Nadezhda had been waiting for quite some time, handcuffed to a ring fixed to the wall of one of the mine’s least-used passages. Nobody was watching her. Kneeling on the ground, she massaged her shoulder intermittently, moved a little so as not to become stiff, and to chase away the ants that bit her feet. She was almost happy to hear footsteps coming towards her. She was disappointed when she saw Daniil Kaliov suddenly appear, his uniform snapping around his excessively thin limbs. He was playing with the handcuff keys that were spinning on one of his fingers and he gave the girl a happy smile.
“You waited for me, that’s very kind!” he exclaimed cheerfully.
Nadezhda held back a sharp reply, biting her lip. The man reacted unpredictably to annoyances. Since the beginning of her stay here,
