by Risk, Mona
Somehow, she was not surprised. She was expecting a dirty blow from him but it seemed less deadly than she’d anticipated. The permit, or lack of, she could deal with, if only Roussov stayed away from Sergei. She was also concerned about his request for a bribe but wouldn’t talk about it now.
Tania dropped them in front of the hotel. Cecile tugged at John’s sleeve. “I need to talk to you.”
They sat next to each other on the old sofa in the lobby. John shook his head. “He’s a jerk, all right. But you didn’t have to worry so much. You even had a song dedicated to you.”
“Oh John, how could you be so blind? What about the picture?”
He just waved his hand. “I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill. So what if he put his arms around you for a picture? I often do that with a pretty woman. It’s a compliment. Come on, Cecile. Loosen up a bit.”
Cecile didn’t bother pulling him out of his blithe naïveté. She had been quite credulous in accepting Roussov’s invitation and she wondered what harm would come out of it. If Sergei ever heard of the dinner and picture, she knew for a fact he’d resent her for dealing with his enemy.
“John, there’s more. I couldn’t talk in front of the others. Roussov offered to sign the permit and transport the whole shipment to the lab.”
The Contract Director visibly stiffened. “And what was his price?”
“Five hundred thousand dollars.”
His brows furrowed. “And you said no without hesitation?”
“Of course, what a question. But I led him into a discussion. We have it all recorded here.” Cecile patted her purse. “I need to hear the tape. What are we going to do with it? Confront, Roussov?”
“Absolutely not. Attacking the Director of National Security is way too complicated and dangerous. He’s not the only corrupt man in the government. Cecile, we don’t need to attract problems to our delegation. What if he was setting a trap for you? It’s often done, you know. Do us a big favor. Keep your tape tucked in a safe place and keep your mouth shut about this whole episode.”
John was right. What if Roussov was setting a trap for her? He could well take the money and accuse her of trying to bribe him. Just before leaving the restaurant, Roussov had dropped his amiable mask and recovered his chilly manner. Had he achieved his goal whatever it was?
A pulse throbbed at her temples, announcing a migraine headache that would keep her awake, lonely and depressed, examining anxious thoughts and terrifying conjectures. God, she couldn’t stand to go to her room yet.
She could have been in Sergei’s arms, right now.
On a sudden impulse, she spun toward John. “Are you going to sleep right away? I feel like going to the hotel casino for a drink and some gambling? Care to join me?”
With a beaming smile, he clapped her shoulder. “Now you’re talking like a normal gal. Of course, I’ll join you. We need to unwind. We’ll deal with our problems tomorrow.”
Cecile played the slot machines and blackjack while sipping a cold refreshing beer. She concentrated on the games and tried to block any thoughts of Sergei, his awful father-in-law, the contract and her miserable, unhappy life. She bet high and won big. John sat beside her and encouraged her with buoyant enthusiasm. Her luck kept escalating and the rubles accumulated in front of her. By three in the morning, holding a big bag of money, she hooked her arm in John’s and they staggered to the escalator.
“What’re you…going t’do with this fo-fortune?” he stuttered, his tongue heavy.
“I’ll distribute it to the poor old ladies sitting on the sidewalk covered with snow at the entrance of the bazaar. I saw them trying to sell boiled eggs or a few bags of spices, freezing and drinking vodka to warm up.”
“You’re a good woman, Cecile.”
“No, I’m a stupid one. Today I acted like a stupid one.” She stomped her foot on the floor and pursed her lips. She felt dizzy from lack of sleep, alcohol and heartache.
“I don’t agree. Tonight for the first time you acted like one of the boys, Cecile. That’s progress. Maybe one day you’ll finally act like a pretty woman should.”
“I did, John, I did. And that’s my problem,” she wailed.
“What do you mean?”
They had reached the door of her room. In spite of the fog inhibiting her mental faculties, she realized she’d said too much but John had drunk enough to forget most of their talk by tomorrow.
“Good night, John.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on both cheeks.
