All three looked from the girl to the woman, for some kind of instruction, but her face projected anger without a muscle twitching, and Udi realised that she had been out manoeuvred by this girl.
Turning back to Torneski the girl smiled.
“So Elena, what shall we talk about today?”
If looks could kill, this girl would have died on the spot from Torneski’s expression as she sprang to her feet, and for a moment Udi thought she was going to strike the girl, but she snarled at the men instead.
“Search her.”
This was not the cowering girl they had expected, she was not supposed to have walked boldly in, but two of the young officers held her arms by the biceps as she obediently allowed the third to search her.
He came to the old style the walkman last and after listening for a moment to the sensual tones of Lauren Wood singing Fallen, he was about to drop it with the boots, but then tossed it onto the soft surface of the nearby mattress, after pressing the stop key.
That act of thoughtfulness enraged Elena Torneski, who lashed out with a kick at the man before ordering all three outside.
There was definitely history there, Udi thought, and quite plainly some of it was bad, but what, he wondered would happen between Torneski and the girl?
As the last officer, a major of KGB Spetznaz forces, pulled the door closed behind him Svetlana’s whole persona altered, gone was the saucy wiggle as she strode past the KGB chief and plucked the greatcoat off the back of the chair, draping it across her own shoulders, to be held closed with her fingers.
“Did you agree to this meeting just to work off a grudge?”
Torneski did not reply, but began buttoning up her tunic instead.
“The American’s have offered you twenty million dollars for the premier’s location, but it is both negotiable as well as being a limited offer.”
It was Torneski’s turn to laugh.
“Ha, and how long do you think they will prevail… we have almost broken NATO in Germany, and the Chinese are poised to begin their invasion of Australia any day now.”
Udi’s finger stabbed the pause key and he gawped at the monitor for a long moment before rewinding and listening to the exchange once more before pausing once more.
So there was a conspiracy, or at least a covert contact between the Americans and the head of the KGB, and there was only one reason why the Americans should want to know the premiers whereabouts, in order to kill or capture him, although assassination was by far the most likely option.
Taking a pen and paper he started the recording again, now ready to write down any names that could be mentioned in the next few minutes.
“And how long can you prevail Elena?” Svetlana looked the older woman in the eyes. “How long before the premier decides you have failed him, how long before he orders your death?”
Denied the revenge she had long promised herself, Torneski had to work hard at keeping a clear head and it was a few moments before she responded.
“The money is not enough, I want forty million and I want it in gold.”
“For twice the money, they will expect more from you.” The girl explained.
“They could be merely clearing the way for someone with like ambitions to take over the premiership, so they would want some means of ensuring that eventuality didn’t come to pass too.”
Torneski was silent as she considered.
Svetlana retrieved her Walkman, clipping it make into place before closing the greatcoat again and probing further. “Are there any politburo members who have such ambitions?”
The premier’s great plan had been many years in the making, and potential rivals who could thwart, or even hijack it, were definitely not amongst its designs. There was not a single one left with the balls to even privately consider such a possibility.
Udi put himself in the KGB chiefs’ shoes and being one of life’s cynics, to his mind if she answered truthfully then there was nothing to stop the Americans from striking at the premier whilst she was in the same location, and therefore saving themselves twenty million in gold.
“Perhaps, yes there are two, maybe three who could take over the reins if the premier were to be removed.”
“And?”
“And yes, I can neutralise them.”
Udi watched and listened as the business of high treason was concluded with the exchange of information. From the girl came the bank details of where the money could be found. The Swiss bank in question would verify that the money existed, but the access codes would not be forthcoming until after the deed was done.
It briefly passed through Udi’s mind as he recorded the details on the writing pad that he could possibly find himself in a position to become very, very rich indeed. However in reality he knew he would exchange this disc for his life, and be grateful for that.
The girl called Svetlana repeated the longitudes and latitudes of three secure locations, the premiers present hiding place and two alternates, along with the date he was expected to relocate and the signal which would identify the location.
She wrote nothing down and apparently her memory was sufficient for the task. A handy skill for a spy, but Udi wasn’t in that league and had to play the segment back twice before he got it all.
On the monitor Torneski was stood silently for a moment of thought, before breaking that silence.
“Tell me Svetlana, are you and Major Bedonavich lovers?”
“It always burned you to think of me with a man didn’t it Elena, and I never did really understood why you made a point of accompanying the examiners on my test nights, unless it was to feed that broad streak of sado-masochism?”
Elena returned a cold smile.
“I’m sure the future will bring you all the happiness you deserve with him, my dear.”
The girl paused for a second, her brow furrowing as she studied Torneski, and then departed
Back in the room upstairs, Torneski switched off the heating and lights and listened to the girl leave. She laughed a cruel little laugh as if she had played a malicious joke that could not fail to work, as she descended the stairs and switched out the lights in the hall before then departing.
According to the on-screen timer, Udi knew that it was at this point that the interference had suddenly ended, and he was no wiser as to the source. He wasn’t to know that at that point Svetlana had depressed the same stop key on the Walkman as the officer had, but she had kept it held down for several seconds.
Udi stopped the program and removed the disc, placing it in its clear plastic case and tore off the sheet of paper from the pad, folding it and placing it inside the case also. His problem now was one of sounding plausible when he handed over the disk, because he certainly couldn’t mention an illegal bottle of beer had played a large part in his original actions. He had to come up with a story about suspecting the loyalties of his immediate colleagues and line managers. He had no friends at the centre and felt only a momentary twinge of conscience at the thought of casting aspersions on their integrity, and the longer he stared at the monitor the more credible that line seemed to him.
Pulling on his topcoat and slipping the disk in its case inside a pocket on the jacket beneath, Udi decided he would blame paranoia on his actions when he presented the disk to his department chief, and the time to do that was right now.