“Yes, I do.”
“Are you doing this because you are trying to steal it?”
“Doing what? Going out with you? No!” she blurted out and then lowered her voice. “No, I really like you. I think that we have something special starting between us, but I’m scared now. I don’t think I am alone here anymore. I think the CIA sent someone else.”
“You aren’t.” His throat worked, his eyes glued to her face. “Last night, after you walked inside, I was knocked down and hit. The man spoke perfect English. That is why Dmitri is here. He’s my bodyguard assigned to me six months ago by the Russian Intelligence Agency after the last time I was attacked. Do you understand my position there? I’m a hacker and programmer. I could be killed for telling you this or giving you information.”
“Same here. Do you trust me?”
“Implicitly,” he whispered, taking hold of her hand again. “I might ask you the same thing: do you trust me?”
“From the very first moment I laid eyes on you.”
7
Galina and Nik sat there silently beside each other as the ballet started up again. The music was breathtaking, but some of the innocence and beauty seemed to have faded. Her mind was boiling with questions and she wanted to talk; she needed to talk to him. She noticed that he was tapping his foot and sitting there silently, staring at the stage.
“How’s your eye?” she asked finally, breaking the silence between them in the box and wasn’t sure if he even heard her over the music, until he leaned down towards her.
“Actually, my eye is starting to ache a bit.”
Galina abruptly got up and maneuvered her way in the darkened box to the untouched champagne bottle. She had seen a crisp white linen towel wrapped neatly around the neck before it was submerged into the silver urn holding the ice. Grabbing the linen cloth, she put a couple pieces of ice inside and wet it in the melting water. Taking her seat, she smiled at him.
“Put this on your eye for a bit and see if it helps.”
“Did you want some champagne?”
“Not really,” she admitted. “I’d rather just have some time alone to talk when this is done. You mentioned dessert last evening, how about round two at Tsar?”
“As long as there isn’t another one of these waiting for me later,” he teased, pointing at his blackened eye.
“Be on your best behavior then,” she quipped with a sad smile. “I am sorry that it happened.”
“Maybe you’ll kiss it and make it better?”
Galina didn’t answer. Part of her wanted to shout ‘yes’ but then again, she’d just revealed she was a spy. He, himself, admitted to being what she’d been sent to investigate: a hacker. He actually could have infiltrated the CIA computer systems and if so, why? What was he looking for? Her purse glowed for just a moment, the light catching her eye in the darkness. Reaching down, she picked up her cell phone that was set on vibrate and saw the text message.
Dating him is a good way to get the info you need.
There was a photo of the two of them standing at the ticket booth in front of the Mariinsky Theater. She threw the phone back into her purse, horrified. It was from a number she didn’t recognize – but someone knew exactly who she was and was watching them carefully. She sat back in the chair, trying to disappear in the darkness.
“What’s wrong?”
“Someone is here. They’re watching us.”
“Here?”
“Yes. I just got a text message from a number I didn’t recognize with a photo of us. Now, smile and pretend to be happy. If they think I told you who I am, then…” she whispered and her words died off as she plastered a fake smile across her face widely. Her fingers gripped at his arm fearfully. She was glad the darkness hid how pale her frightened face would be right now. Nik nodded slowly, leaning forward to kiss her. It wasn’t a tender kiss, but rather it got him close to speak with her.
“Are you in danger? Should we leave?”
“I don’t honestly know,” she whispered truthfully. “They want to know what you accessed in the CIA files and what you took.”
“I didn’t take anything. I only looked around at the new schematics for space travel to see if it matched what we were building here. I want my program to be compatible for any system,” he finished, and this time he did kiss her. Galina reached up and rested her palm on the side of his face tenderly, feeling the stubble on his chin. She adored the way he kissed her.
“I will never let anyone hurt you, my little American,” he promised, brushing her hair back from her face. “We’ll figure this out together somehow.”
When the ballet was over, they waited in the box until Dmitri arrived. Galina looked him over with a fresh outlook. This was the man that was protecting Nik and had been assigned to him by the Russian Intelligence Agency. She could see why too. The man was taller than Nik by several inches and seemed to loom over everyone. He was broader in the shoulders as well. Nik wasn’t a small man but compared to Dmitri, he looked diminutive and tiny. Galina barely came up to his chest.
She listened as Nik explained that they were going to be having a cup of coffee for a bit and he wouldn’t be home for a while. Several frowns, a few grunts, and the shake of his head had Dmitri meeting them at Tsar’s as well. Whatever it took to keep them safe was fine with her! The trio walked out to the Aston Martin, with Nik and Galina getting inside, locking the doors. Dmitri gave a silent nod and walked into the inky parking lot towards his own vehicle. As his headlights flashed, Nik put the car in reverse and quietly followed the unassuming black ford sedan down the road.
Once parked, they quickly hurried inside and sat at a table in the very back of the restaurant. Dmitri sat on his own closer to the door so he could keep watch. Nik instructed their waiter to get Dmitri ‘whatever he wanted’ and put it on Nik’s bill. Galina couldn’t help but laugh at the brilliant smile the hulking man gave Nik as he waved from across the room. Nik gave him a thumbs up and grinned at Galina.
