The Cave [Feburary 17, 1964, 10:30 pm - continued from Night Search for Corpus 2]

[capt-kasya.livejournal.com]

They were still for a moment, in the wake of Major Liadov's query.

Then everyone looked at Imanov.

Isaev had told Kassian that Imanov had gone to a university and studied psychology. That made him the obvious choice in Kassian's book. Kassian hadn't even completed his secondary education before he'd have to leave in order to work at the factory.

Kassian wondered if there was anything in Imanov's psychology books that talked about this, murders committed out of some deep-seated need, fueled by this cycle of escalation that Liadov had talked about.

Probably. It sounded like it happened often enough that experts had coined terms for it, after all, some deeper explanation than merely knowing the difference between having to kill, and wanting to kill.

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[capt-kasya.livejournal.com]

Kassian lowered his flashlight to let the beam cross-illuminate the water.

There, in the center, something glittered like metal. Gold, to be exact.

"It's a ring," Kassian said, stepping forward. "Can you get it?"

He put his gun down and set his flashlight on the ground, balancing it on the end to illuminate the cavern, then took a square of soft grey cloth from one of his field pouches. Kassian used the cloth for cleaning his rifle, but it would do well enough to hold evidence.

It could be that the ring had nothing to do with the body, but Kassian doubted it.

[andrei-isaev.livejournal.com]

Isaev shot him a wry twist of his lips and jumped into the water.

It hit him at mid-thigh.

He bent to retrieve the ring and grinning, caught Irinarhov by the hand, shoving it onto his finger.

"Of course I can get it," he admonished, rolling his eyes. "What kind of a question is that?"

A little oversized, he thought, amused, if it fit over the sniper's hand, glove and all.

Although Irinarhov had surprisingly slender hands, like a pianist. Those delicate wrought instruments of death.

[capt-kasya.livejournal.com]

"I meant - " Kassian started, but he broke off, trying to look stern while fighting a smile.

That didn't work so well, he was certain.

Kassian looked at the ring that Isaev had stuck on his finger.

A plain band of gold and obviously meant to be worn by a much larger man than he. Or at least, a man with much larger hands.

Carefully, he took the cloth and pulled off the ring, folding the square several times, then tucking it away in a breast pocket.

"This could be evidence," he finally said, but when he looked back, Isaev was still standing in the water.

"You make me want to get in there with you."

As close as they had become, it amazed him sometimes that Isaev still had the power to disarm him with a gesture, a word, an offhand comment...

...or an entirely brazen act that made Kassian's chest flutter.

"Zverskiy youbar'," he muttered, then stepped into the water with a small splash. Kassian leaned up into Isaev and caught his mouth with a kiss.

He kept it brief, but thorough, and only pulled back slightly.

"We're not doing anything else in here."

Half-breathless, his lips brushed Isaev's.

Kassian pushed his tongue at the scabbed cut on Isaev's lip, and imagined he could taste blood.

"Maybe later, though."

[andrei-isaev.livejournal.com]

"Whatever you say, Captain Irinarhov," Andrei said, with a lilt of his brows. "I'm at your disposal, seeing as you technically outrank me."

He was being playful, but mindful of restraint, the solemnity of circumstance.

Something about the sniper's unstudied diktat pleased him, showed the authority granted not by rank but by life.

We're not doing anything else in here.

Pronouncements that Andrei would accede to, despite their "magnum frater" overtones.

He liked that part of Kassian. The part that betrayed the sagacity of his years, and the authority it conferred.

As he stepped out of the pool, he turned his head to breathe against Irianrhov's ear.

"But we're doing everything later."

[capt-kasya.livejournal.com]

A shiver ran through Kassian, and he almost turned his head to catch Isaev's lips again, but he managed to hold back.

Not the time, not the place, he had to remind himself.

Isaev always made him want to forget.

"Deal," he murmured, absently running his tongue over his lips as he climbed out of the hot spring.

Kassian supposed he might regret jumping in the water later, when they left the warmth of the cave and went back out into the chill of the night, but he certainly didn't now, he thought, still flushed from the water, and the kiss.

Then again, he might not regret it later, either. It would give them an excuse to be excused from duty, at least long enough to change their uniforms.

He remembered how it had been the night of the greenhouse explosion, after Ocelot had excused them from duty. It felt different this time, and he wasn't sure why. It was less personal, perhaps, because Isaev didn't have to examine the corpse as he had before. And perhaps the initial horror of the first body had inured them somewhat to the second.

It was still sobering, but it didn't feel like the world was closing in.

Thinking about duty made him frown after a moment, and he paused to scoop up his gun and flashlight.

"Alexandrich," he called, before Isaev could exit the cavern. "I have to tell you something."

