The Russian Deception

CHAPTER 23

Valentina watched Selena and the others enter the Sacher Hotel. The flight to Vienna had been short, only an hour and a half. Following Selena's taxi had taken another twenty minutes. Now that she knew where they were staying she could decide what she wanted to do.

Spotting Selena in the Skopje airport was an unexpected opportunity. Valentina hadn't yet decided how to exploit it. She'd called Vysotsky from the taxi and told him she needed a few days downtime in Vienna. He'd given permission, happy with her work in Macedonia. If he'd known she was watching Selena he would never have agreed. But then Vysotsky had no idea Valentina even knew about her. That was a confrontation for another time.

The discovery that she had a sister had rocked Valentina's world. The fact that her sister was an American spy only complicated things. It created difficulties but it didn't change the reality that Selena was family. By the same token, Valentina was the only family Selena had. Blood overrode all other considerations.

Valentina couldn't remember a time when she hadn't longed for the comfort of family. Her instructors had done their best to eliminate thoughts of personal relationships and friendships from the perfect instrument of the state they were molding. They had no idea that they hadn't succeeded. They congratulated themselves as Valentina overcame each of the numerous obstacles placed before her. Holding on to her unspoken longing for something that could pass for family was a way to rebel against the endless barrage they aimed against her, even though she knew her desire could never be fulfilled.

Then she'd learned about Selena.

Valentina had sought out more information about her. The files of SVR revealed the details of Selena's life. Standing outside the Sacher Hotel, Valentina felt the twinges of resentment. When her sister was being showered with luxury and the love of a real family, Valentina was living as a ward of the Russian state in a rundown barracks. When Selena was traveling Europe as a girl with her rich uncle, Valentina had been learning how to strip a Kalashnikov and reassemble it in the dark. When Selena had been competing in martial arts competitions for trophies, Valentina had been learning the brutal reality of Systema Spetsnaz, hand-to-hand combat as taught to Russian Special Forces. No trophies were given in her classes, only bruises and injuries and constant physical training. Her natural athletic ability had helped her become adept in the killing art. She had finally earned the admiration of her instructors.

In Systema Valentina learned the secrets of the body's vulnerability. The discipline had first appeared in the 10th century as a method of unarmed self-defense developed by the Cossacks. Modern Systema had been refined into a sophisticated and deadly discipline rivaled only by the Israeli commando art of Krav Maga.

Selena was a master of martial arts in her own right, a practitioner of esoteric Korean styles at a high level.

It would be challenging to fight her, Valentina thought, to see who could gain the upper hand.

One of them wouldn't walk away, but that was a battle Valentina did not wish to have. She had no desire to injure Selena, although she had to admit it would be good to make her suffer a little, to pay for all those years when Valentina had been alone.

It had started snowing. With a start Valentina realized she'd had been standing long enough for snow to accumulate on her coat. She stomped her feet and brushed off what she could. Then she walked to the hotel and into the lobby. Selena and the others were nowhere in sight.

At the desk she took a room for three nights. She assumed Selena knew about her. Even if Selena knew what she looked like, Valentina wasn't concerned about being recognized. Her instructors had been skilled at teaching her the art of disguise. What she could do in minutes in a restaurant toilet to change her appearance was effective. What she could do in the privacy of a hotel room was nothing short of amazing. By the time she was done she could sit down next to Selena in a restaurant and her sister would never know she was there.

As she rode up to her room in the elevator, Valentina smiled to herself. The evening would be interesting.