Requiem For a Glass Heart (30 page)

Cate looked down again, studying her drink, hoping she would convey a feeling of awkwardness with Irina’s line of questioning.

Irina was quick to read the signs and changed the subject.

“Do you have a university education?” she asked.

Another surprise question.

“I have a degree in English literature.”

“You wanted to teach?”

“No, I didn’t get a teaching certificate.”

“Really? Why?”

Cate shrugged. “I should have. It was a mistake.”

“You studied Russian writers?”

“Some, yeah.”

“Who? Dostoevski? Tolstoy?”

“Right. And Gogol and Chekhov. Some others.”

“Of course. That’s all anybody remembers.” Irina looked away to the lighted courtyard and sighed heavily.

Cate could not stop looking at her, marveling that after all the woman had been through, none of her agonies were reflected in her unlined face. It hardly seemed possible that the things Ometov had described could have happened to this person.

But Irina seemed oblivious to Cate’s scrutiny. She stared out at the courtyard, the drink balanced on her long thigh, her thoughts seeming to have taken her far away.

“Have you been here before?” Cate asked. “I mean, to the U.S.?” As soon as the words were out they seemed stupid.

Irina turned back to her and smiled, perhaps at the obvious question, perhaps at old memories.

“Actually, yes. A long time ago. During my university days.”

“Really? And what did you study?”

“Art history. But like you, I didn’t use my degree.”

“Why?”

“Because I was a fool,” Irina said. “A bloody fool.” She drank from her glass.

Cate had been standing, but now she moved to one of the armchairs and sat down, her feet together on the floor, her forearms on her knees as she held her drink.

“You wonder, though,” she said, “if you’d really do it any differently if you had it all to do over again. I mean, if you were just as innocent as the first time, if you were still just as inexperienced … if nothing was different …”

“That is an old, stale line of questioning,” Irina said. “You shouldn’t waste a moment of your life with it.”

“Maybe,” Cate said tentatively, “maybe that’s easier for you to say than it is for some other people. Look at you. You’re beautiful, you travel all over the world. You’ve probably met a lot of men who could make you happy.”

Irina stared at Cate, her immaculate face caught in a moment of apparent quandary, as though she were conflicted as to how to react to Cate’s candid, if naive, remark.

“You haven’t found a man who could make you happy?” she asked.

“I’m divorced,” Cate said, surprising herself at her response.

There was a pause.

“I see.” Irina nodded. “And now you find diversions with men like Valentin.”

“Something like that.” “Yes, I know.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment, and Cate felt a little flustered at the unexpected turn the conversation had taken. Irina seemed immediately to sympathize with her, albeit with a kind of cold, reserved sympathy. Still, there was no denying that a spark of kindred nature had flown between them. And then, just as suddenly, it was gone.

“Is Houston your home?” Irina asked abruptly.

“Yeah, well, it has been for eight years.”

“Good. Tomorrow I have to go shopping for clothes. Where do you recommend?”

“For suits like the one you’re wearing? I’d suggest Paris, maybe London.”

Irina smiled. “Okay, but what about here?”

“I know some very nice places.”

There was an awkward pause.

“Fine,” Irina said, another small, slow smile crossing her face. “Do you suppose you could spare the time to take me to a few of them?”

“I think so,” Cate said. “Sure. I’d love to.”

“I
NCREDIBLE,”
A
NN SAID, TAKING OFF HER HEADPHONES AND
falling back in her chair. “Incredible luck.”

Erika, sitting across the table from her, removed her headphones as well, leaving them hanging around her neck. But she was not so ebullient. Hain and Ometov exchanged glances and waited to get the two women’s reactions.

“It was too easy,” Erika said.

“Maybe,” Ann conceded, rubbing her eyes, “but all the same, I thought Gate handled it like a pro.” She leaned forward again and pressed a radio toggle. “Neil, how’d it go?”

As soon as they had picked up Irina’s voice at Cate’s door, Jernigan’s tech team, which had been waiting for such an opportunity, had gone straight to Irina’s suite to install listening devices. Jernigan was still there.

“They installed a few,” Jernigan said, “dropped a couple in each room. Nothing sophisticated. The Russians’ll find them if they try.”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about that,” Ann said. “It’s the best we can do under the circumstances.”

“What you really ought to do is install a video camera in the hallway, focused on her door,” Jernigan said.

“I don’t know,” Ann said hesitantly, thinking of the expense, looking over the telephones at Hain.

“It only has to pay off once,” Jernigan said.

“Neil,” Hain said, changing the subject, “you still don’t have an inkling about Krupatin?”

