Helena Halme - The Red King of Helsinki - Lies, Spies and Gymnastics

Why was Anni not at school? Why were the Admiral and the other man so interested in Anni and her parents? Pia shook her head. She mustn’t let her overactive imagination get the better of her. Whatever was going on with Anni’s father and the Admiral, surely it had nothing to do with Anni. She was probably down with flu and would eventually come back to school. The preliminary exams were in three months’ time in May.

‘In the two years of the sixth form, there simply isn’t enough time to go through the curriculum, so it is very important not to miss any lessons at all.’

Pia frowned as she remembered the Old Crow’s regular lecture on the looming baccalaureate exams. Surely Anni’s parents wanted her to do well. Even though Anni was so much brighter than anyone in the class, the Old Crow had warned her, ‘Only hard work pays off in the end!’ That had been one of the few times the Old Crow had come even close to telling Anni off. Not like Pia, who had to suffer the Old Crow’s lectures and death beams every day. And she had so much to tell Anni! What would she say when she heard she and Heikki were now officially going out. Not to mention how publicly Heikki held her hand at school. How at the smoking place he’d put his arm around Pia, right under Sasha’s nose. Pia needed to talk to Anni now.

Tehtaankatu was quiet in the early afternoon. The Embassy was lit up as usual, but there was no one about. Pia leant against the front door of Anni’s block, and was surprised when it gave way. Someone must have left it ajar. As Pia walked into the hallway, she heard the lock click as the heavy door shut behind her. Everything in the hallway looked normal. The spiral staircase, with its windows overlooking the inner courtyard, made the dark space seem lighter even in the afternoon. Pia felt foolish. What if there was a simple, rational explanation to Anni’s absence from school. Anni probably just had a bit of a cold and now Pia was skulking around asking after her. As if she couldn’t do without her friend. But Pia felt sure things were not right. Why would a real British colonel say Anni was in danger if that was not the case? Pia pressed the bell to Anni’s flat. She moved away from the door to avoid being seen through the spy-hole, and leant against the wall. She listened. There seemed to be no noise or movement inside the flat. Stepping in front of the heavy-looking door, she tried the bell again. This time the door opened immediately. A man in a black coat with thick blond hair and piercing blue eyes opened the door. Mr Kovtun! Pia wanted to flee, but her feet seemed glued to the spot.

‘Ah, Pia,’ he said in his foreign accent, and grabbed her.

‘No!’ Pia shrieked.

The heavy door closed behind her and the man took her past the hall with its gilded mirror and table with the telephone into the kitchen at the far end, where light was filtering through the windows, revealing specs of dust in the air.

The Russian turned to face Pia, grabbed her hands and tied them together while Pia tried to kick out. The man only smiled at her and tutted, ‘A wildcat? Powerful legs, eh, like a good little gymnast!’ The man was very strong.

He placed a black tape over her mouth and led Pia into a small back room, which Pia knew had once been a servant’s bedroom. There was just a single bed in the corner, covered with a lace bedspread. Heavy curtains at the small window made it hard for Pia to see the hunched-up figures sitting on the floor. When her eyes adjusted she saw Anni. The man pushed her down next to her friend in the corner.

‘You promise, hush, yes?’ Kovtun put one gloved finger over his lips and nodded to Pia. Her heart was beating so hard she was shaking. She wanted to nod, but no movement came.

‘Please, Pia, you must promise,’ Anni whispered, touching Pia’s arm. Pia hadn’t noticed Anni’s arms were free. She looked at the man and nodded.

The ripping of the tape hurt, but Pia suppressed the scream. The man stood before them and now Pia could see that the other figure sitting on the floor, next to Anni, with his back to the wall, was her father. Kovtun stood in front of them, staring at Pia, with his arms folded. Just inside his coat, a shiny object was tucked into his pants. It was a gun! Pia felt sick. She swallowed hard and fought the nausea. ‘You sit and wait,’ he said. ‘Quiet and good girls and boys, yes?’

With that, he disappeared into the kitchen. Pia heard a cabinet being opened and a glass being filled with something. Then there were voices and the sound of clinking glasses.

Suddenly Pia’s father started shuffling towards her. He crawled past Anni and came to kneel in front of Pia.

‘Pia, you must not say anything. It is very important.’

Pia was staring at the diplomat. His arms were tied behind his back and she saw that he had dry blood at the corner of his mouth. Seeing Pia’s look, he wiped his mouth against the shoulder of his jacket and carried on, ‘You shouldn’t be here. This is a mistake. We’ll get help soon, so just be brave and say nothing at all.’

Pia nodded and Anni’s father shuffled back to lean against the wall.

‘Pia, are you OK?’ Anni whispered.

Pia didn’t dare to speak. She felt close to tears but didn’t want to appear a sissy.

‘It’s OK. We can speak a bit when they’re on the vodka.’ Anni’s eyes were kind and bright. Pia didn’t see any signs of blood on her. ‘Soon they’ll come and take your ropes off – they did mine almost straightaway. Dad told me not to fight them, so they’re being really good to us.’

‘Who are they?’

‘KGB.’

‘KGB!’ Pia said, but Anni put her hand over Pia’s mouth.

‘Not too loud!’

‘Sorry,’ Pia mouthed. ‘But Mr Kovtun came to the school? He can’t be…can he? What do they want with you – me?’ she said in a low voice.

Anni didn’t answer. Instead she looked over to her father who was shaking his head.

‘I don’t know,’ Anni said looking down at her hands.

Pia knew Anni was lying, but she forgave her because she knew her father had made her do it. Anni would tell her everything when her father wasn’t there.

The Russian smelled even more of alcohol when he came to fetch Pia. Her knees gave way and he called out into the kitchen for his comrade. He was a much smaller man with short, dark hair and a square jaw. They spoke Russian to each other while they carried Pia. They placed her roughly into a kitchen chair and Kovtun spoke.

‘Pia, you want to go home, yes?’

Pia nodded. She was so scared she was sure she wouldn’t be able to say a word. What did they want with her anyway? She had an unreal feeling that this was not happening, that someone was playing a joke on her. Or that she was having a bad dream and would wake up any moment. She wanted her mother.

‘So, just tell me what you did at the British Council yesterday and we can let you go home to materi.’ He drew out the last Russian word.

Pia was thinking feverishly. So the Russian was following her.

‘Iain said I could borrow English books there.’

The slap to her face came so quickly Pia didn’t have time to react. Afterwards her face burned and she tasted blood. She heard Mr Linnonmaa shout something from the next room. He was speaking in Russian, and he sounded angry. Kovtun shouted something back through the door and then appeared in front of Pia again.

‘He tell me not hurt child.’ He took hold of Pia’s chin and openly viewed her breasts. He let go of her chin and patted her on the cheek. It hurt. Pia felt her stomach tighten, she felt sick. The man moved his hand slowly down her neck and towards Pia’s chest. He stopped just below Pia’s collarbone. Pia took a deep breath in. ‘But you no child,’ the Russian man said. ‘You beautiful Finnish woman, eh?’ He turned around and said to the other man, ‘She not want a broken nose, a bruise on face, eh?’ His comrade gave a hoarse cackle. ‘She want me to be nice to her. I can be very nice to pretty Finnish girls, you know.’ The man winked at Pia. She felt she needed to pee. She started to sob, but the tears hurt her face more.