Chapter 45
At midnight, as Michael got off the elevator he caught Irina’s eye. She said nothing to him, but walked out of the lobby. He followed. Outside she waited for him to catch up to her and they walked in brisk silence, side by side, through the Alexander Gardens. They passed the Bronze Horseman, one of the city’s most famous landmarks, built by Catherine the Great to honor Peter the Great. Whenever Michael passed it, he thought of the legend that the city would survive as long as the Bronze Horseman stood to protect it. In 1941 when the German army circled the city and cut off all rail and other food supply lines, the people fought back, fortified the city, covered the Bronze Horseman with sandbags and a wooden shelter, and somehow managed to hold the Germans at bay. The city survi
