by Terri Dixon
There were no cars in the streets. That seemed odd. It wasn’t late. It was only a little after 8:00 pm. There were no people walking down the street. It was January, and very cold, but there was not one single person walking. There were no buses. There were no trams. There were no police cars. There were no homeless people. It was deserted on the streets of Moscow.
That lump came up in my throat. I’d learned quickly to notice when things around me were wrong. There was no way that the streets of Moscow would be deserted early on a Friday night.
I looked at Ambassador Van Zandt. “What’s going on?”
I saw the river on one side of us and a wall of the Kremlin on the other. Something was wrong. I didn’t have time to do anything. I decided that I had to escape. I was suddenly more scared than I had ever been in my life. I reached for the door handle in a desperate attempt to run away. The door was locked. There was no lock. I was locked in the car.
“What the hell is going on!” I screamed.
Tish grabbed me by the arm. She pulled me toward her and looked directly into my eyes. “Listen to me! Calm down! There is nothing you can do. They have a ceremony planned. There are thousands of people in Red Square. That is why I contacted the consulate. That is why Ambassador Van Zandt got involved. Yuri Kostov is trying to prove to the people that you are an imposter and a thief. He is trying to publicly force you out of the country so that he can look magnanimous for allowing you to leave without punishment for the crimes that he says you have committed. The situation if far too public for him to harm you. You will be fine. You have to believe me. Have I ever lied to you? Think about it. Have I ever done anything but try to help you? I have given you clothes and transportation. I have funded your travels. I have sent my people with you for help. I called the an American Senator and reached the consulate for your protection. You have to trust me.”
She was right. I had to trust her. “Why is he making such a huge production out of this? Wouldn’t it make more sense if it quietly went away?”
“He wants the people to see his power. He wants them to be scared. He wishes for everyone to be frightened and respect his authority. That is why the elaborate event in Red Square. Rulers have been emphasizing their power that way for many centuries. Ivan beheaded people and put their heads in Red Square in the 1500's. A lot of people have died there.”
“They're going to hang them, aren’t they?”
“I wish I could say. I have to believe that the bastard will live up to his word. He insists that he wants you, personally to turn over that ring. He wants you leave the country and never return.”
Tania looked out the window as the car stopped. “Well, they damn sure don’t have to worry about me coming back here.”
I looked out the window. There was a crowd blocking our way. We were at the Iberian Gate and the entrance to Red Square. I couldn’t see a break in the crowd. The military man flashed his lights and honked the horn. Suddenly, soldiers appeared and forced the crowd to clear a path. We drove right into the middle of the mass of onlookers. Red Square was full of spectators. They were all there for the show. They were there for the excitement. They weren’t quite sure whether it would be a hanging, or a Tsarina; but they seemed to be awaiting a good show. I wondered if this happened often in Russia.
Soldiers walked ahead of us, forcing the crowds back. People were trying to look in the windows at us. I felt like a rock star trying to get to a stage. I didn’t know what to think. I’d never been in such a crowd before, much less had I ever been the cause of one. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to run. I wanted to go home.
“This can’t be happening,” Tania said.
Tish looked out the windows too. “Yes it can. You have no idea what he will do to stay in power. He rules with an iron fist, and he will do whatever he has to in order to keep the people of this country under control. The Tsars, the Soviets, the Kostov. They are all the same. Power has corrupted him. He lives in fear of losing control of the country. He fears you.”
"I'm just a kid from America," I said.
"You are the part of the puzzle that he cannot predict. That makes you dangerous to his position. That is his view of the situation," Tish replied.
The car stopped. I looked out my window. There was a platform. A soldier opened my door. Tish motioned to me to get out. As I stepped out of the car, I looked up at the platform. We were next to the Kremlin wall, right in front of Lenin’s tomb. The platform was about twelve feet above my head and extended more than 50 yards in front of me. I could see several people on the platform, including the President of Russia, Yuri Kostov. Above him, on a separate platform, stood Peter and Steve. In front of each of them hung a noose.
