The Reluctant Contact

by Stephen Burke

  Grigory was not in his apartment, or at his office. Yuri eventually tracked him down in the library. He was engrossed in a book as Yuri walked in the door. His chess set was laid out on the table in front of him. The party man looked up and smiled when he saw him.

  ‘Problem solved?’ he asked. ‘I’ve been waiting for you. I thought we might celebrate with a game.’

  ‘No,’ said Yuri. ‘The problem is most definitely not solved. She is in her apartment. Your Norwegian didn’t show up.’

  Grigory looked stunned. A genuine reaction, thought Yuri, but he did not give much credit to his own judgement any more.

  ‘What do you mean he didn’t show?’ asked Grigory. ‘You went to the right place? And on time?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Yuri. ‘I was the one who picked the location. We waited over an hour.’

  Grigory frowned as he bookmarked a page and returned the book to a shelf. Yuri threw the bag of cash into his arms.

  ‘This is your responsibility,’ said Yuri. ‘You were the one who set this up.’

  ‘I can’t understand it,’ said Grigory. ‘He’s never let me down before.’

  ‘Well, he picked a fine time to do it,’ said Yuri. ‘She won’t go with him now, even if you rearrange. She doesn’t trust him, and I don’t blame her.’

  ‘This is very strange,’ said Grigory. ‘Something must have gone wrong. You didn’t see any sign of anyone?’

  ‘I thought I heard an engine once, just for a few seconds, but then nothing appeared.’

  The thought that the Norwegian may have been nearby seemed to trouble Grigory even more.

  ‘No one followed you?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m pretty sure not,’ said Yuri. ‘It’s hard to hide out there. I think I would have spotted someone.’

  ‘I don’t know what to say,’ said Grigory. ‘I’ll try and find out what happened.’

  ‘You do that. In the meantime, what am I supposed to tell her?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Grigory. ‘Tell her what you like. But if she won’t go with the Norwegian, then I think we should consider putting an end to it.’

  Yuri shook his head. ‘I’ve decided I’m going to take her myself, when the sun comes back.’

  ‘I told you. It’s too risky for you.’

  ‘I know,’ said Yuri. ‘But that’s what I am going to do.’

  According to Grigory, despite repeated attempts he had been unable to make contact with the Norwegian in the two days that followed his no-show.

  ‘It’s not unusual for him to go off the radar for months at a time,’ said Grigory. ‘But not without finishing a job he had agreed to do.’

  ‘Maybe he got scared,’ said Yuri.

  Grigory nodded, but he didn’t appear to believe that this was the reason.

  The Norwegian brought to two the number of niggling questions that were regularly resurfacing in Yuri’s mind. The first was Semyon. Grigory was tired of listening to his conspiracy theories about the Latvian.

  ‘He was just an assistant maintenance engineer, as far as we know,’ said Grigory. ‘Nothing more.’

  ‘I am a maintenance engineer,’ Yuri pointed out, ‘and look what I get up to. He was also an informer.’

  ‘Half of the Soviet Union have been informers at one time or another, including you,’ said Grigory. ‘You’re getting paranoid. Conspiracy theories are supposed to be my area. The Norwegian and Semyon have nothing in common.’

  ‘Don’t they?’ said Yuri. ‘Semyon worked for Timur, a Soviet secret service agent. The Norwegian works for you, an agent for the other side. That ring any alarm bells for you?’

  ‘No,’ said Grigory. ‘The Norwegian and Semyon have never met. I am sure of that. And no one knows I am an agent, otherwise we would not be having this conversation.’

  Yuri tried to put it out of his mind, but the thought that there was something very wrong somewhere would not go away.

  ‘If me and Anya get caught, Timur and everyone else is going to think that I am the foreign agent. He already thinks I’m a saboteur. What do we do to foreign agents?’

  ‘The lucky ones might get exchanged for one of ours,’ said Grigory. ‘But you are Russian so they will never let you go. Life in prison, I would guess. Or if they really take against you, a bullet.’

  ‘Great,’ said Yuri. ‘That’s comforting to know. And what are you going to do for me, if I get caught doing this?’

