A Patriot in Berlin by Read Piers Paul;

Author:Read, Piers Paul;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller
Published: 2017-03-19T16:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Francesca McDermott, who had been a junior squash champion in Madison, Wisconsin, and a member of the women’s team at Harvard, anticipated that her skill might make up for a man’s natural advantages when playing Andrei Serotkin. So it proved in the first couple of games. He was good but she was better, or so she thought.

In the third game, her presuppositions were shaken by a defeat. Francesca was puzzled. She could not quite make out what had gone wrong. Perhaps unconsciously she had been unwilling to humiliate the man she loved by winning three games in a row. She tried harder in the fourth game and won. She tried equally hard in the fifth game and was beaten. It was only then that she realized that Serotkin far outclassed her. He had been playing with her like a cat with a mouse, letting her win only when he chose to do so.

‘My God, Andrei,’ she said, panting, ‘this just isn’t fair. You must have played in the Soviet team.’

‘No.’

‘So where did you learn to play like that?’

‘There were courts at the ministry. And in Washington, of course.’

‘You were at Washington? You never told me that.’

His expression did not change. ‘Briefly, in the embassy. I stood in for the cultural attaché.’

‘No wonder your English is so good.’

Francesca thought no more of it. As Stefi had once pointed out, Russians had learned the hard way the importance of keeping themselves to themselves. She knew she was only going to get to know Serotkin little by little, and she did not want to jeopardize these friendly meetings by appearing too inquisitive.

Francesca also recognized that a measure of mystery was a necessary ingredient in love, and she was in love: there was no question about that. When Andrei Serotkin entered the room, her heart lifted; when he left it, her heart sank for the few moments it took to conjure him up once again in her imagination. That they were not lovers did not dishearten her while the exhibition brought them together every day, and while she felt confident that his feelings, although undeclared, were nevertheless engaged.

The games of squash were the proof. Andrei had suggested them, and he seemed to enjoy the opportunity they provided to compete with Francesca and win. She had known competitive men before, and she had known some who had appreciated her ability to give them a good run for their money. All sports bind players together with the mixed strands of rivalry and friendship. With Andrei, however, the games seemed to be more than a game, and the objective was not just to win. It was as if he felt challenged by her in ways that possibly he did not fully understand, and that he must establish not just that he could beat her, but that he could tease her and manipulate her – physically in the squash court, intellectually in the office.

Francesca always rose to the bait. Her mind was out of kilter with her emotions

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