The soldiers made a path to the platform steps. The people around us were talking. Some of them were looking forward to the hanging. Some of them wanted to see what they would do to the imposter. Most of them, from what I was hearing, wanted me to be a Romanov. Maybe it was the mystique. Maybe they really preferred royalty. Maybe they were at the end of their rope with their current government.
I wanted to help the people, free my friends, and make everything right. I wished that I could have done any one of those things. I couldn’t. I would be lucky to get out of the country alive. I didn’t have my own army, and the mafia did. I was defeated. There was nothing I could do about it at the moment.
I walked up the path to the steps that led to the President and my captive friends. All of a sudden, I heard a chant beginning in the crowd.
“Long live the Empress! Long live the Empress!”
Tania and Tish were walking on either side of me. I looked at them and smiled. They smiled back. I couldn’t believe it. They were cheering for me. They seemed to believe in me. I wished that I could do something.
I walked up the steps onto the platform. I looked up at the guys. Peter smiled at me. He was the most courageous man I’d ever met. Steve was watching Tania more than he was watching me. I smiled back at Peter.
The people in the massive crowd that filled Red Square were cheering now. “Long live the Empress!”
Peter was smiling at me. “Give them what they want!”
The man had no fear. I couldn’t help but smile at him. I hoped Yuri Kostov wasn't going to hang him. I walked to where the President was sitting. He stood to shake my hand. I didn’t put my hand out to him. He retracted his hand. My friends and Ambassador Van Zandt stood with me. I looked the President straight in the face. “I trust that if I do as you ask, you will allow me and my friend to leave the country?”
“Yes.”
“And you will also release the two men?”
“They are criminals.”
The crowd was cheering. “Long live the Empress!” I could barely hear my own thoughts over them. I turned around to the crowd. I took my hat off as I did every time I wanted to make an impression on Russian people and held both of my hands in the air. The cheering stopped. The crowd was silent.
I turned to face the President. I felt a strength coming from the cheering crowd. “I think that you should let them go.”
“And if I do not?”
I suddenly felt invincible. “I may decide to stay,” I said. Yuri was looking past me to the obedient crowd as I spoke. “You wouldn’t want that,” I told him.
He was silent. Everything was silent. Time stood still. It seemed as though I stood there forever while I waited for his answer. Finally, he said, “Very well, give me the ring, and your friends will be released.”
“And what about after I’m gone?”
“What do you mean?”
This man made me mad. I got as close to his face as I could without kissing him. “If I so much as hear a rumor that you’ve done anything to harm any of my personal friends ever, I will come back. I will give you and your people no peace for the rest of time. I will come back here and take over your country
and run it properly. I will have you thrown in jail. I might even hang you right here in this square. The only reason I’m not doing it now, is because I’m more concerned with everyone’s safety. Take that away, and I won’t care what I do to you. Am I clear?”
“Big words from such a little woman.”
I stared at him, but did not dignify his words with a reply.
“Very well.” He turned to the men on the upper platform who were standing by Peter and Steve. “Let them go.” He turned back to me. “You must never return here. You must never come back to Russia.” He held out his hand to me. “Now, the ring.”
I held the ring up. “You will never harm one hair on my friends’ heads?”
“I will personally protect your friends.”
"They will not be treated as criminals in any way, and they will be allowed to continue their lives as before?"
"Agreed."
I handed the ring to him. Peter and Steve were unbound, and they climbed down to where we were standing. I hugged Peter and Tania hugged Steve.
The President picked up a microphone. “The ring of the Queen has been returned to the Russian people. We feel that it would be in the best interest of our country not to arrest the impersonator. We still wish to maintain our good relations with the United States of America. Now, we will escort the impersonator to the consulate where the ambassador can arrange for her safe passage home. She will never return to our great country. We do not want criminals here.” He turned to me. He handed me both mine and Tania’s passports. “It is time for you to go.”
Then he turned and walked away, surrounded by his security force. They escorted him to his car, which was parked below the platform. I hoped that would be the last time I would ever see President Yuri Kostov.
The Ring of the Queen