  ‘Sending you a cyanide pill is traditional,’ said Grigory.

  ‘And if I should happen to mention your name?’ Yuri asked.

  ‘I’ll call you a liar,’ said Grigory. ‘Who do you think they’ll believe? You or me?’

  ‘They will believe you,’ Yuri conceded. ‘Funny that, isn’t it, that of the two of us you are considered more trustworthy, while you’ve been an enemy of the state for how long?’

  ‘I am not an enemy of our people,’ replied Grigory. ‘Just of the criminals who pretend to govern us for our own good. It’s an important difference.’

  ‘I think most of our people would call you a traitor.’

  ‘Unfortunately, most of our people are stupid,’ said Grigory. ‘Communism thrives on stupidity, as does capitalism. The people invariably get what they deserve.’

  ‘I see,’ said Yuri. ‘If you are not a communist, and you are not a capitalist, then what are you?’

  ‘I am a pragmatist,’ said Grigory. ‘Capitalism is the lesser of two evils. Both are tyrannies in their own way. But at least with capitalism it is possible to have some degree of control over your own fate.’

  ‘Why have you never defected then?’ asked Yuri.

  ‘I have never been invited. I have no tradable skills in the west, unlike Anya’s husband. There, it is all about market forces. Supply and demand. You understand? Here, I can supply what they need; inside information, local assistance. There is a demand for my services. Not much, but enough. When you take Grigory out of the Soviet Union, his usefulness disappears.’

  ‘Ha,’ said Yuri. ‘You make it sound like you are a thing to be bought and sold.’

  ‘That’s exactly right. I have been bought. A long time ago.’

  ‘You don’t regret what you did, even a little?’ asked Yuri.

  ‘No. No regrets.’

  ‘But some day you will go there? When you retire?’

  ‘For what?’ asked Grigory. ‘Unlike Anya, I have nothing waiting for me in the west. I have my flat in Moscow. I will spend the remainder of my time there. There are lots of books I want to read, and haven’t had the time to. This will be my last job for them. I have already told them. They don’t mind. There are others they will use. Younger men, and women, who they have also bought.’

  ‘It will be my last job too,’ said Yuri. ‘My life was fine until you and Anya came into it. When she is gone, I will just have you left to deal with.’

  Chapter 17

  THE LONG-RANGE WEATHER forecast had given notice of an impending storm, during which they would all be obliged to spend their days indoors. A sneak preview of the prison that awaited him, Yuri thought. Anya was the only person he would risk doing this for. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense that a successful outcome would mean losing her. But that was how it seemed destined to be. For now, the sun’s return felt like a long way off. Usually, the Arctic spring was a time of optimism and rebirth, but not this year.

  The problem with storms was that they made outdoor work either dangerous or impossible. So once the forecast came in for a three-day snow blizzard, Yuri and Catherine set to work double-checking every system in town. If a pump was about to go, it was better to find it and change it now.

  The storm would bring icy winds blasting up the fjord, which would lower the temperature even further. This meant that the coal furnace would need to be at full capacity for the duration. Breakdowns in the middle of a raging tempest, as Yuri had learned from experience, were a nightmare.

  ‘Can’t we just come outside and fix it, if something goes?’ said Catherine.<
br />
  ‘Sure,’ said Yuri. ‘If you want to lose a few toes and fingers to frostbite.’

  ‘But nothing should go wrong, should it? We haven’t had a serious problem in ages.’

  ‘See,’ said Yuri. ‘I knew it. You are just a lazy capitalist, after all, trying to get out of extra work. A true communist never shirks her responsibilities.’

  ‘I am not shirking,’ protested Catherine, her face flushed with indignation. ‘I am just asking is it really necessary, that’s all.’

  ‘Yes. It is,’ said Yuri.

  ‘Fine,’ said Catherine. ‘That’s all you had to say. And I wasn’t shirking.’

  She caught him smiling, and he did his best to put on a straight face.

  ‘You like making fun of me, don’t you?’ she said.

  ‘Sometimes, yes,’ he agreed. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Don’t apologise. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? For your entertainment.’

