Andrey Vorobel

A Duma deputy and his wife have been murdered. While investigating the crime, Major of Criminal Investigation Anatoly Topol encounters an unusual phenomenon — the so‑called “secret red mercury”. Red mercury has all the properties of a typical synthetic substance, but its energy content is many times greater than that of plutonium. Who is developing this mysterious “weapon” and for what purpose, under conditions of the strictest secrecy? Solving this mystery leads Anatoly to very high levels of power...

Asya and Gennady’s happy family is shattered overnight when their five-year-old son, Antoshka, dies in a devastating fire. The tragedy robs Asya of any sense of purpose. A deep depression leads to divorce and a self-destructive spiral. Asya wants to take her own life. But a year after her son’s death, hope suddenly appears. She meets a firefighter, Nikolai, who tells her that no remains of her son were found in the ashes. Asya clings desperately to this fragile hope—she wants to believe Antoshka is alive. But if so, where is her boy? No one but Asya believes it. Only Nikolai reaches out to help the despairing woman.