Nightshade by M. L. Huie

Author:M. L. Huie [Huie, M. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781643854571
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

“Gin and tonic is a very English drink, yes?”

Livy lifted her second of the night and sipped. In a place like the Gayety Buffet, she expected the liquor to be watered down, but this tasted like top-shelf gin with a mere splash of tonic. Kostin must have pull with the bartender.

“Who knows?” Livy said. “We drink vodka in England. You drink gin. Americans drink German beer. Alcohol is the great peacemaker.”

Kostin smiled and drank, but the gin burned Livy’s throat. She wanted to find a loo and vomit. She wanted to drink all night. Only one of those options was open to her.

“We have given you a code name now,” Kostin said.

“Well, I bloody well hope it’s a cracker.” The moment called for her to lay on the English charm a bit thick.

“Chaika.”

“Sorry, don’t speak the language, comrade.”

“It means seagull.”

“Ah yes. Like the Chekhov play.”

Kostin shook his head. “Prerevolution. They wouldn’t dare name it after such a work. Besides I prefer The Cherry Orchard. So tragic.”

“Never seen that one. ’Course, he’s no Shakespeare, but then who is?”

“Shakespeare is always the same. Kings. Fairies. Love gone bad. No, your greatest writer is Conan Doyle.”

Livy nearly did a spit take. “Greatest writer? Are you joking? Sherlock Holmes is nothing but an insufferable know-it-all. That whole business where he can tell what school you went to by the dirt on your shoe—what a load of rubbish. No, no, you pull out your copy of King Lear—or, even better, Hamlet—and you’ll find some real profundities there, Mister Kostin.”

The Russian took her hand. It surprised her.

“I’ve never known a woman like you, Lee-vye.”

She rolled her eyes. “Listen, luv, this is hardly the sort of place where you propose to a woman.”

“Stop. No, no, you misunderstand. Listen to me. Another drink? Yes?” He lifted two fingers to the bar.

How many other girls has he brought here? she wondered.

“This—what we are doing together now—could end very, very badly. I don’t want that to happen. That is why I had to warn you about the man that followed you. You must be careful. It is … complicated.”

“The whole bloody world’s complicated, Yuri. Been like that for years.”

The drinks appeared at the end of the bar, and Kostin brought them back to the table. He went on. “I thought that after the war it would be changed. Peacetime, yes? We could live the life we all dreamed of during the war. But there is no peace. It’s just more war. Maybe we are not killing each other in the snow. Yet. I don’t know.”

Livy recognized this moment. The confession. She could use this later. She tightened her grip on his hand.

“You’re tired, luv. We all are.”

“Sometimes I wonder if this is all we will ever really know. That the life most people live can never be ours because we are forever at war.” His shoulders sagged as he spoke, as if a literal weight pushed him down, drained his voice, and aged him.

“We’re both tired of it. Sometimes it feels like we fought the Nazis just so we could start fighting each other.

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