  When they had finished, late in the evening, they battened down everything that could move and hoped for the best. If they had done their jobs well, and nature was kind, a three-day holiday awaited.

  Yuri collected a box of tinned food and biscuits from the canteen. In his time in Pyramiden he had seen many days when making the short walk from London to the Cultural Palace was suicidal.

  Yuri encouraged Anya to stay with him full-time until the storm ended. She arrived just as the windows started to rattle with the first gales.

  ‘This place,’ she said, with barely disguised contempt. ‘Tell me again why you like it here so much.’

  ‘It’s peaceful,’ he replied.

  ‘Yes, I can see that,’ she said, as the whole building appeared to shake.

  Yuri saw her looking alarmed as she put her hand on a wall for support.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘These blocks are built to last.’

  It was true. A lot of thought had been put in to their design. Every block had rounded corners to deflect the Arctic winds. And buried beside the foundations of every building were Freon rods to stop the ground thawing out too quickly in spring.

  She laughed at his collection of canned goods, which he had stacked on the table in a triangle.

  ‘Oh, yummy,’ she said. ‘Is that what we are supposed to eat?’

  ‘It’s what I am going to eat. You can join me or starve. Your choice.’

  Anya looked at the labels. ‘Beef goulash. Chicken goulash. Lamb goulash.’

  ‘Don’t look down your nose at it. You’d be surprised what I can whip up with a can of ready-made food. During the war we lived on American spam.’

  ‘You fought in the war?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes. Why do you sound so shocked?’

  ‘I just didn’t think you were that old,’ she said.

  ‘Thanks a lot. I am not that old,’ he replied. ‘And you are a few years older than me. I was young going. Underage. Though I think I was middle-aged by the time I came home.’

  ‘My soldier boy,’ she said. ‘Where did you fight?’

  ‘All the way to Berlin.’

  ‘Ah. A hero. Why have you never said anything? Some people never stop with their war stories. You’re a dark horse.’

  ‘Believe me, I’ve never done anything heroic in my life.’

  ‘I bet that’s not true. And what you’re doing for me is pretty heroic.’

  ‘I think it would be more accurate to say that what I am doing for you is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.’

  Anya turned to look at him. ‘You don’t have to, you know.’

  Yuri smiled and shook his head.

  ‘What do you think England is like?’ Anya asked nervously.

  Yuri didn’t know. He had been surprised that it was not the Americans who had taken her husband. He guessed they would have been the people who would have had the most use for him. But maybe the English had taken him in order to impress the Americans. They seemed to like doing that.

  ‘What kind of life will I have there in the west?’

  ‘I don’t know the answers to any of these questions,’ said Yuri, ‘you’ll have to find out for yourself. Are you still sure you want to go?’

  ‘Do you think I should?’ she said.

  He wanted to say no. ‘I can’t answer that one for you either. It has to be your decision. For my part, I would much rather you stayed with me. I can make you happy.’

  ‘Why are you helping me then?’ she asked.

  ‘Because it’s what you want, isn’t it?’ he said.

  ‘Right now, I want you,’ she said. ‘When I am with you I don’t think about anyone else.’

  Another lie to keep the others company. They made love in a half-hearted way. He sensed her mind was elsewhere, as it had been since the day he had told her that the Norwegian was going to take her to Longyearbyen. He couldn’t remember the last time she had let herself go with him. It was no fun making love to a disengaged stranger. He woke in the middle of the night to find her side of the bed empty. Outside, there was a lull in the storm. She was sitting on a chair, looking out the window at the aurora putting on a green and red light show above Pyramiden mountain. Her pale face lit up in an ever-changing array of colour.

  ‘What are you doing? Come back to bed,’ he said.

  ‘I want to talk to him,’ she said.

  ‘Who?’ said Yuri, hoping she didn’t mean her contact, Grigory. This was something he could not deliver, no matter how much she wanted it.

  ‘My husband,’ she said. ‘I want to talk to him.’

  Yuri was momentarily speechless, especially since she had never raised this issue before now.

  ‘How the hell am I supposed to do that?’ asked Yuri.

