Stephen Burke: The Reluctant Contact

His double bed remained. He had awoken many times expecting to find Anya there beside him. Unconsciously, he still slept on the same side of the bed, to give her room. He would get over that in time. Despite the raw memories it aroused, the bed was definitely staying, he decided.

One of the Lithuanian men who had helped him carry it was still in jail in Pyramiden. Jonas’s name was top of the manifest list for shipment back to Russia. He had been questioned about the recent events, but he had the perfect alibi for all, except Semyon’s death. The investigators had dug up the Latvian’s body but found nothing that would cause them to change the autopsy verdict.

The first boat came, laden with oranges, and not a moment too soon. Their stores of fruit were long gone. As Yuri watched the crates being unloaded, a familiar figure arrived at the dock. She put down her two suitcases and walked slowly towards him. They had hardly spoken to each other since the day it had all happened, though he had seen her staggering out of the bar several times. He was surprised the KGB had not taken her back to Moscow. Perhaps they had not had room in their helicopters, given the number of men they had brought. Or perhaps they had left her as punishment for Timur’s disappearance.

‘Hey,’ said Anya.

She smiled at him and he couldn’t help smiling back.

‘You’re off then,’ said Yuri.

‘I am. Going home.’

‘You’ll be getting your old life back, like you wanted,’ he said. ‘I hope it was worth it.’

Anya shook her head. ‘No, I won’t. Nothing is changing for me. They are not happy with how things went.’

‘They don’t have to worry about Grigory,’ said Yuri. ‘He won’t cause them any more trouble. He’s retired. He’s probably sitting on a beach somewhere. I hope he is. Although a library is more likely.’

‘It’s not that,’ she said. ‘She is still alive. Taisia, I mean. Did you know?’

‘No,’ said Yuri. ‘I didn’t know that.’

‘Whoever was guarding her did their job well,’ said Anya. ‘The man they sent was the one who was killed. Her protector was a female agent. I heard she took a bullet for her. Typical of Taisia to have that effect on the women around her. I bet they were lovers. Do you think they were?’

Yuri didn’t respond.

‘They are not happy about that,’ she continued, ‘or about Grigory leaving and Timur disappearing. Too many questions without answers. I’ll be lucky if they even let me teach kids again.’

Yuri was pleased about one thing. He did not care a jot for her former lover, but he was glad she was alive. He had no desire to be responsible for a stranger’s execution. He had little sympathy for Anya’s situation, yet he could see on her face that this is what she wanted from him. She would get none. She had lied to him about so many things. But he did not deny to himself that he still loved her.

‘They can always send another assassin, without my help this time,’ said Yuri. ‘I presume they are not going to give up, just like that.’

Anya shrugged. ‘I think they will never find her now. They will have moved her out of reach. And she will never get permission to contact me again. Not that she would want to now. I think she has gotten my message. Anyway, I don’t care any more. It’s over.’

Neither of them could look each other in the eye for very long. Behind them, the outgoing passengers had started to board. Yuri spotted the tall Lithuanian being led across the small gangplank in handcuffs.

‘You want to teach kids again?’ asked Yuri.

Anya shrugged. ‘It’s a job. I am going to need one of those.’

‘You’ll have to lay off the booze this time, if you do.’

He could see in her eyes that she had not been dry for quite a while. She made an expression of agreement but he had seen that one too many times before. The captain of the boat rang his bell to indicate an imminent departure. Anya appeared unsure about something and he worried for a moment that she was not going to get on it. He wanted her to leave.

The bell rang once more. Anya looked, and then turned back to him.

‘You could come with me?’ she said.

He looked up at her. Of all the things she could have said, he wasn’t expecting that.

‘We could start again, somewhere else. The two of us. We were good together, weren’t we?’

He knew he would decline her offer. But despite himself, he did actually consider it for a moment as he remembered the sensation of her soft neck on his lips. He longed to feel that one more time. She was close enough to touch. And he knew that she would not object if he pulled her into his arms. Instead, he shook his head and smiled.

‘Pyramiden still your home?’ she said.

‘Something like that,’ he replied.

She took a step towards him but he kept his distance from her. Afraid that if he did hold her he might not let her go. It was ridiculous to even think about it. He would never trust her again. She had been wronged and she had wanted revenge. He was not so saintly that he did not understand those feelings. Yet, Semyon was dead because of her. He had not deserved that. Timur too was dead because of her. Perhaps he did deserve it. And she had abused his own feelings for her in order to set the whole chain of events in motion.

‘So that’s it then,’ she said. ‘Nothing more to be said?’

‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘Better that way.’

He wondered if, after all, she might feel an apology was necessary. But none came. He hadn’t really expected one.

She looked him in the eye for the last time, and nodded. Then she turned on her heel and walked back to where she had left her belongings. As she struggled with the weight of the suitcases, a man offered to help her. She would not be short of admirers wherever she ended up. He decided not to stay and watch the boat depart.

He left the dock and walked back into town. He knew he would never hear from her again. He would have liked to know how Grigory was getting on. The unexpected defector deserved the red carpet treatment in the west. He was a resourceful old bastard, and Yuri was confident he would survive whatever life threw at him. Perhaps he was playing chess somewhere with a new challenger. Part of him was jealous.

A few days later, he sat with Catherine as they watched the melting ice-water rush down Pyramiden mountain. It had started as a slow trickle two days before and had gradually expanded to what it was now, a river. The falling water picked up speed on the slopes until it levelled off and bashed against the man-made dyke. This defence system was one of the last things Yuri had worked on with Semyon. For now, their hard work looked like it might hold.

‘I think it’s going to keep it back,’ said Catherine.

Yuri was not so sure. The water level was still rising fast. It was easier for the river to flow straight through town. That’s what it wanted to do. The dyke forced it to make an unnatural turn to the right, and on down to the fjord without troubling Pyramiden’s buildings. But water preferred the easy route, and would take it whenever it could.

‘We’ll see,’ said Yuri.

If the dyke was breached, they were in for a wet day’s work putting it right.

‘Can you swim?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ she said, laughing. ‘You’re not much of an optimist, are you?’

‘These days I expect the worst.’

Catherine gave him a knowing glance.

‘I suppose no one can blame you for that,’ she said.

As they waited, the flow of water seemed to ease off.

‘There, look,’ said Catherine. ‘Nothing to worry about.’

‘I thought you were leaving in the spring,’ said Yuri. ‘Why weren’t you on the first boat?’

‘I am not leaving after all,’ she said. ‘They said I could stay as long as I wanted.’