The Reluctant Contact

by Stephen Burke

  He decided to leave the snowmobile where it was, and to approach the hut on foot. He soon regretted his decision as his legs sank deep into fresh snow. A thought occurred to him, that perhaps he should have told someone where he was going in case he did not come back. Inside his coat, he had a hunting knife, which he hoped not to have reason to use.

  The wood hut was ten yards away. Last chance to turn around, he thought. He felt the knife through his coat, and then he pushed open the door. The first thing he noticed was that the pile of snow in the middle of the floor was gone. Someone had obviously had the stove going in here, and recently. The second thing he noticed was a sharp pain on the back of his neck, and then the floor approached much faster than he would have liked.

  He woke sitting in a chair to find two Lithuanians looking at him. The short one and the one who never said much. The tall one was, as far as he knew, still in Timur’s jail cell. He would not be getting out again until it was time to put him on a ship to a jail back home. The short Lithuanian was twirling something in his hand. The hunting knife Yuri had brought in his jacket.

  ‘Sorry we had to hit you, Yuri,’ said the short one. ‘Can’t be too careful. Our friend Jonas is in jail, you probably heard.’

  ‘Yes, I did,’ he said, rubbing the back of his neck. ‘Sounds to me like it was his own fault.’

  ‘We think you informed on him,’ said the silent one.

  Yuri sighed. ‘Is that why you brought me here? I didn’t know he was going to go breaking in to the KGB office. If I had known, I would have told him not to do it. Besides, he didn’t think it through, it was a waste of time.’

  The two men looked at each other, neither understanding what he was talking about.

  ‘Why do you say that?’ asked the short one.

  Yuri stood up, and the two men both took a step back.

  ‘Easy,’ said Yuri. ‘Just keeping warm. How long was I out?’

  ‘Five minutes,’ said the silent one. ‘That’s all.’

  ‘Go on,’ said the short one, getting impatient. ‘Why was he wasting his time?’

  ‘Because,’ said Yuri. ‘Timur has already read the file about you guys. He obviously decided not to do anything about it, for whatever reason. What was the advantage to stealing the file now?’

  The short one shook his head. ‘Jonas said, now that Semyon is dead, without the file, there would be no evidence of what he had written.’

  Yuri accepted that there was some truth to this, although not much. If it came down to one man’s word against another’s, Timur would be believed ahead of anything the tall Lithuanian might say.

  ‘It doesn’t matter now,’ said Yuri. ‘The milk is spilt.’

  He sat down on the chair again, still feeling dizzy after the blow.

  ‘Funny place to have a meeting, fellas. Why here?’

  ‘This is our unofficial clubhouse,’ said the short one. ‘When we want to get away from Russians for a while.’

  Yuri nodded. ‘I like what you’ve done with the place. You ever bring Semyon here?’

  ‘Sometimes he was here,’ said the short one. ‘We thought he was one of us. Why?’

  Yuri shrugged.

  ‘Is that the only reason you brought me out here? To see if I had informed on your friend, Jonas?’

  The men looked at each other nervously.

  ‘No,’ said the short one. ‘Jonas said you would have an excuse for everything we asked you. He said no matter what you said, we should mess you up anyway.’

  The silent one took out a short club from his pocket. The short one seemed intent on using the knife that Yuri had helpfully provided.

  ‘Now listen boys,’ said Yuri, as he got up and brandished the chair lion-tamer style. ‘What’s the point in doing that? You’ll only end up in the same cell as Jonas. Is that what you want?’

  The silent one moved forward slowly. Yuri did not fancy his chances of taking the two men at the same time. He made a quick movement towards the short one, and smashed the chair over his head. The man collapsed to the ground, groaning. Yuri still had a broken leg from the chair in his hand.

  ‘You want some too?’ said Yuri.

  ‘You shouldn’t have done that,’ said the silent one, who was now talking too much.

  He picked up the knife off the ground and held it in one hand, with the club in the other. Yuri backed away while the man advanced towards him, one step at a time. The short one was recovering now, and was starting to stand. Yuri began to have a sinking feeling. It appeared that Jonas was going to get his way.