“If only you could act like that every night.” He returned her kiss and she giggled.
In her room she started sobbing.
Chapter Seventeen
Cecile met her group for breakfast and discussion. The restaurant had become a comfortable conference room. Paul Miller, the last one to arrive peered at Cecile through a deep scowl. “What’s wrong with you, boss? You look like a ghost.”
John scoffed. “Lack of sleep. Cecile and I gambled and drank until the wee hours. She cleaned up the casino.”
Jeffrey and Paul opened huge eyes and looked at each other.
The lab manager hitched his chin toward her. “Are you talking about this lady?”
“Our boss? Gambling and drinking?” Paul exclaimed, his eyes rounding.
Their expressions were so comical that in spite of the headache hammering against her skull, Cecile couldn’t suppress a smile. “So, once in a lifetime isn’t a crime. And John, as usual you talk too much.”
Jeffrey nodded, “Yeah and in your case, Cecile, it’s about time for you to loosen up, if you ask me.” John didn’t bother to answer while Paul studied her with a level look. She was sure he would rehash the subject later on, in a private conversation.
As he did yesterday, Nicolai joined them and ordered a cup of coffee. “Did you get the permit?” he asked going straight to his point of interest.
“No permit, my friend. He wouldn’t give it to Cecile,” Paul explained without a smile.
Such a controlled fury radiated from the colonel. He banged both fists on the table. They looked at him not daring to talk.
“Cecile, you risked upsetting Sergei for nothing.” Nicolai pushed his chair with a screech. “I am going to see Fedorin. As Major General, he can refer to the Minister of Defense and arrange to have the instruments released.”
Cecile slapped the table. “No, you won’t, not without my approval. I’m the Program Manager of this project.”
Jeffrey gasped. “What’s the matter, Cecile? We need the equipment to refurbish the lab. If we can’t get it, let the general do it.”
“I will not throw Sergei into a useless confrontation with the man who hates him. We’re here to install a lab, not to stir up more trouble.”
John raised a hand. “I have a solution. I’ll talk to our ambassador. He’ll intercede with the Minister of Environment.”
“I won’t accept any interference by high-ranking personalities. The last thing I need is for those male chauvinists to claim that poor Dr. Lornier has not been able to handle the project.”
She narrowed her eyes on each one, daring them to contradict her.
During the last two days she had concocted a backup plan to use in the eventuality Roussov would not give her the damned permit. Now was the time to execute it. She let her friends vent their angry feelings and turned toward Nicolai. “I’m going to the airport.”
“What?” they said in chorus.
The colonel shrugged with disgust. “Without the permit, you can’t do a thing. They won’t give you the equipment.”
“I’m not setting a foot in this airport, except to go back home,” John protested. “It’s just a waste of time.”
“You don’t have to come. Stay here and relax. I’ll ask Tania to keep you company or take you shopping.” She switched her gaze to her assistants and said with a tone that didn’t brook discussion. “Paul and Jeffrey, you’re coming with me and you too, Nicolai.”
She pushed out he
r chair and waved goodbye to John. The three others followed as she walked out of the restaurant. “I’ll see you in ten minutes on the sidewalk. Dress in warm clothes. Nicolai, I hope you came with your own car?” He nodded and she sighed with relief.
Wearing heavy coats and hats, they waited for her outside the hotel. “Are you going to explain your plan? The colonel is not used to obeying your directives blindly as we do,” Paul said with some impatience.
Her jaws tightened with tension and she answered in a dry voice. “I will but not right now.” She spun toward Nicolai. “If you don’t mind we’ll go to your apartment now. Do me a favor. Change into civilian clothes, preferably something casual. Then take us to a faraway garage or a mechanic where we can rent a big truck without attracting attention.”
They looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. Her lips curled with bitterness. “I need you to trust me. My plan is daring but will succeed if we proceed with speed and care.”
