"Cold, very cold was in Moscow this November. From the very beginning of the month, harsh, fine snow fell often and in large amounts. Frozen wind carried it along wide streets, swept it into alleys, and polished the paved roadways on the sidewalks until they gleamed with a noble shine.
On one of those icy days, when the light air in a whistling street doesn’t have time to warm the wind that slips into it, an armed roundup drove up to an abandoned accident-proof house tucked away among the old new-builds of Moscow…"