost it." "Yes..." "Look, he wrote me a letter" ""Thank you and forgive me, but I bring disasters, I am a disaster.."" "They'II kill him and it'II all be over." "What makes you think they'II do that?" "I heard them." "They're not even considering any other options." "Oh my God!" "They're all crazy." "God!" "Why do they have to kill him?" "We could re-examine the whole case, get him moved to anotherjaiI." "could you do that?" "Of course I couId, now that I know everything." "Sasha." "Marina, are you okay?" "Oh Sasha, how good that you've come!" "What's wrong with you?" "Sasha, sweetheart, I've never asked you for anything." "please, we have to stop them!" "Stop who?" "You can call the governor, can't you?" "And what then, Marina?" "Just think about what you're asking me to do!" "hold on" "Marina" "We've got to stop them, you understand?" "They're going to kill him." "I've already thought it all through." "calm down, Marina, calm down, okay?" "No!" "Let's go and sit in the car and we'II discuss everything, okay?" "Okay." "Good, now I want you to calm down." "But let's not sit in the car, we have to go in there." "I don't think we can use snipers." "He's positioned inside the car." "It all looks pretty fucked." "So are we just gonna sit here and watch?" "There is one hypothesis." "We could take out the building supports with a grenade-Iauncher." "It'II all come crashing down." "And so what?" "The traffic cop will guess what's going on, and he'II jump out." "It'II still get him, maybe a few cuts and bruises." "But if he's not a complete dickhead he'II jump out and be just like new in a few weeks." "And if he's a complete dickhead?" "Then this is a sure fire way of finding out." "What's this clown parade?" "hold on" "I'II be back in a minute, okay?" "How do you know him?" "hello, colonel." "Don't give him up to the cops, Commander." "We need to sort a few things out first." "What's going on?" "I would Iike to be like him, but it's a good thing I'm not." "You're very strong." "You're going to get into trouble, you know." "I don't care," "I'm not going to back down." "What was I supposed to do?" "The sergeant went to get handcuffs, and he jumped on VIadimir." "He almost tore his neck open and tried to grab the machine gun.Then he turned around and looked at me with his crazy eyes." "He would have plugged all of us." "Oh God!" "What have I done?" "calm down Let's go" "They already told me everything." "What?" "That you're trying to be a hero." "Just don't take it to heart, okay?" "AII this madness around you." "That's easy," "I don't have a heart." "Stop it, that's not what I'm talking about." "These schizophrenics are real masters at pulling the wool over your eyes." "Did he tell you that he's innocent?" "That it's all one big conspiracy against him?" "No he admitted that he was totally guilty." "Okey" "They said that you talked to the police boss." "Yeah, I got a bit carried away." "carried away?" "Yeah, well he asked me to tell you that the investigation is officially over." "That the truth has been established," "the evidence has all been filed:" "That's enough!" "And after everything that's happened today," "please don't make things any more difficult than they are already." "Okay, okay!" "I've got the message." "Thank God." "You know what?" "Thanks for the lift, you can stop the car here." "Sasha, please stop the car!" "calm down." "I'II just drop you home and that's it, just stay cool." "calm down." "calm down." "Stop the car or I'II jump out!" "Sasha, please, I beg you." "Hi, Marina!" "It's me, your erotic hallucination." "What a day, huh?" "You're looking great!" "I can see that something has changed inside you." "I know what you're thinking about." "Drop it, it's useless." "It's all an illusion." "You remember the song?" "'It's only an illusion'..." "What difference does it make whether he's a maniac or not?" "One thing's clear - he's not such a bad guy." "Imagine, if a few days ago someone told you that all these things would happen to you, would you believe them?" "Of course you wouldn't." "No-one would." "people don't want to believe anymore." "They've given up." "Just think, maybe right now the band will strike up and everyone will run out and shout, 'It was all a joke!" "'" "balloons, flowers, champagne?" "But I'm afraid it's not a joke, Marina, it's life." "You're still thinking, aren't you?" "relax!" "Don't let it bother you, everything will be fine!" "Love, love, love."