“Of course,” I replied.
She smiled wide. “Have you considered visiting St. Basil’s cathedral while you’re here?”
My ears began to ring. A sign of elevated blood pressure. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or throw myself from the train. For the briefest of moments, I questioned if I’d heard her right, but she’d clearly spoken the mission’s passphrase and so I replied.
“I’m afraid I don’t have time, but my grandfather tells me it’s beautiful.”
Fuck me, Alina wasn’t a prostitute at all. She was my contact.
Tess
OFFICER WALLACE PLAYED it cool, but I could detect a trace of surprise on his face.
“Finch?” he whispered, calling me by my cover name. “What the hell?”
“We’re getting off at the next station,” I whispered. “As soon as the train stops, get up, grab your bag, and stay close to me. Do you understand?”
“Of course I do, I’m not an idiot,” he snapped back.
“I guess we’ll find that out, won’t we?” I asked, staying in character.
“Oh, we’re gonna straighten a few things out when we get to St. Petersburg,” he replied.
“I thought you said you understood me?” I hiss-pered. “We’re not going to St. Petersburg. We’regetting off at the next stop. Okulovka station.”
Officer Wallace leaned in close. “Those aren’t the instruction in my brief, and since this ismyop, we’re going to play this by the book unless I hear otherwise from a superior.”
I smiled and patted him on the knee. “Oh, I am most certainly your superior. Now, get off the train at Okulovka station or I’ll shoot you dead and tell the local police that you tried to rape me.”
“I don’t know what your handler told you about me or what your mission brief says, but I—”
“You’re going to keep your mouth shut for the next two minutes until we reach Okulovka station. Then, you’re going to exit the train and follow me, all while remaining silent until we reach our destination. Any attempted variation of this plan will get you shot dead, and your body dumped into a mass grave.”
“You’re a real charmer, aren’t you?” he muttered.
“Only to snakes,” I retorted.
We exited the train without issue at Okulovka, and I led us to my car which was parked in the station’s lot. True to his word, Wallace was in fact capable of following orders while keeping his mouth shut. At least until we got into the car.
“What the fuck was that all about?” he snapped.
“What are you talking about,” I replied, cooly.
“That bullshit back on the train. You know, the whole, ‘Alina the boxcar call girl’ routine.”
I shrugged. “I needed to find out what kind of officer you are. If you could lie well, and if you had any tells.”
“And?”
“You passed. You stayed focused, gave away no real information about yourself, and most importantly, you didn’t try to have sex with me.”
He glared at me. “I’m so happy to have passed your little test.”
“Look, Wallace, the people we’re dealing with here are master liars. Among the very best in the world, which means they can detect when people are lying to them.”
“You understand I’ve been trained by the same people you have, right? I’ve also read and memorized the mission brief.”
“You’ve never been to Russia. I’ve been here for over five months. No amount of training or reading in the world could make up for what I’ve learned since I’ve been here.”