“Nothing.”

“What about Izvarin and Volkov?”

“Snoring away.”

“It sure as hell makes it more interesting that these two guys don’t know what Krupatin’s up to either,” Hain mused. “I wouldn’t have guessed that.”

Erika spoke up with prophetic confidence. “You are not going to see Krupatin.”

“Well, one of these people is going to see him,” Hain said.

“Irina,” Ometov said. “I have no doubt about it. If anyone will lead us to Krupatin, it will be Irina.”

“Then you definitely want to stick with her?” Hain asked.

“Definitely.”

“You want Cate to pull off of Stepanov?” Ann asked. “You want her to stay with Irina?”

“Absolutely.” Ometov was adamant. “Irina
will
be in touch with Krupatin. If Cate can stay with her, we will find our man.”

“Listen, Hain,” Jernigan came in. “We’re going to need more people. If Izvarin and Volkov decide to split up, I’m not going to be able to cover both of them. It’s going to be tight. And what about Irina? I know we’re supposed to stay clear of Cate and Stepanov, but what about when the woman’s not with Cate? Seems to me that’s when she’s most likely to meet with Krupatin.”

Hain looked at Ometov, who was already pondering that question. Slowly he began to shake his head.

“No,” he said. “Not yet, not yet. If Irina spots anything even suggesting surveillance, that will be the end of it. She has to be given breathing room from the beginning. If she successfully meets with Krupatin, then it will only give her confidence to do it again. We will have other opportunities. We have to put more faith in Cate’s position. It will be the safest way to go.”

“Okay, then that’s it,” Hain said. “And Neil, I’ll talk to Strey about more people for you.”

“Curtis,” Ann interrupted, “what about the camera?”

“Neil, have you already looked at the site?”

“Yeah. It can be done. The suite entry is just around a corner, and there’s a fur down for air-conditioning ducting on the turn. We could do it when she’s gone.”

“So her door would be nearest?”

“That’s right.”

“Okay. Go ahead with it.”

“Anything else?”

“What about the suite next to Irina’s? What’s going on there?”

“Yeah, we’ve looked at that. Two women from St. Louis. We ran checks on them. Wives of a dentist and a lawyer up there.”

“Okay. Fine.”

“Anything else?”

“One quick question, Neil,” Ann said. “Did you go to Irina’s suite yourself?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you by any chance look in her closet?”

“I did. I always check the closets.”

“Did she have a lot of clothes?”

“Actually, no. In fact there was only one dress there, and only one overnight bag. I went through the bag looking for bugs—sometimes targets will keep one attached to their bags to let them know if anyone’s been in the room, prowling around in their stuff. No bugs, but also not much of anything else. One change of underwear, stuff, some personal correspondence, a few other things.”

“But you’re sure about the one dress.”

“I didn’t see anything else.”

“Okay, great. Thanks.”

There was little else to say, and the communication ended.

Ann rubbed her hands over her face. “Okay,” she said, “we’ve got to talk to Gate and let her know what we’re thinking, that we want to concentrate on Irina.”

She looked around the room, and everyone concurred. Taking a, deep breath, she picked up the secure phone and called Stepanov’s suite. The others picked up receivers as well. Gate immediately answered.

“We’re all on line,” Ann said. “Hain, me, Leo, Erika.”

“How did that play out?” Cate asked, getting right to the point.

“Oscar nomination stuff,” Ann said. “Everybody’s pleased.”

“What did you think about her?” Erika asked immediately.

“Well, for starters, Leo, you could’ve told me the woman was an absolute knockout,” Cate said. “She’s just stunning, there’s no other word for it. She almost makes you uncomfortable. Anyway, first impressions? She’s intelligent, of course. A little … I don’t know, harder than I would have expected. She seems to have an edge to her that comes out at unexpected moments. It’s almost as though she has to watch herself to keep it under control. It seems her first impulse is to be … defensive, sharp. Then, rather as a second thought, she reins it in. She’s under control, but at the same time you can see her doing it, which, oddly, gives you the feeling that she’s not very
well
under control.”

“I think you did a good job of reading her,” Ann said. “I mean, she could have walked out of there without your having any hope of seeing her again.”

“Yeah, that whole thing surprised me,” Cate admitted. “That was lucky. Of course, nothing says she’s actually going to call me up in the morning.”

“I think she will,” Ann said, and told Cate about Jernigan’s discovery in her closet.

“I’ll be damned.” Cate’s voice reflected her surprise. “You know, I did notice that although her suit was obviously expensive, it was also not fresh-looking. I mean, it looked like she’d worn it a long time—really wrinkled across the lap, under the arms.”

