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

‘Of course,’ he replied.

Leena slid awkwardly onto the sofa. The fabric of her trousers rubbed against the velvet upholstery and it took her time to settle down. All the while the Englishman stood watching her, with his hand on the chair opposite. Then he seemed to change his mind and said, ‘Do you mind if I sit next to you?’

Leena was glad of the red glow, it hid her blush.

‘Of course.’

They were both now sitting diagonally opposite each other, with their knees touching under the table.

‘Sorry,’ the man said, ‘but I want to see the bar. I’m looking for a friend.’

‘Oh,’ Leena said. Why was she here, what did he want with her? She’d have the one drink and then go home for a good night’s sleep so that she could give her full support to the girls at tomorrow’s competition. She would forget about Vadi and any chances of winning the competition. The Helsinki Lyceum girls would do their best, and she would tell them to hold their heads high and be proud of their achievements when the inevitable loss of the trophy was announced.

‘Well, cheers,’ the man said in English, lifting his glass and smiling at Leena.

‘Cheers,’ Leena said and felt a little more comfortable. She took a closer look at the man. Iain, he had called himself. He was tall, and quite slim, with square shoulders and a kind face. His wavy hair was very dark and there was a lot of it. Foreigners always had such good hair, Leena thought.

‘Leena, may I call you Leena? I’m Iain,’ the man said.

‘Yes, of course…Iain,’ Leena replied and smiled. Such politeness, so rare these days!

‘I know this may sound wrong, or strange, but I believe you have been cheated.’ The man’s eyes were steady on Leena, looking gravely at her. ‘Your friend at the, hmm, Embassy,’ the man leant closer to Leena and whispered the last words, ‘he’s not what you think he is.’

‘I know that!’ Leena said, a little too loudly.

‘You do?’ Iain said, surprised.

‘Yes, I saw him, just now, with her. I don’t know, but…’

‘You saw Vladsislas Kovtun here?’ The man’s eyes had widened and he was leaning even closer to Leena.

‘Yes, just before I came into the bar, he was in the lobby!’

Iain scanned the bar, and leant back in the seat, taking a large gulp of his drink.

‘You’re sure it was him?’

‘Yes,’ Leena said. Of course she was sure!

‘We need to leave,’ Iain said.

The Englishman got up and took hold of her arm. ‘We need to be quick.’ He pulled her towards the other end of the bar, and through a side door into the lobby. The reception was now empty. Iain smiled at the girls at the desk and said, ‘Good Evening,’ in English. He nodded towards a set of stairs at the side and led Leena to the top of them.

‘What about my coat and boots!’ Leena said when they were standing outside. The hotel was built into a hill, between Töölö Square and Mannerheimintie. Leena didn’t know there was another entrance on the Töölö Square side. She was shivering, looking at the cold night and the snow-covered street just beyond the doorway they were huddled in.

‘What?’ the man said, and looked down at Leena’s feet, ‘Where are they?’

‘In the cloakroom!’ Leena dug out the ticket she’d been handed by a girl.

‘Ah’, Iain said. He took the ticket and opened the door. They were once again inside the hotel, in a long corridor. ‘You wait here,’ he said and disappeared down the stairs.

Leena was still cold. Her slacks were made out of very thin fabric, and the weather outside must have been nearly -15°C. Typical of a foreigner not to think about things like this, Leena thought. She looked around. There were several rooms either side of the corridor, and a lift at the end. Suddenly she heard voices. A door opened further down and two people, a man and a woman, stepped out of a room. Leena froze. It was Vadi and the woman from the lobby. He had his arm around her. The woman was now wearing a black, body-hugging dress. She looked about the same age as Leena, she guessed, but she was more slender, perhaps even taller than her. Leena was transfixed. The woman saw her and smiled and said, ‘Hello,’ in English. This caused Vladsislas to turn his head too. He saw Leena, smiled, as if he didn’t know her, and nodded. He placed his hand under the woman’s elbow and led her towards the lift. Leena wanted to run the length of the corridor and take hold of Vadi and scream at him, but she wasn’t able to move. As if in a dream, she watched the two step inside the lift. Vadi turned and held her gaze. Leena stood still, his confident look bending her to his will, as the doors closed.

What on earth was Kovtun playing at? Iain ran down the stairs and back into the lobby, trying to think straight. Miss Joutila had said he was here with a woman. The Colonel had specifically told Iain the transfer was going to be solely Kovtun, that he had no family. He must find out more from Miss Joutila, or Leena, see if she might have been mistaken. The Colonel could find out from the hotel if Kovtun had indeed checked into the InterContinental. Of course, he’d use a false name, but MI6 had a good man inside the hotel. Obviously unknown to the KGB! Iain smiled to himself as he made his way to the public phone booth in the lobby.

Iain was relieved to see Leena still at the top of the stairs when he returned. She had a surprised look on her face, as if she hadn’t expected Iain to succeed in retrieving her coat and boots. He smiled at her.

‘Here we go, sorry about that.’ Iain must be gentle. Obviously it had distressed Miss Joutila to see Kovtun with another woman. Iain wondered if she had started to suspect Kovtun. Goodness knows what he had promised her in addition to a win at the Friendship Tournament. A promise Iain guessed Kovtun had done absolutely nothing about. Iain hoped that Leena’s involvement had been accidental. He couldn’t believe that Kovtun would have been able to make her do his dirty work for him.

‘Look,’ Iain said, ‘I’d like to talk to you, but not here.’

‘No, not here,’ the woman agreed, ‘I live fairly near. Do you want to come over to my place?’

This took Iain by surprise. He watched as she unzipped her fur-lined boots and placed her shoes in the nylon bag. Her tone was matter-of-fact, but still…

Miss Joutila caught Iain’s expression and said, ‘I mean to talk, and just that,’ she said firmly.

‘Of course, that’s very kind of you.’

The gym teacher’s flat was smaller than Maija’s, about the same type and size as the one Iain was renting. When she showed Iain into the living room, he noticed a low coffee table laid out for dinner: two plates, two tall wine glasses. No guesses who Miss Joutila had been expecting for dinner. She walked into the room and saw Iain looking at the table.

‘Yes, he was supposed to come over tonight!’ Leena gathered the crockery and glasses together and took them to the kitchen. ‘What would you like to drink? I have coffee.’ Before Iain was able to reply, Leena popped her head out of the doorway and added, ‘Or if you prefer, Koskenkorva .’

‘Hm, vodka I think, please.’ Iain said and sat down. He wondered how much he would be forced to tell Leena about himself to get her to talk. The less she knew the better. Things were going well so far, she didn’t seem hostile. He just had to be careful not to push too hard.

As soon as Leena sat down opposite Iain, she started to talk. Even if he’d wanted, Iain couldn’t have stopped her.

‘I want what’s best for my students,’ she began. She paused for a moment, taking a sip of her drink. ‘So when I met this lovely man in Moscow and he started, well, courting me, and then said he could arrange that we would win the trophy, well, I could not say no, could I? How was I to know he was, well, that he had someone already?’ The gym teacher’s face was turned towards Iain, her eyes open wide.