Read Dmitry Glukhovsky - Metro 2034 English fan translation (v1.0) (docx) for Free Online Page B

cleared her throat.
    “You always have one”
    “A bad one” she said stubbornly. Then she started crying.
    “What? What am I … It’s an order.” He stuttered and stroked over her fingers. He realized that his tirades weren’t worth a cent now.
    “The one-eyed should go by himself!” She called out angrily and moved her hand away. “Oh that devil with his beret! He can only boss around others … What does he have to lose? He is married to his rifle! What does he know?”
    When you made a women cry, the only thing left is to hold her in your arms. Homer was ashamed of himself, he was really sorry. But it was too easy to give in now, to swear that he won’t follow that order, to calm her down and dry her tears – and to remember this missed chance forever. Maybe the last chance in his long life.
    So he remained silent.
     
     
     
    It was time to gather the officers and give them further instructions. But the colonel was still sitting in his office. The cigarette smoke didn’t even bother him anymore but it still tempted him.
    While the commander of the station moved his finger along the line of the Sev astopolskay a on his map of the Metro
and was whispering to himself sunken in thoughts, Denis Michailovitsch tried to understand what was behind Hunters mysterious return to the Sev astopolskay a . Why did he decide to settle down here and why did he wear his helmet in public almost all the time? That all meant that Istomin was right:
    Hunter was hiding from something and he had chosen the southern guard post as his hiding place. There he replaced a complete brigade and had become irreplaceable. Whoever demanded his return, whatever price had been placed on his head, nor Istomin or the colonel would have given him up.
    His hiding place was brilliant. There were no strangers at the Sev astopolskay a and compared to other caravans that traveled to the “big Metro” everyone passing through this station kept their tongue behind their teeth. In this small Sparta that desperately held on to their small piece of earth on the end of the world it was the most important thing to be reliable and relentless in battle. Here secrets still meant something.
    But why did Hunter give all this up again? Why did he travel to Hanza out of his free will and risked being recognized? He had volunteered for this operation; Istomin wouldn’t have dared to think about appointing it to him. It probably wasn’t the fate of the lost recon unit that interested
the brigadier. He didn’t fight for the Sev astopolskay a because he loved the station so much, but because of his own reasons that were only known to him.
    Maybe he had to fulfill an assignment? That would explain a lot of things: His sudden appearance, his secrecy, the stamina with which he held the guard post and of course his decision to leave for the Serpuchov skay a immediately.
    But then why did he forbid him to inform the others ?
    Who could have sent him expect them?
    No, that was impossible. He was one of the Order. A man who dozens, if not hundreds of people – including Denis Michailovitsch – owed their lives to wouldn’t be able to commit treason.
    But was this Hunter that had appeared out of the void the same? If he worked for somebody did he receive a signal?
    Did that mean that the disappearance of the recon unit was no accident but a well planned operation? And what part did the brigadier play in all of this?
    The colonel shook his head strongly, as if he wanted to shake away his suspicions that hung on him like blood eels, getting bigger and bigger. Why would he think this about a man that saved his live? Hunter had served the station without making any mistakes and he had never given him the slightest
reason for doubts. Thus Denis Michailovitsch forbade himself to think about the brigadier as a deserter, spy or something else.
    He had made his decision. “Another tea and then I’ll go to the boys.” He said overly energetic and snapped his fingers.
    Istomin