Private Moscow

Chapter 91

Master Gunnery Sergeant West drove to Konkovo where we were supposed to meet Feo. My heart sank the moment we turned onto Maklaya Street, a quiet side road in a residential neighborhood. I saw a Moscow police patrol car directly ahead of us.

“This could get ugly,” West warned as he stepped on the brakes.

The Land Rover came to a rapid halt, and West threw it into reverse as the patrol car doors opened, but I recognized the people who stepped out of the vehicle.

“It’s OK,” I said. “That’s Feo Arapov and Anna Bolshova. They’re friends.”

West stopped the Land Rover. “You sure?”

I nodded.

West pulled over, and we got out into the bitter chill of late afternoon. The snowstorm had stopped, but dark clouds brooded and swirled overhead, promising more.

“You can’t be here,” Dinara said to Anna.

“After what happened at the embassy my superiors don’t know whether to suspend or promote me. Some of them know the official story stinks. Others are loyalists. You’ve opened a box of trouble, Mr. Morgan.”

“Happy to oblige,” I replied.

“Where are we going?” Anna asked.

We hadn’t shared our intended destination with Feo, who’d simply been instructed to provide us with a clean vehicle. We could hardly drive into the SVR complex in a US diplomatic car.

“Yasenevo,” Dinara replied.

Feo cursed in Russian, and then whistled.

“SVR Headquarters?” Anna asked. “Are you crazy? He’s the most wanted man in Russia.”

“You still want to help?” Dinara asked.

Anna thought for a moment, and then nodded. “My career will only be safe if I can expose what’s been happening. If I don’t restore my reputation, I’ll end up in records, or taking early retirement, and I can’t do that. I have to be where the action is.”

“You OK here?” West asked.

“We’re good, thanks,” I replied.

“Here’s your comms unit,” West said, reaching into the Land Rover for a small flight case Erin Sebold had given us.

“Thanks,” I said, taking it from him.

“I’d better get to the RV,” he said.

We’d arranged to meet at a different rendezvous point as a security precaution.

“Good luck.” West climbed in the Land Rover, turned the vehicle around and headed back the way we’d come.

“Well, I suppose if you’re planning to infiltrate Yasenevo, there are few things less likely to arouse suspicion than a Moscow police patrol car,” Anna remarked.

It was hard to disagree.

“Come on, let’s go,” she said. “If we’re going to die today, I’d rather not do it chilled to my soul.”

Feo smiled wryly, and Dinara and I followed them to their car.