Stephen Burke: The Reluctant Contact

Grigory arrived looking ten years older and carrying too many of his belongings. Two coloured holdalls bursting with who knew what. Yuri made no comment, just handed him one set of keys. Together they drove to the rear of the administration building.

They strapped Timur’s limp body to the back of Yuri’s snowmobile and covered it with the tarpaulin. Yuri had zero sympathy for him.

‘Why are you coming?’ said Grigory. ‘There is no need. And you should be here when they find out I am missing.’

‘I’ll see you part of the way,’ replied Yuri.

Grigory was even more unfit than Anya. Too many big political dinners over the years. And since Yuri had known him, the only physical exercise he had engaged in was a game of chess. He let Grigory go ahead of him so he could watch his progress. They headed west out of town, with their heads and faces wrapped up against the cold. If anyone saw them, it would be nothing unusual. Everyone knew that he often accompanied the researchers on their field trips. And Timur’s body was well hidden under the tarpaulin, and could appear from a distance as though they were carrying equipment.

Their headlights gave them a very limited field of view. However, the sun’s halo, peeking faintly from below the horizon, afforded them at least some ambient light. As they passed the graveyard Yuri spotted a female polar bear heading towards the fjord, with her two cubs doing their best to keep up.

It took Grigory ten minutes to get into his stride. But when he did, he drove well and Yuri’s fears began to subside. Yuri moved to the front and led the way for a further five miles. When he spotted a copse of leafless trees up ahead, he slowed and pulled in.

They both dismounted and removed their goggles, and the scarves that were covering their mouths.

‘What do you think?’ asked Yuri, nodding towards the trees.

‘As good a place as any,’ agreed Grigory. ‘Catherine would approve, I think.’

Yuri unstrapped Timur’s body from the back of his snowmobile. They carried him together into the trees. As they walked, Yuri looked down at the lifeless face of the man who had caused him so much grief over the past few months. There were no bushes under which to hide him. And burying him underground was not an option without digging equipment. They laid him on his side behind two trees, where he would not be easily visible if anyone passed in the spring. However, they both knew, but didn’t say, that the body would most likely be scavenged long before that. An Arctic fox or a polar bear would be more than delighted to make an early spring meal of his corpse. Not to mention the birds. Yuri would not be pointing out this detail to Catherine.

‘You want to say a few words?’ asked Grigory.

‘Not for him, no,’ said Yuri. ‘You?’

Grigory shook his head. They retraced their steps back to the snowmobiles.

‘Maybe it’s better not to have ambitions in this life,’ said Yuri. ‘Semyon and Timur had that in common, they were both desperate to get ahead. And it got them killed.’

‘Funny how life works out sometimes, isn’t it,’ said Grigory. ‘I never had any desire to go to the west, and now look at me. At my age, a most unlikely defector.’

‘They owe you,’ said Yuri. ‘Make sure you remind them of that.’

‘I will,’ said Grigory. ‘I will be a surprise package for them.’

He was in no hurry to depart, and Yuri hoped he was not having second thoughts. But they had time. No one knew that Timur was dead except Catherine. By the time someone decided to organise a search party, with any luck Grigory would be safe in Longyearbyen.

‘What if Anya gets her wish, and they do find Taisia? Will you be in trouble?’ asked Yuri.

Grigory considered the question.

‘If it was the Soviet authorities, then yes, for sure. But with the British, who knows. I just did what they asked me to do. It’s not my fault it went bad, is it?’

Yuri shrugged. ‘You’re right. You’re lucky it was not a Soviet mission. Hopefully the British will be different.’

He pulled out a map of Spitsbergen from the inside pocket of his coat.

‘Let’s go over the route again.’

Grigory paid attention as Yuri went through it step by step, even though he was the one who had taught Yuri all of these things. Rocky ground and ravines to avoid. Stretches where he could go as fast as he liked, others where he would need to limit his speed.

‘What if someone saw you leaving with me?’ asked Grigory.

‘Don’t worry about that,’ said Yuri. ‘If anyone did, I’ll make up something appropriate. Maybe we were paying our respects at the graveyard. And when my back was turned you sped away.’

Grigory frowned. ‘Then as soon as you get back you must report it.’

Yuri shook his head. ‘No. You’ll need the time. At least a day before the alarm is raised. I’ll think of something better on the ride back.’

Grigory nodded, his mind elsewhere again. Yuri folded up the map and handed it to him.

‘Maybe I won’t make it,’ said Grigory. ‘And you’ll find me out here in the spring, like Timur.’

‘You better make it,’ said Yuri. ‘I don’t want to have gone to all this trouble for nothing.’

Grigory smiled. ‘I will do my best, for you.’

Yuri offered his hand and Grigory shook it.

‘Goodbye, my friend,’ said Grigory. ‘I left some things in my apartment for you. The chess set is one. You’ll have to find yourself a new partner.’

‘Someone I can beat,’ said Yuri. ‘And better-looking.’

‘And you might consider actually fixing my bathroom plumbing while I’m gone.’

Yuri smiled. ‘I will definitely consider it. But no promises.’

Grigory mounted his snowmobile and turned on the engine. After putting on his goggles, he waved once and drove off. Yuri watched him until he disappeared around the next hillside. Then he started his own engine, turned around and began the journey back to Pyramiden.

He made a mental note of all the people who saw him arriving back. As he drove slowly into town, he was seen by the principal of the school and some of the children in the playground. As he parked, he saw the Mongolian researcher looking at him out a window. He had the usual unreadable expression on his face. The man did not acknowledge him, just turned away from the window. The missing snowmobile would become a focus of the investigation as soon as it was discovered that both Grigory and Timur were gone.

A new idea had formed in Yuri’s head on the ride home. If asked, he could say that he had seen Grigory and Timur together on the missing snowmobile. Two defectors, it would seem to anyone who did not know the truth. A partnership in crime. Who was to say that Timur had not made a pact with the double agent himself? Or perhaps Timur had also been a double agent all along. All of these theories would be hard to disprove without anyone to question.

There were only two loose ends as far as he could tell. Timur’s body might be found in the spring. In which case the murder would be blamed on Grigory. So he and Catherine were safe in any event. The other loose end he would have to sort later that night. Timur’s office and apartment would have to be thoroughly searched for any notes he might have kept. It would not be helpful for Yuri’s name to feature prominently all over the dead man’s writings.

However, that was a job for when everyone was sleeping. Right now, there was a more pressing matter to attend to. He made a beeline for Paris, where he hoped Catherine had been keeping an eye on Anya for the last few hours. He knocked on the apartment door. He heard voices inside, and a few seconds later Catherine opened the door an inch. When she saw it was him, she looked relieved. She opened the door wide to let him inside, and closed it behind him. Then she stood with her arms folded, barring the exit.