“What about you?” she asked.
“The only contact I have in Russia besides you isan octogenarian US Ambassador from Washington State, but I doubt he’d be of much help,” I said, flippantly.
“Wait, you’re not talking about George Korman are you?”
A shock of pure surprise ran through my body. “How the hell did you know that?”
“Because George Korman is a company man. An absolute legend in his day, before he retired and became a US Ambassador to Russia.”
“Korman was a spy?”
“A cold war legend. The youngest officer ever to receive the Exceptional Service Medallion. He worked deep cover here for a total of eight years.”
I chuckled. “He made me on the plane.”
“What?”
“Korman. He pegged me as an officer the second he laid eyes on me. I tried to play it cool, but he saw through it. He warned me about the chaos of Russia and boy do I know what he meant now. In fact, he gave me his card in case I ‘ran into any trouble.’ I laughed it off at the time, but now…”
“Do you still have his card?” Tess asked hopefully.
“No,” I replied, tapping my head. “But that doesn’t matter because it’s up here.”
Tess quickly rummaged through her bag, producing a cell phone. “It’s a burner,” she said, handing it to me.
I dialed Ambassador Korman’ number and held my breath as it rang.
Korman answered with, “Boy Scout?”
“Yes sir,” I answered, surprised he knew it was me calling.
“Are you calling from a secure line?”
“Yes sir.”
“Do you know where the Mariinsky Theatre is?”
“No, but I can read a map.”
“Good. There’s a Chinese restaurant across the way from the theatre’s entrance, on the northeast corner. Meet me there at eleven o’ clock, sharp and make sure you’re not followed.”
“Understood,” I said, and hung up.
“What did he say?” Tess asked.
“He said we’re having Peking Duck for lunch.”
* * *
We arrived at the Lucky Dragon restaurant with two minutes to spare, confident we hadn’t been followed. Two taxi rides and the last half mile by foot and we were tail-free. The Maître D’ showed us to a closed, private dining room in the back where Ambassador Korman was seated and waiting for us. He’d even poured the tea.
“Nice to see you again, Boy Scout,” he said cheerily as we took our seats.
“And you as well, Ambassador. May I introduce you to my fiancé, Eleanor Finch.”
“You can speak freely here. No one’s listening to our conversations. And even if they are, no one here speaks English. Cantonese and Russian only.” Korman broke out into a wide smile. “Well, except dumplings. That’s the universal language, ofcourse.”
“It’s nice to meet you, sir,” Tess said, shaking Korman’ hand. “It goes without saying, your reputation proceeds you.”
