Julia Gousseva - Gray Shadows - Russian Historical Thriller

“Please don’t help anymore,” Nikolai said. “Why did you do that? Do you know what she will think now? How am I going to explain you to her?” A new wave of anger came over him. Not only was he stuck with Natalya in this awful little town on a pointless assignment, now she was ruining what was left of his personal life, too. He should have taken Anatoly’s offer to teach at the academy. That would have been of more use to everyone, no doubt.

“Don’t worry so much,” Natalya said. “She’ll forgive you.”

“Like you would know. Just don’t touch my phone ever again,” Nikolai said, trying to regain composure.

“Agreed. I’m sorry. But let me make it up to you. You just have a seat and relax, and I’ll make some tea. It’s jasmine and chamomile, soothes the soul and calms the nerves. You do drink tea, I hope?”

“I drink tea, sure.” Nikolai grabbed a chair, flipped it around and sat down, reminding himself that whether he liked it or not, Natalya was still his client, so getting to know her better was a part of his job.

Natalya turned on the electric stove, poured some tap water into the small kettle, and put two cups and a small ceramic teapot on the counter.

“Another benefit of having the suite,” she said. “Comes with all the essentials.” She scooped out loose tea from a small tin. “Why don’t you tell me how you became a bodyguard while the tea is brewing. Was it your childhood dream?” She chuckled. “Other boys wanted to fly into space or discover cures for diseases, and you wanted to guard people?”

“Yes, that’s exactly how it was. And in my next life, I hope to be reincarnated as a German shepherd.”

“Come on, don’t get upset. I was just joking, trying to lift your mood, you know. But really, how did you become a bodyguard?”

“I don’t think you really want to know,” Nikolai said.

“I do, honestly. I’m sorry if I haven’t been the best person to work with, but I’ll try to make your job easier.” Natalya poured the tea into cups and handed one cup to Nikolai. “Here, you need to relax.”

Nikolai took a sip. The tea was hot and strong, with an unusual aftertaste that Nikolai could not identify, minty and earthy. “Good tea.”

“My secret recipe.” Natalya giggled. “Come on, tell me, how did you get into this job?”

“It just happened.”

Natalya gave him a pouty look, got up and walked into her room. Another upset woman, Nikolai thought. Going for the record of the highest number of women I manage to offend in one day. So far so good. While Nikolai contemplated apologizing to Natalya, her door opened again, and she came out with a box of chocolate candy.

“Peace?” she said and placed the box on the table in front of Nikolai. “Have some.”

“Thanks. But why don’t you talk about yourself first.” Nikolai rubbed his leg, took one piece, and put it into his mouth. Natalya wasn’t his favorite person at the moment, but he reminded himself that he needed to make an effort to get to know her better so they could develop some trust and be able to discuss their plans for each day and their strategy for dealing with potential threats, foreseen and unforeseen. That was a part of his job, so he needed to get over the situation with Olga and focus on the job. Nikolai smiled and said, “Thanks for the chocolate. So, tell me, how did you become an interpreter?”

“Not much to tell. I’ve always been independent, so this kind of work suits me well. I never wanted to work in a big office, and I did not want to have the same boss or the same colleagues for too long.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to get attached to people too much. I like my freedom. And interpreting is perfect: I get to learn about a lot of different areas, meet different people, and, in the case of this job especially, make some decent money.”

“I thought this was your first job,” Nikolai said.

“My first real job, away from home. I had short-term assignments before, mostly in Moscow. Anyway, your turn. You must be really brave and fearless to be a bodyguard. Are you?”

“I don’t know about fearless. I’ve learned to tell the difference between fear and danger and found ways to deal with both.”

“Most people don’t like dealing with either.”

“Maybe not. But I didn’t see any other choices for myself. We don’t like to admit it, but a lot of important events in our lives are shaped by circumstances, and that was the case for me, too.”

“Circumstances? How so?” Natalya said.

“I come from a military family and since I was a kid, I always imagined myself a warrior, invincible and brave. As I grew up, I became more realistic but no less idealistic about the military career. But after I graduated from the military academy, all the military cuts started, and there were no real jobs for recent graduates, at least not the ones I trained for. I was stuck in an office shuffling papers and waiting for the final discharge. Then, a friend of mine asked me to be present at a business deal, just in case something went wrong. You never know how these so-called business deals can turn out. I came along and met his boss. The brother of the boss owned the bodyguard agency. One thing led to another, and now I’m here.”

“So, do they teach you how to fight and use weapons?”

“I already knew how to do that. My military academy, remember?”

“Are you always armed?” Natalya said.

“With knowledge and skills,” Nikolai said. “And a sharp wit.”

“No really, where do you keep your weapons?”

“The weapons are called concealed for a reason. You don’t need to worry about things like that. Your job here is stressful enough. All that interpreting must be tiresome.”

“It’s stressful sometimes, especially if people I’m interpreting for get impatient or start interrupting each other. Sometimes, they get so worked up about an issue, they start talking faster and faster, forgetting that I’m there struggling to keep up with the conversation. At other times, people don’t take any time to formulate their thoughts. They just say the first thing that comes to their mind, in whatever way it comes, and change sentence structure as they go. When it comes out awkward in the other language or people don’t understand them, they think it’s the interpreter’s lack of skills. But it’s not always the case.”

“Pyotr Alekseevich seems quite impressed with your interpreting. How did you get so good at it?”

“Like anyone who is good at anything. Lots of studying and lots of practice. My college trained us well for interpreting. Of course, some of the terms here are new to me: casing, piping, drill bits, and other oil field terms can be hard to remember right away, but Pyotr Alekseevich seems to know these words in English, and I’m learning fast.”

“Have you always been a good student?” Nikolai said.

“Sure. I’m ambitious, you know, despite what my dad says.”

Nikolai nodded, took the last sip of his tea, and felt the warmth spread all over his body. He was seeing a very different side of Natalya: not the spoiled rich and immature girl but an educated, intelligent, and hard-working young woman. Was all that surface immaturity just her way to interact with her dad because he did not take her seriously? Maybe, the real reason she was here was to prove something to her dad or just to get away from his watchful eyes. Hence, Nikolai’s job.

“Aren’t you a little bored here?” Nikolai asked. “It’s not exactly a bustling place.”

“I’ll find a way to entertain myself, don’t worry,” Natalya said and smiled coyly.

“I have no doubt about that.” He suppressed a yawn. Natalya still seemed lively, perky, and very much awake. But it was late, and Nikolai was tired. More tired than he would want to admit.