"Watson-TheAmberRoom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watson Ian)

understood, the bottom had virtually fallen out of the Western market for amber.
With the disintegration of the superpower, any wannabe Russian rock group would
bring out a haversack full of the stuff to pay their way. Maybe my fellow
passengers -- principally Poles -- weren't as interesting as myself to
interrogate. Or maybe obstructiveness lingered.

"I'm fascinated by the history of the amber room," I said -- a harmless enough
admission, not to mention being the truth.

The young man looked blank. "The amber room?" I suppose you might meet a native
of London who hasn't the foggiest idea where the Crown Jewels are housed. The
other officer spoke rapidly in Russian, enlightening his colleague.

To recover from chagrin, the young officer enquired what sort of engineer I was,
and when I specified hang-gliders the older man reached for my passport and my
hotel confirmation with such an impetuous hand that he actually knocked the
documents off the desk. I would have picked these up myself but he stepped
swiftly' out to do so. As he rose, his lapel bulged and I noticed a badge pinned
on the inside where it wouldn't normally be seen. A disc, the size of a small
coin, bore a double-headed eagle. The old imperial eagle, emblem of the TSars. .
. He must be a nationalist -- of a far-out eccentric royalist stripe. All sorts
of strange creatures had crawled out of the woodwork when the Soviet Union fell
apart.

I was irritated by the delay. But also I felt suddenly possessed, in that
moment, by my dream perception -- galvanized and beguiled. The words jerked out
of me almost inadvertently:

"Maybe," I burbled, "a hang-gilder pilot can find the lost amber room, wherever
it is!" Then I laughed dismissively.

In fact, the young officer had had my best interests at heart. If I was going to
be carrying a lot of money round, it might be sensible to hire a driver, an
interpreter, an escort, if I followed his drift. A reliable and discreet man
from a private security company. Kaliningrad wasn't awash with crime to the
extent, alas, of Moscow or St. Petersburg. Yet even so! A word to the wise. He
produced a little printed card with address and phone number and printed a name
on the back.

"My name. Tell them that I recommended you --"

No doubt for a percentage of the fee which I would be paying. . The older man
didn't want me to take the card. He became quite vociferous, in Russian. Maybe
he viewed this as an insult to his nation. I think he would have confiscated the
card if this had been within his power.

Thus it was that I acquired Pavel as a minder and guide for my stay in
Kaliningrad.

The fellow bore quite a resemblance to me -- though this is purely coincidental.