The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt by Sarah Armstrong

Author:Sarah Armstrong
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd
Published: 2018-11-21T16:00:00+00:00

16

I woke up to banging on the door. I looked down at the clothes I’d fallen asleep in. Too late to change now.

I opened the door to Pyotr. He tapped his watch. I mimed brushing my teeth, and rushed quickly to use the toilet and do that.

We went down in the lift, and the sudden jolting did my stomach no favours. I wished I’d taken the stairs. I got into the car and closed my eyes. When I opened them, Emily was waiting for me outside the embassy. I had a sudden urge to fake illness and make Pyotr take me home. Instead, I got out of the car.

Emily looked me up and down. ‘Martha, dear.’

‘Emily, I’m not feeling very well but, as I don’t have a phone, I couldn’t let you know. Can we rearrange?’

Emily shook her head. ‘No. This way.’

We went through the embassy, past people and doors, until we reached a sitting room with two armchairs facing each other, angled away from the windows. There was music coming from a small record player on a shelf in front of the window. On an octagonal table was a teapot, small triangular sandwiches and a two-tier cake stand with jam tarts.

Emily gestured for me to sit in one chair. She sat in the other and poured the tea.

‘So, Martha, we finally get to have a chat.’

I smiled and took my teacup from her. I had no idea where this was going.

‘Alison has told me that you asked for Sandra’s address.’

I frowned. ‘Yes?’

‘After the picnic, I thought it might be a good time to review our little rules. Because I feel that you were somehow missed in the process. After all, you didn’t take up my invitation. People assumed that, your father being who he is, you would understand how this works.’

My father being who he is. My father, frequenter of GCHQ. These people knew who he was. I tried to keep my face steady, but Emily realised she’d strayed from her intention to be authoritative and set an example.

‘Let’s take Sandra,’ she said, moving quickly on. ‘A very bright and interesting girl, it is certain, but recently her desire for knowledge has led her to some tricky subjects. And dubious friends. The problem is, dear, as I’m sure you’ll appreciate, that friends make demands on one. Often, they don’t even realise it themselves. And friends from different cultures, well, their intentions are always harder to read somehow. Yet, by the fact of being friends, we give ourselves up to pleasing them, without meaning to. Sandra needs to come back to us.’

I sipped my tea.

‘And we thought about you, dear. You’re bright and interesting, like Sandra, and you seemed to get on very well.’

She raised her eyebrows, and I nodded.

‘So, we’d like you to spend some time with her. She has odd ideas, and we don’t mind that, but we need to keep her focused on the West.’

‘I don’t feel very comfortable being instructed to be friends for your sake, Emily.

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