  The silent one lunged at him with the knife. Yuri swung the chair leg against his arm, which was enough to make him miss his target. The two of them grappled with each other, neither allowing the other to strike a blow. Yuri headbutted the man’s nose and heard it crack. Behind them, he saw that the short one had regained his senses enough to rejoin the fight. He was almost on top of them when the door opened. The three of them turned to see Grigory standing there, with a rifle in his hands.

  ‘What’s going on here?’ said Grigory.

  Yuri caught his breath as the silent one put his weapons away. The short one had a bloody diagonal gash across his forehead, and the silent one’s nose was gushing like a tap.

  ‘Chess club,’ said Yuri. ‘Sorry we didn’t invite you.’

  The two Lithuanians did not say a word as they prepared to leave.

  ‘I hope that business is cleared up now,’ said Yuri. ‘And we don’t need to have another meeting about it. What do you say, fellas?’

  The short one looked at him and nodded. Grigory gave them both a cold look as they stepped past him on their way out the door.

  Yuri bent over with his hands on his knees and got his breath back.

  ‘Not as young as I used to be,’ he said. ‘How come you’re here?’

  Grigory put the rifle over his shoulder.

  ‘I saw you leaving town,’ he said.

  ‘Spying on me?’ asked Yuri.

  ‘Someone needs to, obviously,’ said Grigory. ‘Do I need to take you to the hospital?’

  ‘I’ll have a pain in my neck tomorrow, that’s all.’

  Grigory shook his head. ‘You want me to do something about that pair?’

  ‘No,’ said Yuri. ‘Baltic stuff. It’s done now. I hope. You know how to use that rifle?’

  ‘A little,’ said Grigory. ‘But it’s not loaded. I could have hit them with it.’

  Chapter 14

  WHENEVER THEY COULD find inconspicuous time together, Yuri and Grigory met at the Blue Lagoon and went through the options for getting Anya as far as Longyearbyen. The journey could be made by snowmobile, but she could not travel alone, so someone would have to go with her and get back without being missed. This presented a major difficulty since in the midwinter conditions of ice, snow and permanent night, it could take two days to get there and two days to get back.

  ‘We’ll have to wait until the sun returns,’ said Grigory. ‘Going now, with just headlights all the way, would not be a good idea. Suicide more like. I presume you don’t want to die just yet?’

  There was an unspoken assumption that the someone who would accompany Anya would be Yuri, since Grigory had already made it clear he was not going to stick his neck out too far for her.

  Apart from the light problem, if the weather got bad they could be in bigger trouble.

  ‘Are you sure she wants to risk her life for this? It’s no joke out there. Nobody makes that kind of a trip at this time of year unless they have no choice,’ said Grigory.

  ‘I’ll talk to her,’ said Yuri. ‘Make sure she knows what she’s getting in to.’

  Then there was the helicopter, which Yuri was more than capable of flying. The problem with this, as Grigory pointed out, was that it could not be taken without people noticing. For a start half the town would hear the engine warming up, which would be essential for de-icing before take-off.

  The third possibility was to wait until the spring and find a boat that
would take her.

  ‘It’s too long a wait,’ said Yuri. ‘I think she might crack up before then.’

  Snowmobile seemed the least bad option, and they began to think of ways that Grigory could cover for Yuri’s absence. Catherine would know he was not around, since he spent time with her every day, so she would have to be dealt with in some way. Grigory laughed when Yuri told him Anya was convinced that Catherine was the secret contact.

  ‘Good,’ he said, ‘maybe you could encourage that?’

  ‘I’m not sure I need to do anything,’ replied Yuri. ‘But if we get caught I don’t want her pointing the finger and calling Catherine a master spy. What would happen to her if they did suspect her? She’d be OK, wouldn’t she?’

  Grigory threw a stone across the thin frozen layer on top of the lake. It bounced once, then slid another twenty feet before coming to a stop.

  ‘Are you asking if the fact that she’s a foreigner would protect her?’ said Grigory. ‘I think if they suspected she was really an agent, nothing would keep her safe. In this game, no one behaves by gentleman’s rules.’

  ‘And Anya?’ said Yuri. ‘What about her? She is not selling secrets, or spying on anyone. She is just a wife who wants to be with her husband.’