The colonel opened the doors of his car and slid in the driver’s seat. They settled in and he drove to his building. Silence hovered as they waited for him while he went inside. When he reappeared in a chapka and a long wool coat over faded navy pants, he resembled the thousands of citizens strolling around him. He navigated his old Volvo out of the city and into the countryside. They crossed a little village and stopped in front of a shabby barn. An old guy with long beard and ragged clothes came toward them. Nicolai talked to him.
“This man owns two old trucks. He doesn’t know me but my father used his vehicles to move things in his business. We can rent them for the day. We need to pay right away.”
Cecile handed him a bag of rubles without uttering a word. The colonel gave his instructions. “I’ll drive one and Jeffrey the other. Paul, can you follow in my car? Cecile will ride with you. Now are you going to tell me your plan?”
“Not yet. Let’s go.”
Cecile sighed with relief when they arrived at the airport without problems and parked out of sight behind the customs building.
The colonel led them to the entrance. Cecile grasped his hand and squeezed it nervously. “Nicolai, go and check if there’s a different clerk. The one who was here last time said he would be out ’til the end of the week. Just check. Don’t talk to him. Oh God, I hope he hasn’t changed his mind.”
Nicolai came back. “New guy,” he said.
She exhaled with relief. “Good.”
“What next?”
“You and I are going to his office. Jeffrey and Paul, wait for us here.” She gave her chapka to Paul and wrapped a scarf around her head to look like one of the humble women she’d seen in the streets of Minsk.
“You’ll tell him you received some agricultural machines for your farm and you need to withdraw them.”
Their heads jerked and their gasps echoed.
“Are you crazy?”
“You can’t do that.”
“They’ll arrest us.”
“It’s our only chance to get the equipment. Roussov has put no restriction on this type of machines. The clerk has never heard of a gas chromatograph in his life. A big agricultural machine would sound familiar and useful to him. And remember, the other guy said that his substitute hated to waste his time.”
Paul broke into a large grin. “If it works, I’ll publish the story.”
“Shush. Wait for us and say the prayer your mother taught you when you were small.” Cecile swallowed hard. “Nicolai, I won’t open my mouth. Tell him I’m your wife. I’ll just hang on your arm.”
He pulled her against him. “I will play the loving husband. But if you tell Sergei, he will kill me.”
A chuckle escaped her while she fidgeted.
They entered the office. Nicolai talked to the man and then wrapped his arm around her shoulders, kissed her cheek and addressed her in Russian. “Don’t go too far, Nicolai,” she mumbled between her teeth, smiled back and cuddled against him.
The clerk burst into boisterous laughter and clapped Nicolai’s shoulder, then handed the colonel an application form. Cecile held her breath. Nicolai filled it out while joking and pressing her against him.
She bit her tongue to stop herself from yelling, hurry up. He returned the paper to the clerk who glanced at it, stamped it and handed it back to him. The man stood and shook Nicolai’s hand and said something to her. She smiled and lowered her head coyly against the colonel’s coat.
As they left the office, she could hear her heart drumming inside her chest. Nicolai ordered. “Quickly, to the trucks.”
They strode to the parking place, scrambled inside the trucks and drove to the back of the customs warehouse. As they walked to the door, Nicolai explained, “I’ll give you the details later. I have the stamped voucher. I’ll present it to the guardian of the warehouse. You guys will help us transfer the boxes. Cecile, I will use more of your money to tip the man.” He took a step, reconsidered and turned to their two companions. “If you see me flirting with this lady, keep your mouth shut.”
Paul and Jeffrey looked at Cecile as if they’d swallowed a frog.
The colonel knocked on the warehouse door. A heavy guy opened. The smell of alcohol wafted in the freezing air. Cecile knew better than to judge. The poor guy was trying to keep warm in the unheated hangar.
Nicolai talked to him and sighed. “The forklift is broken. He said it would take a week to repair it if we give him the money. Can the three of us carry the boxes?”
Jeffrey shook his head. “Some of them are extremely heavy. We’ll be here all night.”
“This is a big airport. I can’t believe they have only one forklift. There must be one hidden somewhere. Give him the price of a forklift and tell him to go buy a new one. We’ll wait for him here,” Paul suggested.
