***
“Sit down please, Dmitri Borisovich,” Colonel General Trimenko said as they took two chairs in an unused conference room at the Voroshilov Academy.
“Yes, Comrade General.”
Trimenko pushed across the table to him a glass of hot, sweet tea. “There is no easy way to say this, General Suslov, so I will just say it. Doctor Tolchinskaya’s name has turned up on a CIA memo that the FSB has acquired. She is described as having sought out some kind of relationship between herself and the CIA.”
Suslov heard himself speaking from a great distance, remembering the day the American engineer had first reported to him, promising her that if she broke faith he would deal with her soldier to soldier, as an enemy, not a spy, and she had praised his generosity. “What sort of relationship?”
“That is the problem, Dmitri Borisovich. We do not know. She approached the CIA in Vienna, hours before coming to Moscow, and asked to be a bridge between Russia and America.”
“She has said the same thing to both of us, comrade General. And to others.”
“And also at her intake interrogation. Such seems to be the aria she sings. Sadly, she seems also to have sung it to the CIA.”
Suslov was struggling to control an honest and therefore overwhelming desire to go immediately to Olivia’s lab and shoot her in the face. How could such a wise woman have been so stupid? he raged inside himself. She had wanted to be a bridge so she had called the Central Intelligence Agency? Who did she think they were, the Central Bridge Agency?
Trimenko’s next words quenched his rage. “She has already being taken by the FSB.” He could see the hideous images filling Suslov’s head. “For the moment, she has not been charged with anything and is being well-treated, so long as she does not resist. However, she will not be taken directly to the Lubyanka.”
“May I ask why not?”
“She is also being permitted to retain her sidearm. For personal reasons.”
Now, Suslov linked his hands around the glass to keep them from shaking and sipped the hot liquid. “Why are they behaving this way?”
“Very honestly, none of us knows what she has done or what it means.”
“Us?”
Trimenko paused. “Dmitri Borisovich…I was on a conference call a while ago with General Schwartz of the FSB, who is responsible for this case for now, and with General Getmanov in Washington. We believe that Doctor Tolchinskaya has done nothing untoward since her arrival. But the damn memo exists, is genuine, and cannot be wished away. General Schwartz has devised an unusual procedure. You have a dacha outside of Moscow, do you not?”
“I do. Inherited. It is owned jointly by my sister and me. It is very modest and seldom used, and then only by Valentina when she needs silence and solitude.”
Trimenko knew of Valentina and her relationship to the family. Also of her art. Both were complex. “We know. At this moment, Olivia is being taken to that dacha. You will join her there. I assume that there are no weapons at your dacha. Please take your pistol.”
Suslov felt nothing, except that he’d leapt from an airplane and was waiting for his parachute to open, knowing it would not. “I would ask you, General Trimenko, to please be explicit about what is…expected of me.”
Trimenko exhaled. “We should like you to talk with her, to learn what you can. If she is not clean, it would be preferable in many ways if she handled this herself. Or you did. Before they return in the morning. Even if she is clean, she may reasonably prefer not to take her chances with the FSB. General Schwartz is very concerned that this could get out of hand. Too many people might want it to. So, in essence, we are asking you to do what you can to help us end this situation. Please be clear. It may not be the best thing for all of us if she does go in for questioning. Or it may be. That is for you and her to decide. I am told that the dacha will not be electronically monitored, so there should be no record of what passes between you. General Schwartz wants no record of that, for many reasons, including your…reputation as a soldier. There will be a security perimeter around the dacha. Please don’t try to leave.”
“Where would we go?” Suslov asked, bitter and astonished.
“One never knows. And Russia is wide.”
“So that I do not misunderstand you, General…is there anything that I am being ordered to do specifically?”
“Yes, Dmitri Borisovich. Talk with her. Beyond that, your course of action is yours. And hers.”
“Am I to be placed under arrest?”
“Not for the moment. I will handle that, when and if the time comes. At least, I may be informed before the fact. But doubt it not that you are involved, in the eyes of the security services. It could not be any other way.”
“I know. I cannot say that you did not warn me of the problems associated with this woman.”
“Regrets, my friend?”
“None, comrade General.” He spoke with an absolute certainty.
“Now. The other side of all this is that we do not want to lose your services. Not yours and not Doctor Tolchinskaya’s, unless we absolutely have to. So please do not act rashly or out of unreasoning fear. I have great difficulty seeing her as any kind of spy and I find it impossible to believe you would betray Russia.”
Suslov shook his head. “No, comrade General. No more than Doctor Tolchinskaya would betray America.”
“And that is the crux of the problem. She is an American patriot. We know what she did in Vienna. Now we must understand what, if anything, she has done since or might do. We want you to help us understand, if you can. We would like to get through this and return to our present lives, if we can. If you conclude that will not be possible, please help us limit the damage and the pain. For Russia’s sake.”
“I will, Comrade General Trimenko.”
“My friend, my son, I love you and I have come to love her,” Trimenko said simply. “I had hoped that you would eventually succeed me as chief of Airborne. That may no longer be possible. But I have always considered you the kind of man to whom I could entrust not just the Airborne, but our country. So, in this way, I am entrusting you with our country now.”
Suslov placed his right hand flat on the table and after a few seconds Trimenko took it, then reached out and took Suslov’s left hand as well, and held both of his hands in his own for a long time. Then they embraced and kissed and Suslov left.