Her background

An excerpt of my eighth book "A FATEFUL OPPORTUNITY".

Boris did not leave the hotel premises as he was instructed, and passed his time in the hotel's gym and swimming pool.

On Friday at lunch time Dave was not late, he was already waiting for him at the hotel's restaurant.

'You seem much more relaxed,' Dave remarked after they shook hands and sat down.

'That's right I'm more relaxed now, but there's still one thing that bothers me.' Boris decided to settle the problem that to him seemed the core of his anxieties.

'My entrance wasn't registered in my passport.'

'I see you haven't then met what's her name after you landed in LaGuardia, that's why I thought this problem was solved there.' Dave admitted that he took for granted a rather crucial matter. 'Okay give me your passport and I'll see to it, there's plenty of time yet. Have you brought it with you?'

'Yes here it it,' Boris replied and handed him his passport. He did not have to leave it at the reception, he did not even know with what name he was checked in by Dave.

Dave raised his arm and a waiter approached their table. They consulted the menus and ordered each one of them the dishes and wine. After a moment or two the waiter was his way back, and they could resume their conversation.

'You're flying back to Moscow on Monday morning, stay in the same hotel there and keep the same routine that you kept at your last week there.'

'How long do I have to stay there and what am I supposed to do?' Boris wondered aloud, he was on edge again.

'We can't know how long you'll have to stay there; you'll meet your contact during one of the week's days, at the same place where you've met her and the FSB agent. She'll let you know what you're supposed to do there, and what they expect from you. You don't have to worry they may send you back in a day or two.'

'What if they'll ask me to pass a third degree interrogation, I don't know if I'm able to stand torture…'

'We believe that your stay there as long as it would last would pass smoothly. It depends on your behavior and your reactions, all you've to do is to behave just as you did so successfully during the last couple of weeks while you stayed there.' Dave made a short pause and pulled something from his jacket inner pocket. 'Now before this waiter reaches our table, here's a necklace that you'll present it as a gift to Alina; put it on your own neck, that's what she expects to get from you.'

'You didn't answer my question Dave, what if I'll have to pass a third degree interrogation?'

'Principally we don't think you'll have to, but you might and in such a case you'll have to cope with it.'

A tense silence pursued, Boris did not know yet how is he supposed to react. He would have preferred that Dave would have told him that it won't happen, even if he would lie to him. But the waiter's arrival with their dishes saved the hour temporarily.

The meal passed in complete silence and they did not start to talk even over the desert and their black coffee.

Dave realized Boris's inquietude, he coughed slightly and said:

'We can arrange for you several hours of a third degree interrogation training tomorrow, to let you have the feel of it.'

'No thanks I'd rather spend my Saturday with a call girl.'

His decision made Dave burst with a surprised laugh, and Boris joined him laughing along, freeing himself from the tension that got hold of him.

I like your sense of humur it encourages me, but you reminded me something I've to explain to you your contact's background.' Dave hastened to add after both of them got over the unexpected short burst of laughter.

'You'll address her as Vera of course never mind her real name. As an FSB agent she used to seduce foreign diplomats and extort them. She did well and caused us some damage, and we'd to replace two individuals of our embassy in Moscow. She dated the press attaché' a new arrival and a good looking bachelor that was sent there on purpose, he belongs to our unit but neither me nor you know who his is of course. He rejected all her suggestion for intimate relations. Well it took several months and she fell in love with him, and offered to serve us. She told him that her entire family was wiped out during the last years of the Stalinist era, while she was two or three years old and she was brought up with her grandmother.

We checked her story it's true, and she's trustworthy. She's been promoted meanwhile and she's with the SVR now. She's a Kazakh and one interesting bit of in information is the fact she was harassed by her unit leader, that's another reason why she made that exceptional decision of hers to cross the lines. We've learned it somewhat later.'

'Okay I'll do my best, but for truth sake I don't understand why I was chosen for this job, is it just my fluent Russian?'

'There're some capabilities that you have except your fluent Russian and you aren't fully aware to them, you did prove it during your two weeks over there. I'll be back with your passport and your flight ticket in a day or two. You're flying with the same Russian company with which you've returned.'

'Shouldn't I fly with an American company using a Russian company would arouse suspicions?'

'The agency isn't sending you, your flight is supposed to be a private visit, and you've to cover your own expanses from your own pocket; that's why you've chosen the cheapest tickets, got the message Boris? Well I'll be seeing you in a day or two.'

 Haim Kadman May 2013 " all rights reserved.