  Grigory paused and gave him an odd look. ‘She is no ordinary wife. She worked on a restricted programme. Love is not a valid excuse for defecting with a head full of secrets.’

  ‘I’m not so sure it is love,’ said Yuri.

  ‘Is that not what all of this is about?’ asked Grigory. ‘Why is she doing it then?’

  ‘I am not a mind-reader but I think she is trying to recapture something she lost, to get her life back like it was before. But that old life is gone, and there is no way to get it back. Not now.’

  ‘You’ve told her this?’ asked Grigory.

  ‘Not in so many words, but yes, I have tried,’ he replied.

  ‘Let me guess, she doesn’t believe you.’

  ‘No. She’s determined to follow it through. She thinks I’m biased because I don’t want her to go.’

  ‘Is that true? You still don’t want her to go?’

  ‘Isn’t that obvious?’ asked Yuri. ‘We are great together. And her husband is a liar and an idiot.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Grigory. ‘I thought this might be another version of your “put them on a boat and wave goodbye” routines, just a bit more complicated.’

  ‘Just a bit.’

  Grigory looked confused. ‘So why are you doing it then, if it’s not what you want?’

  Yuri shrugged. ‘It’s not for me to choose. It’s what she wants. She wants to be with him more than she wants to be with me.’

  Grigory stopped talking for a while, and stared at the frozen water. A large air bubble erupted under the surface of the ice as drinking water for the town was extracted from a pipe deep underneath the surface.

  ‘I might have another idea on how to get her there to Longyearbyen,’ said Grigory. ‘Leave it with me for a while.’

  ‘Something you’d like to share?’ asked Yuri.

  ‘No,’ said Grigory. ‘Not yet. But it might just work out for all of us. Right now, I don’t like the other options. They are too risky. For you especially.’

  He turned and walked away, leaving Yuri wondering what this sudden brainwave was all about.

  ‘Why is she a communist?’ asked Timur.

  Yuri was sitting in the sauna again with the KGB man, despite his best efforts to have their meeting moved to a location that required clothes. Being half naked with Timur was not an experience he looked forward to. But he hoped that this would be their last time. He had even gone to the trouble of preparing thorough notes in order to seal the deal.

  ‘She believes in communism as the fairest system for people to live under,’ he began. ‘One in which everyone is valued equally, and no one gets left behind. She believes the world would be a better place if the communist system spread everywhere, including England.’

  Timur raised his eyebrows.

  ‘That’s what she believes,’ said Yuri. ‘Unless it’s a brilliant act, which I don’t think it is.’

  Timur nodded, and added as an afterthought, ‘Of course, it’s true.’

  ‘Of course,’ agreed Yuri.

  For the likes of Timur, the Soviet system was indeed perfect. Not for any of the positive reasons that Catherine had outlined. Not for fairness, or equality, or any of those noble ideals. Instead, the system gave men like him power over others, power to enrich themselves, power to do what they wanted. All with impunity, because the party protected its own. One of them could not be condemned for corruption without endangering the whole house of cards. So they closed ranks around each other at the first sign of trouble. And it was not unusual for the accuser to be the one who was punished.

  ‘Boyfriends?’ asked Timur. ‘Before 1973. Who were they?’

  ‘I did ask about them,’ said Yuri. ‘But there really doesn’t seem to have been much action there. She said that boys in school and college found her a bit odd. That was her word.’

  ‘Odd?’ asked Timur.

  ‘I think she means she was a bit of a misfit,’ said Yuri. ‘Which she is, but in a good way. I think she is quite inexperienced when it comes to romance.’

  Two large miners walked in the door, naked, with towels draped over their shoulders. Timur scowled at them and they stopped in their tracks.

  ‘We’re having a meeting here,’ said Timur. ‘You’ll have to come back later.’

  The miners looked from Timur to Yuri. They were not about to argue with the KGB man, but they reserved most of their displeasure for him. Great, thought Yuri, now they will think I’m an informer. It was true. He was. But with any luck he was about to be retired from that low profession. However, if a rumour was started about him, in this little town it would be hard to shake off, no matter what the truth was. This was another reason why he had wanted this meeting to happen in a less public place.

