A lean man in his late thirties entered his office. Vladimir was Smirnov’s assistant for overseas clandestine operations and the man who was personally involved in the kidnapping Gunter’s wife.
“Hello, boss,” he said and remained standing by the door.
“Take a seat.”
“OK.”
“There’s bad news. Arctic Wargame failed. We need to pull the plug.”
“OK.”
One of the reasons why Smirnov loved Vladimir’s work was his complete disinterest in the motives. When he was told to do something, he got it done, no questions asked.
“Yuliya Novikov has become a problem to this office and to our country,” Smirnov said.
“Shall we eliminate her?”
“She is most likely dead or out of the game. I need you to contact her family. Inform them in clear terms that if Yuliya is alive and starts singing, unfortunate events may take place in their lives.”
Vladimir nodded.
“If Yuliya is alive,” Smirnov said, “she’s probably in Canadian custody and highly protected. Difficult for us to put a hit on her. But we can ruin her reputation here, so if she says anything, no one will ever believe her. You know what to do.”
Vladimir nodded.
“Next issue, Helma. Can she make you or the other men?”
“No, she can’t.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. We wore masks when we grabbed her and she was blindfolded most of the time.”
“She can recognize your voice?”
“Never talked to her.”
“The voices of the other man?”
“Perhaps. But they entered Denmark as tourists and ran into her at a market center. That’s not much evidence.”
Smirnov frowned and thought about Vladimir’s words for a few seconds. “It’s still evidence. If the Danes or the Canadians begin to connect the dots, I don’t want anything tying those men to you or me.”
“Shall we eliminate them?”
Smirnov nodded. “Unfortunately, we have to.”
Vladimir’s face remained void of emotions.
“Clean up the apartment where you held her. Fingerprints, DNA, sanitize everything. Then, let her go.”
Vladimir’s left eyebrow curled up.
“Yes, I don’t want her killed. The minister is on my tail and the Danish are already asking questions. No more dead civilians.”
Vladimir nodded.
“Once you’re done with that, delete all files, communications, reports, any trace we had anything to do with the Arctic Wargame. Burn it all up.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
“Any questions?”
“Just one.”
“Yes?”
“What did we do wrong?”
“We, you and I, we did nothing wrong. The people we selected for this operation, they failed us. They let us down. They were unprepared or performed miserably. I’ve learned the Canadians mounted a great resistance. Maybe we should have had a larger force carry out the attack.” Smirnov paused and took a big breath. “In any case, this operation confirmed our initial suspicions. We can slip through their defenses with ease, but the Canadians are tougher than they seem. Next time, we’ll just use a sledgehammer approach. We’ll go in with professionals.”
“Yes, boss.”
“That’s all.” Smirnov nodded toward the door. “Get it done.”
“Right away, boss.”
Epilogue
The doctors had spent a lot of time to convince Carrie she was not ready to walk the five blocks from her apartment to the closest bus stop. They also prohibited her from driving her Nissan to work until the end of her six-week recovery period. Since her discharge from the Montfort Hospital two weeks ago, Justin had been taking Carrie to run errands, to the mall and grocery stores, to movies theatres and restaurants. On crutches, Carrie managed light chores around the house. Today, six weeks after the Arctic events, they were both on their way to the CIS headquarters on the outskirts of Ottawa.
“Tell me, how did your date go last night?” Carrie asked.
Justin, who was driving her blue Nissan, zoomed through an intersection, as the traffic light switched from amber to red. “What date?”
“The one with Anna, genius.”
“Oh, that one. Why do you want to know?”
“I’m a curious girl, but save me the gross details, if there were any… were there any?”
Justin frowned but did not look at her.
“I’m kidding, relax. I just want to make sure things are going well between you two.”
“Things are going well. Satisfied?”
“How well?”
“Obviously not satisfied.” He sighed. “It’s only our third date. She’s sweet, and we have many common interests. I’m enjoying the time I’m spending with Anna.”
“Is it like… like when we went out?”
“Oh, is this what you’re fishing for, comparisons with the past?”
“Take it easy. That’s not what I’m after.”
“OK, tell me what exactly are you after?”
“I want to make sure she’s getting the best of you, that part of you so often invested in work, research, or anything else but the girl. Anna deserves all your passion, your desires, your understanding. Even that part of you I never got.”
Justin’s frown melted, as Carrie’s voice became softer. “Justin, you and Anna will make a great couple. Please, make sure you don’t allow work to get in the way.”
“Work is exactly what brought us together, and I will not let it pull us apart.”
“If that starts to happen, I’ll come and scream at you ‘what the hell are you doing?’” Carrie said with a big smile.
“Yes, please do that.”
“I will. I wish someone would have done it for us, but they didn’t, and I can’t change the past. But I can help you plan the wedding and name your babies.”
“Whoa, whoa, hold on there. Aren’t we rushing things here just a little bit? Wedding? Babies? We’ve gone out only three times!”
“Hey, it’s never too early to plan who’s going to be your kids’ godmother. And now thanks to me, you’ve got one less thing to worry about. I’ll let you and Anna take care of the rest.”
“Gee, thanks. I’ll let you know if I need more of this kind of help.”
“Look, that’s… isn’t that Nick there?” Carrie pointed at a black sedan to their right. “No, I guess it’s not.”
“Nice change of subject, but thanks for changing it. Are you ready for today’s meeting?”
“I’ve been ready two weeks ago. I told the surgeon at Montfort to give me a wheelchair. I could have rolled out in style through our office corridors. But he insisted I had to walk and regain control of my leg muscles.”
“Do they hurt?”
“Is the sky blue? Of course they hurt. I have to sit down every fifteen minutes, otherwise they’ll give in. But yeah, I’ll think I’m ready to face the music.”
No bagpipes were waiting for their arrival at the CIS headquarters, and no red carpet was rolled out for them. In fact, Carrie humbly submitted her aluminum crutches to the meticulous search of two heavyset guards at the entrance. A few acquaintances nodded quick hellos. No questions asked, no explanations sought. This was an intelligence agency and their missions were secret. Only the people who needed to know learned only what they needed to know.
The elevator ride to the sixth floor was fast and quiet. Carrie winced as she shifted her weight from one leg to the other a couple of times. They came out of the elevator and made their way to the office of Ms. Claire Johnson, Director General of Intelligence for the North Africa Division.
“Welcome back, Carrie,” Johnson greeted them at the door, after Justin announced their arrival with a light knock.