A Spring Betrayal
Authors: Tom Callaghan
Tags: #Political, #Spies & Politics, #Thriller & Suspense, #FIC030000 Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense, #Police Procedurals, #Thrillers & Suspense, #International Mystery & Crime, #Mystery, #Crime, #Suspense, #Travel
A Spring Betrayal
Tom Callaghan & Saul Reichlin & Quercus
Tags: Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, International Mystery & Crime, Police Procedurals, Thrillers & Suspense, Crime, Spies & Politics, Political, Suspense, Travel, FIC030000 Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Mystery; Thriller & Suspensettt Mysteryttt International Mystery & Crimettt Police Proceduralsttt Thrillers & Suspensettt Crimettt Spies & Politicsttt Politicalttt Suspensettt Travelttt FIC030000 Fiction / Thrillers / Suspensettt
We uncovered the last of the bodies in the red hour before dusk, as the sun stained the snowcaps of the Tian Shan mountains the colour of dried blood and the spring air turned sharp and cold....
Inspector Akyl Borubaev of Bishkek Murder Squad has been exiled to the far corner of Kyrgystan, but death still haunts him at every turn. Borubaev soon finds himself caught up in a mysterious and gruesome new case: several children's bodies have been found buried together - all tagged with name bands.
In his search for the truth behind the brutal killings, Borubaev hits a wall of silence, with no one to turn to outside his sometime lover, the beautiful undercover agent Saltanat Umarova. When Borubaev himself is framed for his involvement in the production of blood-soaked child pornography, it looks as though things couldn't get any worse.
With the investigation at a dangerous standstill, Borubaev sets out to save his own integrity and to deliver his own savage justice on behalf of the many dead who can't speak for themselves....
**
Also by Tom Callaghan
A Killing Winter
(Inspector Akyl Borubaev Book 1)
New York • London
© 2016 by Tom Callaghan
Cover photographs © Marcus Wilson-Smith; Jacket design ©
www.blacksheep-uk.com
First published in the United States by Quercus in 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review. Scanning, uploading, and electronic distribution of this book or the facilitation of the same without the permission of the publisher is prohibited.
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Any member of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use or anthology should send inquiries to
[email protected]
.
e-ISBN 978-1-68144-376-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Callaghan, Tom, author.
Title: A spring betrayal / Tom Callaghan.
Description: New York : Quercus, 2016. | Series: Akyl Borubaev ; 2
Identifiers: LCCN 2016030130 (print) | LCCN 2016032092 (ebook) | ISBN 9781681443782 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781681443775 (softcover) | ISBN 9781681443768 (ebook) | ISBN 9781681443751 (library ebook)
ISBN 9781681443768 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Police—Kyrgyzstan—Fiction. | Children—Crimes against—Fiction. | Serial murder investigation—Fiction. | Kyrgyzstan—Fiction. | GSAFD: Suspense fiction. | Mystery fiction. | Noir fiction.
Classification: LCC PR6103.A447 S68 2016 (print) | LCC PR6103.A447 (ebook) | DDC 823/.92—dc23
LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2016030130
Distributed in the United States and Canada by
Hachette Book Group
1290 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10104
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, institutions, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons—living or dead—events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For Akyl, Aizat, and Kairat
No change. No exit. A minor flaw.
You die—but start up once more.
It all repeats, just as before.
—Aleksandr Blok
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
We uncovered the last of the dead children in the red hour before dusk, as the sun stained the snowcaps of the Tien Shan mountains the color of dried blood and the spring air turned sharp and cold.
Seven small bundles, tightly swaddled in plastic bags, all buried in a hurry, just a few inches under the soil. They lay huddled together as if for warmth or comfort, at the foot of an apple tree, one of three bunched in the north corner of a potato field next to the canal. Not a clever disposal: the bags were swollen with the gases of decay, elbowing their way through the sour earth like a crop of misshapen mushrooms.
It was the rancid smell loitering in the dawn air that caught the attention of the farmer who found the first corpse. To begin with, he thought it was a dead hare, wondered why anyone would bother to bury it. A closer look revealed a clump of thick black hair and one small hand, fingers curled into an ineffectual fist. Then he noticed a couple more waxen bundles, decided to go against all his
myrki
peasant instincts and contact the authorities.
He called the
menti
, the local cops, who contacted Murder Squad, asked for an inspector. Since there’s only one Murder Squad officer in Karakol, that meant me.