Moving Targets by Sean Flannery

Author:Sean Flannery
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group
Published: 2012-04-17T00:00:00+00:00

“That was an FBI agent outside the restaurant, wasn’t it?” Tom Heller asked Toni Wagner. They were back at the Watergate apartment.

“Most likely, but you handled yourself well. You didn’t panic, that’s the important thing.”

“What was he doing there? Waiting for me?” Heller was frightened. In the old days there was always Moscow. He wasn’t so sure of that now.

“No, they’re watching Tyson.”

“They suspect him?”

Toni nodded. “But you’re safe. Even if they got a good look at you, which in the darkness and under the circumstances I don’t think happened, they won’t be able to identify you. You’ve got no record. No arrests. No military service. Nothing.”

“But what about the note I passed him? Marina Demin is dead. She can’t want to see him. I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I, Joseph. I just follow my orders like you.”

“Are you trying to turn Tyson, make him a mole for the Center? Like Kim Philby and the others?”

Toni grinned. “You’ve been watching too many spy movies.”

“Goddammit, talk to me. Tell me what’s happening:”

“No,” Toni said point-blank.

“But my life is on the line too.”

“You’re going back to Wisconsin in the morning. Your work here for us is finished. You did a good job, as usual. Don’t screw it up now.”

“But it’s been so many years out there,” Heller pleaded. “Christ, I never knew what was going on. I never knew if you’d call me again. Or if I was just forgotten. It gets lonely, goddammit. Don’t you people understand? It’s not like the old days.”

“No, it’s not like the old days,” Toni said gently. “But I’m sure that after what you’ve done for us this time, Center will be calling on you again. Very soon.”

Heller nodded. “I understand,” he said. He managed a slight smile. “You should have seen the look on his face when he finally recognized me. I thought he was going to have a heart attack.”

“Do you remember him from the old days at college?”

“Yes. He was always shooting his mouth off about how he wanted to save the world from itself, while screwing his way across campus.”

“Who was Marina Demin?”

“My wife,” Heller said.

Toni was rocked. She hadn’t known.

Heller read something of that from the expression on her face. “His biggest infatuation of all was with her.”

“What happened to her?”

“She went back to Moscow.” Heller turned away. He felt ashamed that the ache was still so strong in his heart. It had happened many years ago.

“Did you ever hear from her? You said she was dead.”

“She was killed in a car accident in Leningrad, or so I was told.”

“And that’s it? That’s all you ever heard?”

Heller looked bleakly at Toni. “That’s it,” he said, his throat constricting. Christ. Christ.

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