  Anya shrugged. ‘I don’t know. But I think I need to do this before I go anywhere.’

  ‘But it’s all arranged. I really don’t think talking to him beforehand will be possible,’ said Yuri.

  ‘There is a radio station here, isn’t there?’ she said. ‘If I can’t talk to him, then I want to call the whole thing off. I’m serious. How can they expect me to defect to be with someone I haven’t seen or spoken to in five years? He could be completely changed. Maybe he doesn’t even love me any more. This is the man who left me behind, after all. I have to talk to him. To be sure.’

  For the first time she was talking sense, thought Yuri. And he had to admit that he had some sympathy for her position. He sighed and agreed at least to raise the subject with her mystery contact.

  ‘Contact!’ said Anya, with a derisive laugh. ‘It’s funny, isn’t it? The definition of a contact is someone who makes contact. Except mine doesn’t. He or she only talks to you. It’s not really fulfilling the job description. If it was up to me I’d sack him.’

  Grigory unfortunately would be only too delighted to be fired, if given the option. And Yuri would not be offering the idea to him. He fully expected that Grigory would dismiss out of hand the risky notion of a radio conversation between Anya and her husband. And he would use her obstinacy as another reason that they should forget about helping her at all.

  Another thought entered his head. If he could set up this call, maybe it might all go wrong. After talking to her husband, Anya might decide that she did not trust him enough to drop everything, and join him in the west. This would leave her only one option: to stay with him.

  ‘What was the last conversation you had together?’ asked Yuri. ‘He really gave you no sign at all that he was leaving? Even a hint?’

  Anya stared into space, gathering her memories.

  ‘We had breakfast together. It was a Sunday. We usually slept late at weekends but he was up before me, saying he had a meeting with our bosses. I didn’t think anything of it. They were always having private conferences with him. The rest of us were excluded from those meetings.’

  ‘No luggage in the hall?’ asked Yuri. ‘Empty drawers? Men with dark glasses at the door?’

  Anya smiled. ‘No. Nothing obvious like that. Believe me, I’ve been over and over it
a thousand times.’

  ‘So what did you talk about at this last breakfast?’ he asked.

  ‘I was asking where we might go for a summer break. I said I wanted to swim and get some sunshine. We spent so much time in the lab, we were pale as ghosts. He wasn’t interested in talking about it. I didn’t know it at the time, but he knew he wasn’t going to be spending the summer with me. We used to go to the Caspian Sea for years. Have you ever been there?’

  It annoyed him that these holidays were memories she cherished.

  ‘No,’ said Yuri. ‘I haven’t had much in the way of holidays. I take some days off here in the summer, and I go fishing. It’s the opposite then. Instead of darkness all the time, the sun shines twenty-four hours a day.’

  ‘I’d like to see that,’ she said. ‘It must be better than all this blackness.’

  ‘And then what happened?’ he asked. ‘After breakfast?’

  ‘He kissed my cheek and left. Just like any other day. Except then he never came home. I went to work the next morning and he wasn’t there. By mid-afternoon I started to worry that no one seemed to know where he was. Then some men arrived. They spoke to our bosses. There was a lot of shouting. Then they brought me in and started asking me questions. I didn’t know what they were talking about. Of course he hadn’t defected, I said. I had never heard anything so ridiculous. He wouldn’t go anywhere without me. I said they must be mistaken. I called the senior agent an idiot. That was when they arrested me. I was led out of my own building in handcuffs. The first place they brought me was to our flat. They asked me to identify what was his. We went through the wardrobes and his desk. Do you know what the funny thing was?’

  ‘What?’ asked Yuri.

  ‘As far as I could tell, he had taken absolutely nothing. Just what he was wearing on his back.’

  Yuri’s eyes widened. ‘I can see why you’d like to talk to him.’

  As expected, Grigory blew a fuse when he heard.

  ‘She doesn’t get to make demands. Who the hell does she think she is? She is lucky we are helping at all. I hope you told her no.’

  Yuri shook his head, and Grigory threw his arms out in frustration. The isolation of their regular meeting place, the blue lake, had the disadvantage of allowing the party man to vent his anger as loudly as he liked.