At the same time, one floor lower, someone else was fighting his way through the bustle of the corridors, someone for whom it was very important to reach the Rector’s office at least a few seconds earlier than he did. Barging straight into the students he couldn’t walk round, the skinny, clean-shaven thirty-five-year-old man in spectacles frowned and apologised, but didn’t slow down. It had been explained very clearly just how important it was for him to see the Rector as soon as possible, and he was trying as hard as possible to comply with Ramazanov’s instructions.
Things went well at first — he managed to reach the waiting room before the Rector. Now he had to meet him in the doorway and persuade him by any means possible to hear him out. The secretary Mina, whom he feared no less than
