“I presume you’ve got the other one.”
“Of course I have. But I can’t make up my mind if I should hand it over to the police, or—”
“One sock isn’t proof.”
“Perhaps not. But if your son is innocent, my daughter won’t be able to pick him out in an identity parade, will she? Unless, of course, all the others have red hair.”
“How much?” said Tremlett.
11
ALEX
Brooklyn
A knock on the door at that time of night meant only one thing to Elena.
“Who can that be?” said Dimitri, getting up from his seat.
Alex didn’t take his eyes off the television screen as Dimitri left the room, so neither of them noticed that Elena was trembling.
Dimitri peered through the spyglass in the front door to see two smartly dressed men wearing identical gray suits, white buttoned-down shirts, and blue ties, each carrying a hat. He unbolted the door, opened it, and said, “Good evening. How can I help you?”
“Good evening, sir,” said the older of the two men. “My name is Hammond, and I’m with the US Border Patrol. This is my colleague Ross Travis.” He took out his identity card and held it up for Dimitri to see. Dimitri said nothing. “We understand that a Mrs. Karpenko is living at this address?”
“She’s registered here,” said Dimitri, standing his ground.
“We’re aware of that,” said Travis. “We believe she might have some information that could prove useful to us.”
“Then you’d better come in,” said Dimitri. He led them through to the front room, walked across to the television, and switched it off.
Alex scowled at the intruders. He’d been looking forward to finding out if James Cagney would escape from the house with the help of his mother without being arrested by the FBI. Why didn’t he have a mother like that?
“These gentlemen are with the US Border Patrol,” said Dimitri to Elena in Russian. “You don’t have to speak English if you don’t want to.”
“I have nothing to hide,” said Elena. “What do you want?” she asked, turning to face the two men, and hoping she sounded relaxed.
“Are you Mrs. Elena Karpenko?” asked Hammond.
“I am,” said Elena, a slight tremble in her voice.
Once again the two men introduced themselves, and Alex couldn’t take his eyes off them. It was as if they’d stepped out of the television screen straight into their front room.
“There’s nothing for you to worry about, Mrs. Karpenko,” said Hammond, smiling. Elena didn’t look convinced. “We’d just like to ask you a few questions.”
“Please sit down,” said Elena, not least because she didn’t like them towering over her.
“We understand that you and your son escaped from Leningrad. We wondered how that was possible, given that the Soviet Union has such tight border security.”
“He thinks you might be a spy,” said Dimitri in Russian.
Elena laughed, which puzzled the two men. “My husband was murdered by the KGB,” she said, as Travis opened a notebook and began to write down every word. Hammond then asked her a series of questions that had clearly been well prepared.
“Can you recall the names and ranks of any of the KGB officers you cooked for, and their responsibilities?” asked Hammond.
“I could never forget them,” said Elena, “especially Major Polyakov, who was the docks’ head of security, although my husband told me he reported directly to the dock commandant.”
Travis turned the page after underlining “dock commandant.” He then wrote down the name and rank of every other officer Elena could remember.
“Only a couple more questions,” said Hammond. He opened his briefcase and took out a plan of the docks, which he placed on the table in front of her. “Can you show us where you worked?”
Elena placed a finger on the officers’ club.
“So you were nowhere near the submarine base,” said Hammond, pointing to the other end of the dockyard.
“No. You had to have special security clearance to work in that part of the yard.”
“Thank you,” said Hammond. “You could not have been more cooperative.” Travis closed his notebook, and Elena assumed the interview was over. “And is this your son?” asked Hammond, turning to Alex. Elena nodded. “I hear you’re doing well at school, and had hoped to attend the foreign language school in Moscow.”
“Yes, I did,” said Alex in Russian, hoping he sounded like James Cagney.
“I wonder if you’d be willing to be interviewed by a specialist officer from Langley,” responded Hammond in Russian.
“You bet,” said Alex, enjoying the whole experience every bit as much as his mother was detesting it. “Especially if it will help get the men who killed my father.”
“I only wish it was that easy,” said Hammond. “I’m afraid it’s not like the television, where they seem to be able to solve all the world’s problems every evening in just under an hour, between commercials.”
Elena smiled. “We’ll do anything we can to help.”
“Do either of you have any questions for us?” asked Hammond.
“Yes,” said Alex. “How do I become a G-man?”
“They work for the FBI,” said Travis. “If you want to join us at Border Patrol, you’ll have to study hard at school and make sure you pass all your exams.”
Hammond stood up and shook hands with Elena. “Thank you again for your cooperation, Mrs. Karpenko. We’ll be in touch with your son again in due course.”
Alex immediately turned the television back on, while Dimitri, who’d hardly uttered a word, accompanied the two men out of the room and into the corridor. Alex thought it strange that Dimitri hadn’t questioned them, but he was more interested in the film.
“You were right, Dimitri,” said Travis once they were outside on the pavement. “She’s a gem. And more important, although he’s young, the boy could be an ideal candidate.”
“I agree,” said Hammond. “Perhaps it’s time to tell him about Players’ Square.”