  ‘So no boyfriends at all?’ asked Timur.

  ‘None really,’ replied Yuri. ‘Just a few brief encounters. If she met someone she liked, which she seems to have seldom done, they usually did not return her interest for very long. And for her, there was always something missing.’

  ‘She’s choosy then?’ asked Timur.

  ‘Oh yes. I should think so,’ said Yuri. ‘That’s probably part of the problem. She also mentioned that some men had found her politics to be off-putting.’

  Timur nodded. Yuri had studied all of his reactions. It was hard to know what the man wanted to hear. If he had known he would have tailored his report to satisfy him. As it was, he was throwing information at Timur, hoping that he would somehow cover what was required of him. All of it seemed to be useless gossip. The subject of her past relationships seemed to interest him the most, but there was precious little material on this topic to go on.

  Yuri could imagine Catherine’s male contemporaries finding her off-putting. She did come across as strange, at least until you got to know her.

  ‘And when this space study of hers is finished in the spring,’ said Timur, ‘what will she do then?’

  ‘It’s actually a bit of a fraud’ said Yuri. ‘She isn’t really interested in how we might live in space. She only thought it up as a way to get here.’

  ‘She lied to us?’ said Timur. ‘We gave her permission to come here on the basis of her thesis work.’

  ‘Well. Yes,’ said Yuri. ‘But she lied in the best possible way. She wanted to come here. She has no more interest in space than you or I do.’

  Timur considered this for a moment, before smiling. ‘That was clever.’

  ‘She’s very resourceful,’ agreed Yuri. ‘I think she might take over my job some day. She is certainly capable enough. She keeps me on my toes.’

  Yuri looked away as he noticed beads of sweat trickling down Timur’s hairless chest. Almost there, he kept telling himself, and you’ll never have to do this again. He looked at his handwr
itten pages, searching for anything he had forgotten. Timur watched him and waited, but he could not find anything other than what he had mentioned already.

  ‘I think that’s all,’ said Yuri. ‘I went down every avenue, like you said, and followed each one as far as it went.’

  The secret service man did not look satisfied, but he said nothing.

  ‘You want my opinion?’ asked Yuri.

  Judging by his expression, Timur definitely did not care to hear what Yuri had to say for himself. But he replied, ‘Go on.’

  ‘Catherine is a good person. She is no more an enemy of the state than I am. If you would just talk to her yourself, I am sure you would come to the same conclusion.’

  To his surprise, Timur seemed to be taking on board what he had said.

  ‘I might just do that,’ he replied. ‘I don’t think it can do any harm. Sometimes it is good, at a certain point, to gauge these things for oneself. There’s only so much you can get from reports, after all.’

  Job done, thought Yuri. He folded up his notes until they fit in the palm of his hand.

  ‘I hope this was useful,’ he said. ‘Better than the last time?’

  ‘It wasn’t bad,’ said Timur, with a shrug. ‘You are improving.’

  ‘So, I can stop, as we agreed?’ asked Yuri.

  ‘We didn’t agree anything.’

  ‘But you said if—’

  ‘No, I didn’t, I said maybe. You can continue, as normal, for the time being. After that, we’ll see.’

  Yuri felt like stuffing his notes down Timur’s throat and holding his mouth shut.

  ‘What are you waiting for?’ asked Yuri. ‘There isn’t any more. She’s clean.’

  ‘It takes time to make a thorough evaluation of any individual,’ said Timur. ‘I cannot say when I will have enough information. I’ll let you know when you can stop.’

  Yuri calmed himself, and shrugged. ‘Fine. Whatever you think.’

  The door opened again, and this time four miners entered, chatting to each other in what sounded like Chechen. Timur didn’t object to them coming in. Yuri took that as the sign that the meeting was over. He took his pages, and held on to his towel as he stood up. Two of the miners took Yuri’s place on the wooden bench, and the other two sat on either side of Timur. Unlike the earlier two miners, these men obviously did not know who they were sitting next to. If they had they would not be crowding him like that. Yuri made a quick exit before Timur had time to follow him.