“I bet he orders an entire cow for dinner,” he teased idly. “The man is good at taking care of me and putting away the steaks.”
“Probably has to be in order to keep up his metabolism. If you haven’t noticed he is the size of a small giant.”
“A yeti” Nik corrected and smiled when she laughed. “Are you feeling a bit better? You looked absolutely terrified earlier.”
“I am,” she admitted in a hushed whisper, lowering her head towards his. “I’m not going to lie about it. We are strangers, yet I’ve given you enough information to put me away for a long time – and you? You’ve easily admitted to hacking into one of the most secure computers in the world to just ‘look around’. We are enemies, opposite teams…” she told him sadly.
“You don’t feel like an enemy.”
“Neither do you, yet you are.”
“So, what do we do?”
“Split ways? Give me the information I need and then disappear so you are safe?”
“Sweet little American,” he said sadly, “I don’t think I will ever be safe. The program I built is designed to help people, but if used by the wrong people it could be devastating.”
“So then why’d you build it?”
“I wanted to do more, give back to my people, and programming seemed so easy for me. When I realized that it was a double-edged sword, it was too late. I’d made a name for myself online and -oh my gosh…” Nik stopped, his jaw dropped open as he pointed.
Galina whirled around in sheer terror expecting to see people filing into the restaurant with guns, but instead she saw a massive platter being delivered to Dmitri’s table. A large shank of meat with the bone sticking out of it was being served to him as well as an entire pie. The large man had tucked a napkin into his shirt like a bib and was eagerly awaiting his dinner.
“My word,” Galina breathed, turning back to Nik. “Don’t you feed him at home?”
“He just ate a twelve-inch sub sandwich before we left for the theater,” he told her in
disbelief. They just sat there silently as their coffee was brought to the table along with a large slice of Medovik and two spoons. She’d never had the cake, only a version of it on special occasions at home.
The delicate pastry was supposedly extremely popular according to the waiter, and looked divine. A variety of layers of pastry, creams and honey made her salivate at the thought of biting into the confection. She waited for several moments silently before Nik urged her to try it. Galina felt odd sharing a plate with Nik; it seemed so ‘boyfriend-ish’ a thing to do. She took a bite and moaned softly as the creamy sweetness dissolved on her tongue.
“Mercy me, that is divine,” she breathed.
“I’m a bit jealous that the cake made you moan like that,” he muttered huskily.
“You shouldn’t say things like that,” Galina admonished, embarrassed. “I’ve never been one to starve myself and I enjoy a good meal. I’m sure someday I will regret it.”
“I’m sure you’ll always be beautiful.”
“Stop,” she said playfully, feeling shy. “You’ll give me a complex.”
“Looking at that smile is like basking in the sun. Warm, welcoming, and essential for life.”
“Now you’ve really got to stop,” she protested, feeling her cheeks heat up with embarrassment. “Nik, I think we should focus on what’s important right now- like what is next. I mean, if we’re being followed then nowhere is safe for us. I don’t know if they’ll hurt us or just try to get information out of us.”
“If you take a copy of my program back home, what will your government do with it?”
“What does it do?”
“You can re-route or control any system from the ground that is in the sky. Satellites, shuttle equipment, rockets that are in orbit,” he said meaningfully, looking at her. “It’s helpful if someone needs aid, like an airplane that has a malfunction – but what happens if it gets in the wrong hands? So again, I ask you: what does the CIA want with my program?”
“What will your country do with it?”
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “But I can’t give it to them.”
“They don’t have it?”
“I never told them I finished it. I couldn’t. They still think I’m having problems with calculations.”
“I’m confused. You said it wasn’t done, and now it is? So where is it?”
“Hidden,” Nik told her, taking a bite of the cake. “This is delicious, isn’t it?”
“Good,” she said softly. “Don’t tell me because I don’t want to know. It gives me deniability.”
“Which is why no one else knows where it is until I narrow down the spectrum to where it can only help the space program. That is what I originally built it for but I opened Pandora’s Box and realized there was so much more I could do. Problem was I didn’t realize I shouldn’t- until it was too late.”
“It’s never too late.”
“I will never be free to live my life or dream of seeing the stars like my father had.”
“What do you mean?”
“I will be kept under thumb until the government gets the program.”
“And then what happens?” Nik shrugged and looked away silently. “What does that mean? You won’t be free or you think they’ll do something to you?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, sipping his coffee. “But I am positive there will always be another project or military weapon that needs tweaking. I’m really good at what I do, Galina.”
“What if you came with me to the States under a diplomatic immunity? You could help us and we could give you sanctuary.”
“And the program, is that the key to getting in the door?”
“Possibly, but we sure wouldn’t bump you off the moment you walked through the door,” she protested, outraged.
“I don’t mean to insult you, but aren’t you being watched now too?”
“Yes…no. Well, yes I am, but I think they are wanting information. Maybe if I dangle the carrot, they’ll back off?”
“How?”
“I could send them some photos of your apartment from the street. Maybe let them know that the software is still being written and you are stuck,” she offered. “I could tell them something to release the pressure off of us.”
