"The Alligator Line" by Chingiz Abdullaev, summary

The plot revolves around the concept of the line, which, once crossed, leaves the victim at the mercy of the predator, losing every chance of escape. The main plot revolves around the clash between international drug smuggling and organized crime and corrupt government structures during the collapse of the old order. The novel was written and published in 1996, during the height of the rampant murders and criminal redistribution in the post-Soviet space.

This work is part of the author’s series about the expert analyst Drongo. The series also includes the novels "Blue Angels," "Manhunt," "Shadow of the Gallows," and "An Almost Incredible Murder." The book dates back to the detective’s early years, cementing his image as an independent professional of international stature.

The Senator’s Visit and the Mystery of His Death in Moscow

Drongo spends his days in his native seaside town, trying to distract himself from years of intellectual work by reading. The morning doorbell disturbs the peace. American Senator Joseph Rhodes and his translator, Sigrid, appear on the landing. The high-ranking visitor is devastated by the recent death of his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who worked as a Moscow correspondent for the Chicago Tribune.

Six months ago, the journalist’s rented car crashed into a truck on a highway near Moscow, after which a forensic examination revealed the presence of a large dose of alcohol in the deceased’s tissue. Rhodes rejects the official version due to his daughter’s congenital allergy to alcohol. A secret exhumation in the United States established death by mechanical asphyxiation long before the collision. The senator hires Drongo on the recommendation of a mutual Parisian acquaintance, Pierre Dunois, demanding he identify the masterminds of the murder.

The senator’s companion’s personal circumstances soon come to light. Sigrid turns out to be the daughter of Drongo’s deceased lover, Ursula Andersson. The young woman works for the US Drug Enforcement Administration. The deceased Elizabeth was an undercover agent for the same agency, secretly developing a route for smuggling Asian heroin into Western Europe.

Ordered liquidation on the highway

At Sheremetyevo International Airport, a young border guard detained a repeat offender named Dyakov, who was flying to Amsterdam using a fake service passport from the fictitious company Monotex. The document was issued in a false name through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Security officials took the dangerous detainee for questioning at a pretrial detention center.

At the entrance to the city, the escort’s Volga is rammed by a silver jeep. The robbers fire at the car point-blank with two Kalashnikov assault rifles. Two counterintelligence officers and Dyakov himself are killed instantly from bullet wounds and the subsequent gas tank explosion. Operative Koshkin, who ejected from the car, survives and creates a composite sketch of the shooter.

The investigative team led by Senior Investigator Viktor Yudin of the City Prosecutor’s Office and State Security Colonel Dmitry Samoilov identified the attacker, repeat offender Vsevolod Krutikov. The Monotex firm immediately liquidated its offices. A fact was revealed: the documents of the suspicious company were personally overseen by Deputy Chairman of the Customs Committee Leontyev, who was found shot to death in his office several months before the events described.

Corruption conspiracy and fictitious examination

Drongo and Sigrid visit Professor Beskudnikov at the research institute, who signed off on the American citizen’s autopsy. The experienced pathologist denies the possibility of a laboratory error in the alcohol detection. Upon learning of the American experts’ findings, the old man erupts in anger, after which the visitors are escorted out of the office.

The strange death of the second expert, Dr. Korotkov, is discovered. He fell into a dark construction pit at night and broke his spine. The detective visits the district prosecutor’s office disguised as foreign correspondent Charles Snow. Assistant Prosecutor Sarybin, who closed the case regarding the doctor’s fall, remains secretive and immediately reports the visit to his supervisors.

Noticing surveillance, Drongo catches up with Sarybin in a private garage that evening. A pistol to his temple, his award, forces the prosecutor to reveal the truth. For a bribe of fifty thousand dollars, the investigator closed the case of the doctor’s premeditated murder. A fictitious autopsy report was prepared by expert Nikita Polevanov, married to Professor Beskudnikov’s daughter. Sarybin gives up the phone number of the contacts who oversaw the operation.

Raid in Zelenograd and the death of the ringleaders

Colonel Samoilov finds the crime boss Zaika at a table in the Santa Fe restaurant. A conversation under threat of arrest leads him to the address of a militant hideout. Police and counterintelligence officers blockade a dilapidated two-story house on the outskirts of Zelenograd.