“I already have,” said Dimitri. “So you should have a man posted there on Saturday morning.”
“Will do,” said Hammond. “Then we’ll just have to hope they find each other.”
“Believe me, they won’t be able to miss each other. They’ll be like a magnet and iron filings.”
Hammond smiled. “When are you going back to Leningrad?”
“As soon as I can find a ship that needs a third mate. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you informed. Now I’d better get back before they start to become suspicious.” Dimitri shook hands with both men, closed the door, and returned to the front room to find that Elena had gone to bed and Alex couldn’t take his eyes off James Cagney.
He looked closely at the young man, and wondered if it was too great a risk.
* * *
Elena and Dimitri were both up by six the following morning, and were soon discussing their nocturnal visitors.
“Can they be trusted?” asked Elena, taking a couple of three-minute eggs out of a saucepan of boiling water.
“Compared to the KGB, they’re angels. But don’t forget, they can make or break your chances of becoming an American citizen,” said Dimitri as Alex burst into the room.
“OK, you guys, my name is Agent Karpenko, and I’m putting you both under arrest.”
“On what charge?” Dimitri demanded.
“Brewing illegal alcohol in the basement of this establishment.”
They both burst out laughing.
“Then you’d better drink your milk, Alex, before you go to school. And I need to get moving too, if I’m going to keep my job.”
“That job isn’t good enough for you, Mama. You ought to be working in a real restaurant, not a pizza joint.”
“It’s fine for the time being,” said Elena. “And it’s not a joint. The pay’s not bad, and yesterday they let me make my first pizza.”
“Real chefs don�
�t make pizzas.”
“They do when it’s the only job in town.”
* * *
Alex couldn’t wait to be interviewed by a special agent from the CIA. He borrowed a book from the library the following morning, entitled The CIA and Its Role in the Modern World, and read it from cover to cover, twice. He had so many questions he wanted to ask a real agent.
He was on his way to the market the following Saturday when he saw them for the first time. An assorted group of men and women of various ages and nationalities, all with one thing in common: a love of chess. He recalled Dimitri telling him about Players’ Square, so he decided to find out for himself. Their heads were bowed as they studied the boards. There must have been a dozen of them, perhaps more, waiting for their opponents’ next move.
Alex hadn’t played chess since he’d arrived in America, and like a drug addict who’s been deprived of his next fix, he joined the onlookers, moving quickly from game to game until he came across a heavyset middle-aged man dressed in jeans and a sweater, who was seated on his own. None of the other players seemed willing to take the seat opposite him. Alex decided there was only one way to find out why.
“Hi,” he said. “My name is Alex.”
“Ivan,” the man replied. “But before you sit down, have you got a dollar to lose? Because that’s what it’s going to cost you when I win.”
Alex did have a dollar, two in fact, which Elena had given him along with a list of groceries she needed for the weekend.
He sat down, extracted a bill from his pocket, and held it up. “Now let’s see yours.”
The man chuckled. “You’ll only see mine if you beat me.” He moved his king’s bishop’s pawn two squares forward.
Alex immediately recognized an opening often used by Boris Spassky, and countered by moving his queen’s pawn forward one square.
The undisputed champion of Brighton Beach gave him a second look before moving his king’s knight in front of his pawns. It only took a few more moves for Ivan to realize he would have to concentrate if he was going to defeat his young challenger.
Neither noticed that a small crowd had begun to gather around them, wondering if it could be possible that “the champ” was about to be defeated for the first time in months. It was another forty minutes before a round of applause broke out when Alex delivered the word “checkmate.”
“Best of three?” suggested the older man, handing over a dollar.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Alex replied, “but I have to go. I have some errands to run for my mother.”
It was the way he pronounced the word “mother” that caused Ivan to ask his next question in Russian. “Then why don’t you come back tomorrow, around midday, and give me a chance to win my dollar back.”
“I’ll look forward to that,” said Alex, who stood up and shook hands with a man he knew wouldn’t be taken by surprise a second time.
Alex couldn’t be sure what time it was, but felt certain his mother would be home by now. He hurried out of the square and headed straight for the market, where he bought the vegetables and pork chops his mother had asked for. He had quickly learned which stalls to go to for the finest cuts of meat and the freshest vegetables, but most of all he enjoyed haggling with the stallholders before handing over any cash; something every Russian did from the day they were born, except for his mother.
After he’d paid for a couple of pounds of potatoes, the last item on his mother’s list, he began to make his way home. He wouldn’t have stopped if he hadn’t seen her looking at him through the window. He hesitated for a moment, then marched into the shop as if he had always intended to.
“I need a belt,” said Alex, naming the first item of clothing that popped into his head.
“That’s not the only thing you need,” said the girl, as she selected a nearly new brown leather belt and handed it to him. He tried to give her his winnings. “Save it,” she said. “You can take me to a movie tomorrow night.”
Alex was lost for words. He’d never asked a girl out on a date, and now the dame was doing the asking. Cagney wouldn’t have approved.
“Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West,” she said. He’d never heard of Henry Fonda.
