long," Katya sat on the edge of the bed. "Almost twenty years ago."
"What?!" Sophia sat up abruptly, overcoming her weakness. "But that's impossible! You're…"
"I'm fifteen. I'm always fifteen," Katya smiled sadly. "It's hard to explain. You're under the influence of drugs right now. That's why you can see me."
Sophia stared at the girl, trying to understand what was happening. A hallucination? Effects of the injection? Or was she simply going insane?
"I don't understand…"
"Of course you don't," Katya picked up the green elephant from the nightstand. "I left you that message. 'Don't trust. Run. K.' I hoped you could get away before they started the procedures."
"What procedures? What's happening?" Sophia's voice was filled with panic.
Katya sighed, stroking the porcelain figurine.
"Berkut and his 'collectors'… they don't just kidnap children. They create their collection. Special children, as they say. Children whose souls will belong to them."
"I don't understand…"
"Berkut developed a drug. He calls it the 'key.' This drug alters consciousness, makes a person suggestible. And then… then they take a part of you. Your memories, your emotions, your will. And in return, they leave emptiness. Or something foreign."
Sophia felt as if her insides had frozen.
"They turn people into puppets?"
"Worse. They turn people into collectors. Just like themselves. Viktor Rogov, Igor Sokolov—they were the first. The first test subjects. And now they help Berkut find new… exhibits."
Sophia tried to digest what she'd heard. It sounded like nonsense, like the plot of a science fiction movie. But something told her that Katya was telling the truth.
"If you've been here for twenty years… why do you still look like a teenager?"
Katya smiled sadly.
"I'm not here. Not exactly here. My body… it's dead. Long dead. And what you see is just a projection. A reflection in your consciousness, altered by the drugs."
"You're a ghost?" Sophia moved away, feeling a shiver run through her body.
"No. More like… an echo. Berkut calls it 'residual consciousness.' When they take a person's essence, something still remains."
Chapter 9: Threads of Fate
Elena Andreevna met Anna in her apartment, exhausted by sleeplessness and waiting. Dark circles under her eyes, pale face, nervous movements—she looked like someone on the verge of a breakdown.
"Has something happened?" she asked as soon as Anna crossed the threshold. "Have you found Sophia?"
"Not yet. But I have new questions," Anna walked into the living room. "This is very important. Have you ever visited the 'New Life' psychological center?"
Elena Andreevna froze for a second.
"Yes. A couple of years ago. Viktor recommended it, said I had increased anxiety because of work. Why?"
"And Sophia was there too?"
"Several times. Three or four sessions," Elena Andreevna frowned. "But we stopped going. Sophia didn't like the psychologist. She said she felt uncomfortable during the sessions. What happened?"
Anna took out Berkut's photograph.
"Is this the psychologist you saw?"
Elena Andreevna looked at the picture and nodded.
"Yes, Doctor Berkut. He's a very well-known specialist. Viktor said there was a waiting list several months long, but we managed to get in through connections."
"What happened during the sessions? What did he do with you? With Sophia?"
"Standard therapy," Elena Andreevna shrugged. "Conversations, tests. With Sophia, he conducted some kind of art therapy… Something involving animal figurines. And he prescribed me pills."
"What kind of pills?"
"I don't remember the name. Small white pills. They were supposed to reduce anxiety. I took them for about a month, but then stopped—they made me feel somewhat… detached. As if I were looking at the world through a cloudy window."
Anna felt her pulse quicken.
"Elena Andreevna, these sessions, the pills… when exactly was this?"
"About six months before I met Viktor," she thought for a moment. "No, that's not right. We knew each other, but not closely. He was just an acquaintance from a mutual social circle. And then, when I was already seeing Berkut, he started showing more attention. Asking me on dates, giving gifts…"
"Don't you find that strange?" Anna asked carefully. "Berkut. Viktor. These pills."
Elena Andreevna slowly sank into a chair, her face suddenly growing even paler.
"You think… all of this was connected? Viktor and Berkut… they were working together?"
"We have reason to believe so," Anna moved closer. "And another person—Igor Sokolov, the physical education teacher. They may have been planning Sophia's abduction for a long time."
"My God," whispered Elena Andreevna. "I let him into our home. I myself…"
"It's not your fault," Anna said firmly. "They manipulated you. Possibly even with drugs."
Elena Andreevna suddenly raised her head, panic flashing in her eyes.
"The elephants!" she exclaimed. "Sophia's first elephant appeared after a session with Berkut. He gave her that figurine himself. Said it was… that it was a symbol of her potential."
"What color was this elephant?"
"Green," Elena Andreevna whispered. "Bright green."
Anna made a note in her notebook.
"Is there anything else that seems strange to you? Even the smallest detail could be important."
Elena Andreevna closed her eyes, remembering.
"There was one time… Sophia returned from a session with Berkut somewhat… different. Detached. She spoke slowly, as if struggling to find words. I asked if everything was all right, and she said: 'I saw Katya. She was special too.'"
"Katya?"
"Yes. At the time, I thought she was talking about another patient at the center. But now…"
"Katya Voronova," Anna said quietly. "The girl Viktor Rogov killed twenty years ago."
The phone rang in the kitchen. Elena Andreevna absently rose to answer it. A minute later, she returned even paler than before.
"It was him."
"Who?"
"Berkut. He said that Sophia is fine. That she…" Elena Andreevna's voice trembled. "That she's undergoing 'necessary transformation.'"
Anna jumped up.
"Did he give an address? Say where she is?"
"No. Only that… that soon I'll receive word from her. And that I should be prepared for her to change."
Anna quickly dialed Dorokhov's number.
"Urgently trace the call to Elena Andreevna's home phone. Just now. And put out an APB on Alexander Berkut. Immediately!"
Hanging up, she turned to Elena Andreevna.
"Have you remembered anything else? Did Berkut ever mention places he goes to? A house outside the city, a country home?"
Elena Andreevna rubbed her temples, trying to concentrate.
"Once… he talked about a sanatorium. Some old sanatorium he wanted to turn into a rehabilitation center for children with psychological trauma. A former Soviet sanatorium somewhere in the forest."
"Name? Address?"
"I think 'Pine'… or 'Forest'… something like that. But once I saw documents on his desk. Something