A broken telephone cable sends the hiding bandits into a panic. Krutikov calmly finishes off his wounded accomplice with a burst of machine gun fire, then surrenders after being shot in the shoulder. The second killer, nicknamed "Kazak," is apprehended in the courtyard.

In a Lefortovo prison cell, undercover agent Baron extracts a confession from Kazak about the assassination of Elizabeth Rhodes. The journalist was drugged in her coffee, then strangled with a scarf, and her wrecked car was driven into a truck trailer. The trail leads investigators to the apartment of waitress Lidiya Khorkova on Lesnaya Street.

Early in the morning, Samoilov’s group storms the stairwell. In the ensuing shootout, the assassination attempt’s organizer, Ravil Karamov, alias Marat, and his brother are killed. Before dying, the seriously wounded bandit manages to shoot the colonel in the back. Samoilov is taken to intensive care with a punctured kidney.

Hostage taking and warehouse massacre

At the Balchug Hotel, the senator unexpectedly demands the investigation be closed. The leadership of the American diplomatic mission revealed his daughter’s secret status to the father, trying to avoid a political scandal. At that moment, the phone rings with news of Sigrid’s capture.

The detective tapes his pistol to his leg and goes out to confront the kidnappers. At a suburban warehouse, Drongo seizes the initiative. Precise shots to the legs and arms neutralize the armed ambush of corrupt police officers and a traitor from the security services.

The analyst carefully takes the wounded guards to the nearest hospital. Hostility gives way to remorse, and the wounded officer reveals the address of the Lobanov brothers’ safe house.

The front door lock shatters from a point-blank shot. A tortured girl lies in the dark bedroom, handcuffed to the bed rails. Senior Lobanov, on duty with the airport police, managed to rape the captive. A frenzied rage turns Drongo’s fists into a death sentence. The rapist is beaten to death. The detective hides the freed Sigrid in his apartment and, in the morning, hands her over to the protection of embassy security.

A chain of confessions in offices

Drongo returns to the Institute of Forensic Medicine and corners Polevanov. The eminent scientist’s son-in-law, trembling with fear, confesses to systematically selling fake autopsy reports. The dangerous orders were passed on by Colonel Chikharev, head of the relevant anti-drug department.

In Chikharev’s apartment building, he is caught chatting with his daughter and young grandchildren. The conversation continues on the landing. The colonel acknowledges the inevitability of retribution. Elizabeth Rhodes crossed a fatal line by investigating heroin transit shipments under the guise of Monotex’s foreign trade declarations. Leontyev stopped signing customs documents, after which the official was cold-bloodedly eliminated from his post.

Chikharev reveals the true coordinator of the shadow trafficking network. The entire system of supplying and eliminating witnesses at Sheremetyevo is headed by Colonel Kartsev, head of the state security department.

Bloody end at the airport

Drongo infiltrates the service areas of the international airport terminal. Kartsev is found in the restroom. During the conversation, the colonel receives a call from a high-ranking government handler, Ivan Dmitrievich, demanding that he immediately shoot the foreigner.

Throwing the phone to the floor, Kartsev tries to grab his gun. The shot rings out faster. The bullet catches the traitor near the sink.

A new danger arises in the baggage hold. Junior Lobanov steers a heavy forklift toward an elderly woman passing by with her two grandchildren. Drongo opens fire through the glass into the cabin. The bullets stop the driver, and the detective manages to push the frightened children to a safe corner. A metal container falls loose and lands directly on the analyst, breaking bones and knocking him unconscious.

Investigator Yudin finds the wounded hero and hides the abandoned pistol, sparing the child advocate from prosecution. A transcript of Kartsev’s last phone call confirms the Deputy Prime Minister’s involvement in the syndicate. The wounded Colonel Samoilov advises the young investigator to hush up the investigation against the Kremlin dignitary, but Yudin stubbornly demands an audience with the city prosecutor.

Senator Rhodes and Sigrid visit Drongo in his hospital room before his flight home. The US government posthumously awards the deceased Elizabeth a military medal. The detective politely declines the offer of a check for one hundred thousand dollars and an invitation to emigrate to America, preferring to preserve his personal freedom. For the first time in many years, the detective feels a sharp pain in his heart as he realizes the cost of his ordeal.