Watch Over Me by Susan May Warren

Author:Susan May Warren [Warren, Susan May]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SDG Publishing

Vicktor bathed a fried potato in ketchup and listened to Yanna as the tale unfolded. He remembered that first meeting so clearly, from Yanna’s terror-stricken pasty face to David’s overbearing indignation. He’d no idea a night of horror would usher him into friendships dearer than life.

“The symphony was beautiful tonight, wasn’t it?” Yanna’s bright smile had yet to lose the glow of wonder. A girl from a village wouldn’t have a hard time being awed by Moscow, he supposed. Vicktor turned up his coat collar, wondering if he’d have time to cram for his English exam, cursing himself for succumbing to his mother’s pleas.

“Yanna is new in town. She needs a friend. Take her to the Bolshoi.” Needed a babysitter was more like it.

Glancing at her now, Vicktor found it difficult to believe Yanna had been a mild-mannered village girl with a flimsy backbone.

The moon hung as a sliver of gold in the sky, surrounded by millions of winking stars. A greedy wind gusting off the Volga River snared his hat and sent it skittering over the shimmering red cobblestones toward Lenin’s Mausoleum. “Stay here,” Vicktor said as he shot out after it, his feet echoing across the square.

When he turned around, she had vanished.

“I don’t know what I was thinking, running away from Vicktor.” Yanna separated a long strand of hair and examined it, splitting it into smaller strands. Her breath came out in short bursts, unsteady. “All I knew, one minute he was there, the next, he’d disappeared.”

Vicktor’s appetite died, remembering Yanna, a crumpled mess, crying, terrified.

A scream rent the night air. Vicktor’s adrenaline spiked. “Yanna!” Where did that girl go?

“Yanna?” The Kremlin stretched out in shadow, like a phantom, hiding everything in darkness. Another scream. Vicktor bolted toward the old State Department Store on the opposite end. His breath burned in his chest.

“Roman and his American buddy David Curtiss were coming home from some kind of meeting—”

“A Bible study,” Roman interjected.

“They caught the attacker mid-grope.” Yanna’s eyes darkened as she said it.

“While I was kicking my hat around the graves of Stalin and Khrushchev, David was running down one of Moscow’s most wanted.” Vicktor’s voice was low. There were just some things a person shouldn’t be forgiven for.

“Yanna?” Vicktor found her holding tightly to a man in a suede jacket, and landed two punches before another man locked his arms behind him. Yanna’s shouts registered.

“Vicktor, stop! They’re trying to help!” She grabbed the man holding Vicktor in a vice. “Please, let him go.”

A moment later, Roman turned and decked him. “Don’t you know better than to leave a woman out alone in Moscow?” Vicktor let the indictment stand. And never forgot the lesson.

Vicktor noticed Yanna was much kinder in her explanation. Vicktor shared a look with Roman as she told it.

“Roman and David just appeared out of the night, scared the guy away and took off after him. Vicktor ran up a second later.” She flipped back her hair and spread her hands on the table. “It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

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