“I like that you said ‘us’,” he said gently, reaching across the table to take her hand in his. Nik rubbed his thumb across her knuckles tenderly. “I’m glad I met you.”
“Same here. I can’t believe it’s only been a few days. It feels like forever…in a good way.”
“I understand. Eat up, sweet Galina. We’ll figure out something together and get out of this mess.” They sat there trying to make small talk as they finished the delicacy. Sipping on her coffee, she glanced over to see that Dmitri had eaten the entire piece of meat and was working on eating the pie out of the pie-plate. She shook her head and smiled.
Her life really had changed over the last several days, more than she ever realized. A spy in Russia meeting an amazing man and monstrous bodyguard having sweets while discussing espionage. Yes, it had been a strange week.
8
Dmitri and Nik escorted Galina back to her hotel room, walking her directly to the door as she threw the deadbolt from inside the room. She understood, they were both concerned. If she was being watched, then neither was safe. Nik already knew he wasn’t. She waited patiently for Nik to text that he was back at his condo, safe, before she could relax. While she truly enjoyed the touring of the city, it was much too dangerous. Nik had suggested they simply get out of town and drive through the countryside, but that made her a bit leery too. She’d seen enough movies to know that if the bad guys were after you, a car chase always happened. Why put yourself in harm’s way?
The next morning, Galina sighed heavily as she buckled her seatbelt and frowned at Nik. He’d insisted, and had packed a small picnic for them. He claimed that ‘no one should see only St. Petersburg, but rather a tourist should see all that Russia has to offer’.
“You know I think this is a bad idea,” she reiterated. “Have you ever seen a James Bond movie or any spy film? Unless you are going to tell me that you have rockets under the license plate or this beautiful car turns into a jet boat – then maybe we should hide out in town. Being alone on the road or on a picnic seems like we are inviting danger.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you have an active imagination?” he chuckled, sliding into the driver’s seat. This time, Galina didn’t resist the urge to admire Nik and chalked it up to her espionage blood that was pumping full steam ahead. James Bond always kissed the pretty girls, maybe it was role reversal at its finest in real life? She was the spy, he was awfully handsome and nice to look at – now all he needed was a classic pun name and they’d have a hit movie on their hands!
Ivan Tokissu
Lem Mepeekachu
Galina smothered a laugh at the stupid names she was coming up with for Nik in her head. There was no way she’d ever utter them aloud for anyone. They drove out of town and she saw all the buildings fall behind them, ahead just open road with trees lining the highway.
“Where are we headed for this impromptu picnic?”
“Towards the border of Finland and Russia. There’s a large beautiful lake up that way that I thought I’d show you.”
“That seems so odd to hear you say we are headed to Finland. I mean, that is like me saying, well we’ll have dinner in Virginia tonight. It’s a bordering state of Maryland and feels like nothing to me to say it.”
“Tell me about your home,” he asked, his voice curious and almost wistful.
“You’d love it,” she admitted. “There is so much to see and do there. I live near Washington D.C. and there are so many landmarks, so much history there. You could see the Lincoln Memorial, The White House, The Smithsonian museum, and if that doesn’t peak your curiosity? There are so many re-enactments of battles from the Civil War that make you realize how far we’ve come as a nation. Oh, and colonial William
sburg! You could see what it was like when the United States was first founded.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“It is. I really think you’d love the Smithsonian. They have an Air and Space branch there that you’d get a kick out of…or maybe someday we could see Cape Canaveral and watch a shuttle launch.”
“You know me pretty well, don’t you?” he said with a soft smile. “I always wanted to see NASA someday and as a boy, I dreamed of going into space, until my father passed away. Now, I would rather be an essential part of making the launch successful rather than floating in the vacuum of space. I like my oxygen quite a bit,” he teased.
“I think you would be a wonderful addition to them and I would be happy to see if my boss can pull some strings for you,” she offered.
“The same boss that didn’t tell you that they were sending someone else to Russia too?”
“Well, when you put it like that – yes, I guess that is a bad idea.”
“I’m pretty sure travel is out of my future plans anytime soon unless it’s you and I on a helicopter flying around some beautiful scenery.”
“That sounds pretty neat except for the helicopter bit…oh,” she stopped suddenly seeing his smile fade away as the car came to a stop. She saw the chopper up ahead waiting for them. “You meant us, today…like now?”
“I did but we don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” he began.
“I’m just a little weird about the thought of being in a glass bubble high up in the air.”
“Not a lot of difference from riding in an airplane.”
“Which I will need to do eventually in order to get home to America, so let’s not go there,” she blurted out. “I’m sure the countryside is lovely but…”
“You won’t be alone,” he offered with a smile.
“No, I know – it just makes me nervous.”
“Trust me with more than just your secrets,” Nik said softly, his eyes watching her intently. She could see that he wasn’t talking about just the helicopter ride, but something more, something she was afraid to identify because she knew that they couldn’t have a future on opposite sides of the world. It would require a bigger leap of faith than she was ready to take as of yet. Nodding, he got out of the car and opened the passenger door for her, extending his hand.
Spying on the Billionaire Page 7