“Ah yes,” said Alex, “I was looking forward to seeing that movie.”
“Well, now you’re going to. I’ll meet you at the Roxy at six thirty. Don’t be late.”
“I won’t,” he said, wondering where the Roxy was. As he turned to leave the shop, she said, “Don’t forget your belt.”
Alex grabbed it, threw it in one of the bags, and walked casually out of the shop. Once he had rounded the corner, he ran all the way home.
“Where have you been?” his mother asked as he entered the kitchen. “It’s gone six.”
He wondered whether to tell her about Ivan and the chess game (she would approve), the dollar he’d won (she wouldn’t approve), and his second encounter with the girl from the thrift store (he couldn’t be sure), going to a movie (he could be sure). Elena opened the brown paper bag, pulled out the leather belt, and asked, “Where did you get this?”
Alex would have told her, but he couldn’t remember her name.
* * *
Alex returned to Players’ Square the following morning, but not until his mother had left for work.
Ivan was already sitting at one of the boards, fingers tapping impatiently on the table. He held up two clenched fists even before Alex had sat down. Alex tapped the right hand, and Ivan opened it to reveal a white pawn. He rotated the board and waited for Alex to make the first move.
After an hour, it was clear to those who had congregated around the board to watch the match that there wasn’t much to choose between the two players. Ivan won the first game, and Alex had to hand back his hard-earned dollar before the board was reset for the decider. The final game was by far the longest.
Eventually Ivan and Alex agreed on a stalemate. They stood and shook hands, which was greeted by a spontaneous round of applause from the lesser mortals surrounding them.
“Do you want to make some real money, kid?” asked Ivan as the crowd melted away.
“Only if it’s legal,” replied Alex. “My American citizenship is still only provisional, so I could be sent back to the Soviet Union if I was found guilty of a crime.”
“We wouldn’t want that, would we?” said Ivan, grinning. “Let’s go and have a coffee, then I’ll explain what I have in mind.”
Ivan guided his protégé to the far side of the square and across the road to a small diner. He strolled in, said “Hi, Lou” to the man behind the counter, and headed for what was evidently his usual booth. Alex slipped into the seat opposite him.
“What would you like?” asked Ivan.
“I’ll have the same as you,” said Alex, hoping it wasn’t too obvious he’d never been in a diner before.
“Two coffees,” Ivan told the waitress. He then took some time explaining to Alex how they could make some extra cash the following weekend.
“And which role would I play?” asked Alex.
“You’ll be the blind man, and I’ll tell you the moves your opponent makes.”
“But you’re as good a player as I am, probably better.”
“I won’t be by the time I’ve finished with you. And in any case, you’re still only seventeen.”
“Nearly eighteen.”
“But you look about fifteen, which will make the punters all the more confident they can beat you.”
“When do we start?” asked Alex.
“Next Saturday morning, eleven sharp.”
“Can I ask a favor?”
“Of course. We’re partners now.”
“Can I have my dollar back?”
“Why?”
“I’m taking a girl to the movies tonight, and that was meant to pay for our tickets.”
* * *
Alex was standing outside the movie theater fifteen minutes before they’d agreed to meet. He walked nervously up and down the sid
ewalk, occasionally pausing to study the poster advertising the film. He was wondering how you ever got to meet someone as beautiful as Claudia Cardinale, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
He swung around to see Addie smiling at him. She took his hand and led him up to the box office.
“Two for Once Upon a Time in the West,” she said, and stood aside to allow Alex to pay. Lesson number one in the courting manual. She then grabbed his hand again and took him inside the dimly lit cinema.
Although the film seemed to be incidental to what Addie had in mind, it was Henry Fonda, not Claudia Cardinale, who Alex couldn’t take his eyes off. He wanted to talk like that, walk like that, even dress like that. He decided he would have to see the film again during the week when he wouldn’t be distracted, because he no longer wanted to be James Cagney.
Alex didn’t want Addie to realize it was his first visit to a cinema, so when the man seated in front of him put his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulder, he copied him. She snuggled up closer. He was enjoying the film, when a hand reached across, pulled him toward her, and he experienced his first kiss. There wasn’t time for a second, because a few moments later the words THE END appeared on the screen and the lights went up.
“Let’s get a Coke,” suggested Alex. “I know a great little diner not far from here.”
“Sounds good,” said Addie.
This time Alex took her hand and led Addie across the square to the diner Ivan had taken him to earlier that day. Alex marched in, waved to the man behind the counter, and said, “Hi, Lou,” before heading straight for Ivan’s table as if he was a regular.
“Two Cokes, please,” said Alex when the waitress appeared.
During the next half hour Alex learned far more about Addie than she did about him. In fact he knew her entire life history by the time the waitress asked if they’d like another Coke. He would have said yes, but he’d run out of money.
Addie didn’t stop talking while Alex walked her home. When they reached her front door she stood on her toes, put her arms around his neck, and kissed him. A second kiss. A very different kiss.
He walked home in a daze, crept into the house, and went straight to bed, not wanting to wake his mother.
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