Nightmare on Stachek Street. Swept Away by the Wind. Fellow Travelers

Nightmare on Stachki Street (Streets of Broken Lamps — 01)

June 1990. The scorching southern sun heated the roof of the IVS in Vladikavkaz city, so inside the overcrowded prison—packed with remand prisoners—the temperature exceeded all imaginable limits. In one of the cells with two-tier bunks, where particularly dangerous inmates were held, the door suddenly opened, and a guard brought in a man around twenty-eight years old—moreover, unlike everyone else in the cell, he was Russian.
— Kuzmin, — the guard introduced him. — Drugs. — And he pushed him into the cell. — Make yourself at home.
The door shut. The young man stood in the center, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. A newcomer. The inmates exchanged glances.
— Filthy thing, hand over a towel, — one of the men called out. Kuzmin took the towel hanging on the bunk and handed it over. But the man, as if by accident, let it slip from his hands, and it fell softly between Kuzmin and a criminal.
Under prison rules, the one who was weaker had to pick up the towel. Kuzmin didn’t move.
— Pick it up, — ordered the inmate.
— You dropped it—you pick it up.
— Are you looking for death, kid? — the inmate said, slowly getting up from the bunk. — I’m sitting for something wet, and you— for some kind of high. Pick up the towel!
Kuzmin looked around and headed toward the free bunks. A blow in the back shook him. The inmate, with both hands locked like a frame, struck him from behind. Kuzmin held his ground, sprang in place, and his leg, swinging in a large arc, struck the man squarely in the temple. The inmate flew toward the doors.
— Beat the “khach,” — voices shouted, and five men rushed at Kuzmin. Kuzmin managed to fend off two attackers, but then he was hit on the head with something heavy and collapsed onto the bunks. Beatings rained on him from all sides. Someone’s hands reached for the buttons on his trousers, and he felt them start pulling down his pants. The damp towel that someone had thrown over his neck knocked the breath out of him. Kuzmin closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

“Doomed by the Wind” (Streets of Broken Lamps — 02)

Everyone knows drinking is harmful. However, certain unsound citizens sometimes still “use it,” and then throw themselves headfirst from balconies. That’s why the operatives of the 85th department, led by Andrey Kivinov, had to investigate the suicide of a drunkard. You can’t out-sniff spirits with investigative instinct, so the villains won’t be able to slip the police a fake “story.” The chain of leads takes Kivinov straight to the holy of holies of the late man’s world—into the liquor-and-vodka plant.

Companions (Streets of Broken Lamps — 03)

Everyone knows drinking is harmful. However, some unsound citizens still “use it,” and then throw themselves headfirst from balconies. That’s why the operatives of the 85th department, led by Andrey Kivinov, had to investigate the suicide of a drunkard. You can’t out-sniff spirits with investigative instinct, so the villains won’t be able to slip the police a “fake.” The chain of leads leads Kivinov into the holy of holies of the deceased’s world—into the liquor-and-vodka plant.