Isaev paused, looking back, expression curious and mild. Kassian didn't especially want to kill the mood, but it was better he confessed sooner, rather than later.

"I'm not sure why Imanov didn't say anything to Ocelot earlier, but he saw someone sneaking around by the outbuildings, before the ALL PERSONNEL went out. I think he got into a scuffle, but the person got away. He didn't seem to want to give me much detail."

He paused, frowning, contrite. "I wasn't there to back him up, comrade. I'm sorry."

[andrei-isaev.livejournal.com]

Andrei stopped, the ground rustling beneath his boot.

It was a faint sound, but in the stillness it carried all the portent of an avalanche.

"He...he seemed fine," he said, bewildered.

Bewildered as to why Imanov wouldn't have told him, as to why-

"He's all right, then. No damage."

It was fairly mild as combat went, a mere scuffle- but the idea that Imanov might have touched the killer, possibly earning himself a place as target next-

Andrei's voice lowered.

"Was he wearing his balaclava?"

Then Isaev remembered the last words Kassian had said, the ones that must have cost him something to utter.

"...you..." he broke off, shaking his head.

[capt-kasya.livejournal.com]

"He had it on," Kassian said immediately, following Isaev's line of reasoning.

If it had been the killer that Imanov tangled with, it would be better that Imanov be only an anonymous Ocelot to him, not man with a face that could be recognized later.

"He's all right. No damage," he added. "And he came away with a scrap of fabric from the struggle. It could be useful."

He looked away, back to the pool.

"Ocelot had ordered me to stay with the MENTs. Imanov and I discussed it, and agreed he'd stay outside to keep an eye on the building while I went inside with them, but as I look back on it, we shouldn't have split."

Kassian shook his head. He didn't spend a lot of time in self-recrimination, but he could acknowledge his errors in judgment. That had been one, regardless if anything had happened or not.

He fell silent, then glanced back at Isaev, meeting his gaze, his dark eyes solemn and steady.

[andrei-isaev.livejournal.com]

Andrei shook his head.

"And he didn't call for backup. Believe me, I know how he is."

A sigh that felt like it came from his viscera, and his hand shook slightly as he ran it back through his hair.

"I know him very well. Every inch."

After a moment he shrugged.

"He made the call. Your job is to protect the MENTs, and then your brother. It's not your fault."

He raised his eyes and pushed a half-smile.

"I don't know why you're confessing with that look on your face. That look of infinite sorrow."

Andrei snorted.

"Even if you could cover the world with that Mosin-Nagant, Kasya, you can't vanquish a man's worst enemy without shooting him in the process."

[capt-kasya.livejournal.com]

Kassian felt his shoulders relax.

He nodded.

"All right. I just...wanted you to know what happened, in case he doesn't tell you."

He supposed he shouldn't have been concerned that Isaev think him purposefully negligent when it came to Imanov's safety.

Isaev knew him better than that.

He knew Isaev better than that.

Isaev's eyes looked dark under the glare from his flashlight.

"I know he's your friend. I'll do my best," Kassian said, slowly, like a promise.

Kassian still wanted to talk to Imanov, to clear the air with him, even though he wasn't sure it would help. He had to try, though.

But perhaps not tonight, he thought, remembering Isaev's earlier words.

His mouth tipped up, and he reached out and brushed the back of his hand against Isaev's arm, briefly. Brotherly, but affectionate.

"Shall we head back? We still have to check the other branch."

[andrei-isaev.livejournal.com]

Andrei nodded.

"Davai."

They started back the way they'd come, studying the walls and floor of the cave in case they'd missed anything vital. Retracing.

This time they veered down the other trunk of the corridor, which proved to be somewhat longer and slightly sloping downward.

It came to a definitive end, a dead one. A sheer facing, facing them.

Andrei trained his secondary flashlight along the wall, but Kassian had shined his directly ahead.

"Lend me your beam, comrade," he heard the sniper whisper, in his rough, low tone.

Isaev automatically complied, as if that voice was hardwired to him.

"It's got to be Molokov," Irinarhov said grimly.

Andrei's lip curled briefly, unwittingly.

"Poor bastard."

In the track of their crossed lights stood a macabre little pyramid, a wigwam of limbs cantilevered into a pyre.

Hands seemed to be expressively reaching, feet supporting.

Had it been cast in plaster instead of flesh, it might have made a fantastic concept for the support of a modernist coffee table.

As it was, however, what they beheld was only a sick offering to a godless land.

He clicked on his CODEC.

"Major," he said. "Tell the MENTs we got something. Down in the cavern system. Left branching fork to its ultimate conclusion. Area's secured. We'll stand ground and wait."