Natalia felt completely alone and frighteningly vulnerable, without any indication of what or who she was going to confront. At this moment – this very last moment – the precautions she’d attempted, working blind, always having to guess where and how Tudin’s attack might come, seemed woefully inadequate.
A man was waiting to receive her in an ante-room, gesturing her at once towards high, divided double doors. Natalia was disorientated the moment she entered. She had expected an office, with maybe just Lestov or Tudin waiting inside. Instead she walked into a small conference room already arranged as an examining tribunal. There was a table across the end of the room. Lestov sat in the centre, flanked by his two immediate deputies, Vladimir Melnik and Nikolai Abialiev. A bank of tables to the left already harboured a recording secretariat of three men and two women. There were two rows of chairs facing the three blank-faced members of the committee. Fyodor Tudin was already occuping a seat in the first row, on the left. Eduard was directly behind. Mikhail Kapitsa was in the same row, but separated from Eduard by two empty chairs. Also in that row sat a third man whom Natalia did not know.
Her escort indicated the chairs to the right, separated from the others by a central aisle. Mustn’t become disorientated, confused by the unexpected! she told herself. She’d make mistakes if she let this tribunal hearing unsettle her. No reason why she should be unsettled. Her original KGB training had been as an interrogator, accustomed daily to being faced during debriefings with situations for which there had been no primer or rehearsal. It was at one such session that she’d met Charlie Muffin for the first time!
As she reached her designated place, Lestov said: ‘This is a preliminary disciplinary examination, of complaints from Fyodor Ivanovich Tudin, under regulations governing the security service of the Russian Federation. If those complaints are found to be justified they will be laid before a full tribunal hearing. Any such findings will in no way interfere with quite separate criminal charges that might be considered appropriate by the Federal Prosecutor.’
Tudin, the outdated traditionalist who only knew well trodden routes, had moved as she’d anticipated, pursuing her through the organization’s regulations first! Natalia felt a surge of relief. There was still a lot more she had to understand and perhaps prepare herself against.
When she did not respond Lestov said: ‘Do you fully understand what I have said? Why you have been brought before us?’
‘Absolutely.’ She didn’t welcome the irritation in his voice. Natalia came slightly forward, concentrating entirely upon the chairman, needing his attention, which at that moment was upon the documents laid out before him. Natalia supposed she had either met him formally or been in his presence among others on about four or five occasions since their respective appointments. It had been Lestov who officially confirmed her as chairman of the external directorate. He was an inconspicuous, undistinguished man who nevertheless conveyed an impression of the authority he clearly possessed. Head-bent as he was, the thinning hair was more obvious than she could remember from their previous encounters. He was not a career intelligence officer. At one time in the turmoil of fledgeling Russian democracy, which still didn’t properly exist, Lestov had served as Interior Minister, but had been dismissed because he was considered too liberal. Natalia hoped the charge had been true. Not having expected an investigating panel she certainly hadn’t prepared herself for the sort of prosecution that was clearly intended.
At that moment, fortunately, Lestov came up from his papers, looking enquiringly at her.
‘Will I have the opportunity to question the accusations I am going to face?’
Lestov went briefly to the men on either side of him. ‘Within limits. There is no reason for this to be a protracted examination.’
Already judged guilty, decided Natalia, worriedly.
At Lestov’s nod, Tudin hurried to his feet. The man was more florid-faced than usual, and Natalia guessed at a combination of nervous excitement at appearing before his ultimate superiors at last to destroy her, and an excess of alcohol in premature celebration. He’d dressed for the occasion. His suit was immaculate and there was the pose of a man in command in the way he was standing. Twisted sideways, Natalia could easily see Eduard as well. He wore the same clothes as in the detention cell and they were creased, but he was clean-shaven and the near shoulder-length hair was no longer lank and greasy, so he’d been allowed to shower. His belongings had been returned to him. As well as the earring she had seen there was a heavy gold watch on his left wrist and a gold identity chain on the other. There were two rings on his left hand, one dominated by a large purplish-red stone, and one on his right: from where she sat it seemed to be in the shape of a face or a mask. The dishevelled Mikhail Kapitsa, deprived by the formality of the proceedings of the habitual cigarette, was blinking rapidly and frequently brought his hands to his face, as if troubled by an irritation. His frowning look towards her was one of confused bewilderment.
Tudin avoided any flamboyant speech or mannerisms: his attitude was practically the opposite, an address delivered in a flat, sometimes almost boring monotone, with few hand or body movements. He listed precisely by their subheadings and numbers the regulations governing the Agency under which he was bringing the accusations, which he summarized as abuse of power and condoning corruption. In addition he itemized the criminal statutes he contended Natalia had broken.
The man quickly sketched Eduard’s youth at Moscow University before gaining a junior officer’s commission in the Russian army which had ended with the scale-down of the military.
‘Returning to Moscow he became a criminal, joining a recognized Mafia syndicate known as the Lubertsy,’ declared Tudin. ‘He told his criminal associates – as he will tell you here today – that he was in a particularly privileged position. His mother was a high-ranking official in the State’s security service. Her rank and influence put him beyond the law. If he were ever unlucky enough to get arrested, he could call upon his mother to intercede to prevent any prosecution or conviction …’
Tudin paused, and despite his control the man was unable to avoid darting a satisfied look between mother and son.
‘An arrest did happen, through brilliant detective work by Militia Investigator Mikhail Stepanovich Kapitsa, who will also testify before you today …’ Tudin turned quickly, identifying the detective with a hand gesture. ‘… Eduard Igovevich Fedova was seized, with eight other members of a gang of which he was the leader, in possession of narcotic and medical drugs and a considerable amount of black market material. Fedova’s first action was to offer Investigator Kapitsa a substantial bribe. Which Kapitsa of course refused. At that point, Fedova identified his mother. He told Investigator Kapitsa it was quite pointless the man attempting any sort of criminal prosecution: that his mother would prevent it. And he demanded to see her …’
Tudin coughed, his voice becoming strained, but also wanting the minimal pause, for effect. Looking directly up at the assembled committee, he said: ‘Natalia Nikandrova Fedova was contacted on the eighteenth of this month. Within an hour of a telephone conversation between her and Investigator Kapitsa, she arrived at Militia headquarters at Petrovka, to do exactly what her son had always insisted she would do, intercede upon his behalf to block any prosecution against him.’
It was impressive and convincing and Natalia felt a dip of uncertainty. There was no protest she could make, but the whole balance of the inquiry was unfair, weighted against her. Realizing he had finished, Natalia said quickly: ‘I would like to ask Colonel Tudin some questions.’