Most of the terrorists had left the gym for defensive positions in the main school building, leaving behind a handful of men in athletic suits or camouflage pants.

Forecasters had predicted hot weather; only the day before, the administration had pushed the schedule an hour earlier, to the relative cool of 9 a.m. Students fidgeted with flowers, chocolates, and balloons, waiting for the annual presentation, when first graders would march before their schoolmates for the opening of their academic lives.

Two young women wearing explosive belts roamed the wooden floor, wraithlike figures dressed in black, their faces hidden by veils.

The hostages noticed an incongruity: The black veil worn by one shahidka framed the neatly shaped eyebrows of what seemed to be a teenager who had recently visited a beauty salon.

Federal soldiers from the 58th Army in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia’s capital, had flowed into Beslan during the day, joined by commandos from the former KGB, members of the famed units known as Alpha and Vympel.

This required a finishing touch, and Kazbek grasped the blue plastic on either side of the crimp and stretched it like licorice, putting distance between the severed ends inside.

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