Nicolai passed on a bunch of rubles to the guardian. The man’s eyes glittered. His big smile revealed two missing teeth. He went back inside the hangar and came back with a forklift. The colonel translated that the man just remembered a missing forklift. “There is this new one that belongs to an officer. They could buy it and he would replace it.”
“Tell him we’ll borrow it. He can keep it and keep all the money,” Cecile decided.
They started loading the first truck. The guardian offered his help and even his vodka if they didn’t mind drinking from the same bottle with him. Nicolai declined.
Paul operated the forklift and the others reorganized the boxes. After two hours, they had filled the first truck to the brim and locked it. At that point, Cecile insisted Nicolai give the guardian a personal tip. By three o’clock, the two trucks left the airport with the colonel’s car in tow.
“We’re going directly to the Belchem Lab. We need to reach it before rush hour and unload.”
* * * * *
The Belchem personnel received them with a hero’s welcome. Dr. Kadelov ran to the trucks. “Fantastic, you finally got Colonel Roussov’s signature,” he croaked out of breath. “Move the truck under the huge side windows. The lab doors are too narrow for these big boxes. I will mobilize all our men to unload the stuff through the windows directly into the lab.”
Cecile let him handle the unloading and tugged at the colonel. “Can you call Sergei? Ask him if he wants to come here. Tell him we have a surprise for him.”
General Fedorin arrived fifteen minutes later, just in time to see the first box, raised by twenty pairs of arms, crossing through the window into the lab.
“It’s fantastic, incredible. But how did you manage this?” His large smile disappeared replaced by a dubious look. “Cecile, I heard that Roussov refused to sign the permit. What made him reconsider?”
The steel edge of his tone tore at her heart. How could she tell him about her dinner with his father-in-law, the man he abhorred? It was a mistake, a dreadful one that hadn’t generated positive results. If she could only erase it.
She inhaled deeply and made an effort to answer his question. “Roussov never signed a permit.”
She related their morning
adventure with a cheerfulness she hadn’t felt in the last few days. Nicolai filled in the gaps. “I told the clerk that we just married a month ago and that my wife’s dowry was a piece of land. So I ordered some agricultural machinery to plant in the modern way. These machines were a gift for my bride. She has promised to help me work the soil.” He paused and winked at Cecile. “The man said my wife was really pretty and shy. I should give her many children.”
Sergei clasped his shoulder. “Your dedication to my cause is greatly appreciated. I hope you haven’t had to go too far to prove your affection to your new bride.” The ironic smile mitigated the light threat. Nicolai laughed without taking offense.
“If you breathe a word to my wife about me kissing Cecile, I will slit your heart, my Generalle.”
“I will extract the whole truth from Cecile the next time we are together.” The look Sergei sent her made her toes curl. His leg brushed against her thigh and heat seeped though her bones. She closed her eyes. She would eagerly wait for that next time.
Nicolai cleared his voice. “Hmm. Everyone is busy with the boxes but we are still standing in the crummy Belchem Lab.”
She blushed and stepped away. Sergei chuckled and stepped closer. “Nicolai, how much longer do they need to finish the unloading?”
The colonel strolled to the huge open window and glanced outside. “They’ll be here ’til late in the night. They are doing this with their bare hands.”
Sergei lowered his voice to a whisper. “Cecile, I want to take you away for a day.”
She smiled with unfettered joy. Her mission was almost accomplished. Nothing could please her more at the moment.
Nicolai joined them and Sergei said, “Can I ask you to drop Cecile at my flat?”
The colonel nodded. “Go first. We’ll follow in an hour.”
“Before I leave I will congratulate Kadelov on his new equipment. Cecile, you had an ingenious idea and you, Nicolai, did excellent work. I can’t thank you enough, my friends.”
They exited the building and met Tania and John at the door. “Jeffrey called me. We came at full speed. You got the stuff? How on earth did you do it?” John seemed out of breath.