It was hard to define his age, as is the case with a corpse which has begun to decompose.

According to his passport, he was only twenty-three years old.

Once or twice Werner quietly touched his knee with his hand, and each time Kashirin spoke shortly: "Never mind!" The most terrible sensation was when he was suddenly seized with an insufferable desire to cry out, without words, the desperate cry of a beast.

He touched Werner quickly, and Werner, without lifting his eyes, said softly: "Never mind, Vasya.

It will soon be over." And embracing them all with a motherly, anxious look, the fifth terrorist, Tanya Kovalchuk, was faint with alarm.