The Reluctant Contact by Stephen Burke

Author:Stephen Burke [Burke, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781848549210
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Published: 2017-08-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

EVER SINCE THE dramatic night at the hospital, Yuri had known this moment was coming. He was not looking forward to it, but at the same time, he did not care much about what Timur had to say on the whole business. However, he was aware that it was not a good thing to be getting so accustomed to sitting in Timur’s visitor’s chair. One of these days, questions and requests could easily turn into an interrogation, with greater consequences at stake.

Timur entered from the file room, sat in his chair and slammed his hands loudly on his desk.

‘I asked you to watch out for her,’ said the KGB man, in an angry tone. ‘And now I hear she almost died. Would you call that looking after her? I don’t think it qualifies, do you?’

Yuri had an overwhelming desire to tell him what he really thought of him. But that would have to wait for another day. For now, they both knew the balance of power was weighted in only one direction. It was also unfortunately true, what he was saying. Regardless of what role Timur had given him, he was supposed to be looking after her. He had failed. And he did feel guilty about it.

‘I saved her, actually,’ said Yuri. ‘She mightn’t still be with us, if it wasn’t for me. What do you call that?’

‘Lucky,’ said Timur. ‘For you, as well as her. Did she say why she did it?’

Yuri wondered if he really did suspect something. But he was pretty sure nothing had changed, and that Timur knew nothing more than that she was a teacher who drank too much. Whoever sent her here would not be pleased with how much attention she had drawn to herself since her arrival.

‘No,’ he replied. ‘Just winter depression, I’d say, like we all get.’

‘We don’t all try to top ourselves,’ said Timur. ‘We have never had a suicide here. She didn’t say anything about anything, beforehand I mean?’

‘No,’ said Yuri. ‘I think I might have taken notice if she had. There were no signs.’

The secret service man was clearly not impressed with his powers of observation, but he didn’t press the matter further.

‘If you don’t mind me asking, were you two having problems in your relationship?’

He did mind him asking. A lot. But an answer was unavoidable.

‘No more problems than any couple,’ replied Yuri. ‘You know how it is.’

From the confused look on Timur’s face, he apparently did not know how it was. For the first time, Yuri scanned the room looking for personal items. There was no photo of a wife or girlfriend anywhere. And since he had been in Pyramiden, Yuri had never seen him in a relationship with anyone. He doubted whether his personality was a huge attraction for the women in town. Although there was that time, a few months back, when he had spotted him at a window in Paris. That had been too late at night for an official visit. He guessed

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