– Arrived! – Andreich Kharon prononsed from the cabin his first word for today.
Blinchuk was staring at Nabis unkindly.
– Arrived, – Nabis confirmed. – It’s here, in the hangar.
– What’s there?
– Some sort of hotel with a bar. It's called “Two pipes”.
– Poachers?
Nabis signed.
– “Smugglers”.
– Why so? – Blinchuk asked.
– In America it's “smugglers”, comrade Colonel, – Korostylyov said. – mean contrabandists. Slang.
– Fuck this, – Blinchuk said. – Trackers, smugglers.. Troublers, damn them all!.. Good, and who are the “magacitls”?
– These are for example, you and me, comrade Colonel, – Korostylyov said.
Blinchuk cursed.
– Say, Nabis, do our American friends after all are also illegally treasuring in their free times? – Korostylyov asked. – Why not to say now? We are already here. We ourselves can notice it unexpectedly.
Nabis wiped his wet face with his wet palm and jumped off the carcass to skyway under the tent. He made his deal. There was a bench near the door, cut in the closed hangar’s gate. He sat on it, took out cigarette case with chopped Astrakhan’s “astra” inside, and lit a cigarette, thinking that this is the third for today, which means there are three more left. Nabis was trying to quit, gently cutting his habit step by step. He was planning to live long. And in America.
Just like they had forgotten about him, all four passed him one by one on the way to the door. Blinchuk was walking first, right into the battle, Korostylyov was the last, covering the backs… And still he nodded to Nabis when catching up with him, before disappearing in the bar waiting room. Yes, the most dangerous of them is the Major. Especially because he is humane. Time passed. Nabis was smoking. Rain was roaring, “shishiga” was cooling down under it, you could neither see nor hear Kharon behind the flooded windshield. Suddenly there were safe steps on the right, shoes were splashing through the puddles. Nabis looked up. Welcoming him from far by a show of hands, familiar contractor Fenimore was approaching “Two pipes”. Here Kharon blinked headlights, Fenimore without even lowering his arm, made his next step to the right and disappeared in some gap in between the building extensions. Nabis smoked till it reached his lips, threw cigarette butt into the rain and leisurely went to search for him.