“Yes, yes, I think so,” Erika said quickly, as if confirming her own thoughts. “She’s been traveling a long time, and in a hurry.”

“And maybe this trip was unexpected,” Ann added. “Anyway, Cate, Leo has some thoughts about how to handle her.”

“Yes, Catherine,” Ometov said. “We have talked a good deal about this, about Irina’s presence here. This is quite unusual—extraordinary, really. Because of her special relationship to Krupatin, we now believe that she is critical to the situation that is developing here. I have no doubts whatsoever that if Krupatin eventually shows himself, it will be through contact with Irina, not one of the others. So you see, you are
now in a very important position for us, a unique position. You have an incredible opportunity.”

He paused, but Cate said nothing. Ometov glanced at Ann and Erika and continued.

“Catherine, it sounded to me as though you gained some sympathy with her. Do you feel that is so?”

“I don’t know about sympathy … I guess. I don’t feel she was particularly suspicious of me.”

“Yes, very good. But I think you should keep in mind this sympathy. That is exactly the direction you should go. Since we do not know what she is doing here, it is difficult to imagine her frame of mind. But regardless of her situation, she is going to be vulnerable to sympathy.”

“Sympathy, Leo? I’m not really clear what you’re meaning by that.”

“Whatever else she may be, Catherine, she is above all a very lonely woman. Believe me, I know this. It has been a long time since she has felt comfortable with anyone. She has lived in a very hostile world. There has been no one she can trust, no one she can spill her heart to. It is a paradox: although she has been hardened by this kind of life, she is also very vulnerable because of it, because of the isolation. Everyone has limits to loneliness. She is starved for friendship, for simple kindness. But she will be on her guard. Do not let her see you take notice of this. Do not acknowledge it. Just be open with her, not overeager. Be honest with her. She will recognize this. She is very astute.”

“This is a most difficult thing we are asking you to do,” Erika said. “That is, to get her to come to you. It takes a lot of patience, but I agree with Leo that that is the only way to get to her. We have to remember, she ran away from Krupatin. Now she is traveling with him. Or traveling for him—we don’t know, but somehow she is connected to him again, and we know she doesn’t want to be. This suggests she is doing it under … what, force?”

“Duress,” Ann said.

“Yes, duress.”

“Her daughter,” Cate said. “Stepanov was talking about Krupatin’s taking away her daughter. Maybe he’s holding the child hostage.”

“Yes, I would guess that too,” Erika confirmed. “We have not talked about that here, but this is a good possibility. It is a
standard
mafiya
form of coercion. Whatever she is doing for, or with, Krupatin, she is doing it against her will.”

“Catherine, I agree, definitely,” Ometov added. “You might be exactly right about the little girl. You should keep in mind, if this is indeed true, that this can be good or bad as far as you are concerned. It means that she will do anything to keep the child alive. This kind of coercion leads to desperation. She will do radical things. Your assessment that she seems to be conflicted is an excellent psychological reading. You must become a part of that conflict. Let her see a chance to use you.”

“This isn’t going to be easy to do,” Ann said. “This woman’s been through a hell of a lot, probably seen all kinds of shit. She’s probably paranoid. If her psychology’s not royally screwed up, I’d be surprised. It could get a little weird for you.”

“Weird, I’ll tell you who’s weird,” Cate said. “Izvarin and Volkov. I don’t know about those two.”

“Cate,” Hain said. “Listen, you need to let Stepanov know that those two guys are armed now. A TEC-9 and a Smith & Wesson 659 each.”

“Any more about them?”

“No. We’re still flying without instruments here. We just don’t know what’s up.”

“So Irina is our top priority now,” Cate reconfirmed. “I’m supposed to concentrate on her?”

“Until Krupatin arrives, or until we find out where he is and what he’s doing.”

“The bedroom will remain safe?”

“Right, we’ll sweep it regularly. Jernigan’s got guys in the hotel who are going to do that. You can always talk freely in there.”

“And the telephone?”

“It’ll be safe too. Just the one in the bedroom.”

There was a pause, and then Cate said, “These people— Izvarin, Volkov, Irina—they don’t have any idea they’re being watched?”

“We’re being very circumspect,” Hain said. “We’re waiting for the big guy. We’re not going to give ourselves away. They’re keeping their eyes open, and they may spot something. These guys are old cold warriors. They expect to be watched when they’re in this country.”

“There’s no one else in the picture here?” Gate asked. “Maybe more of their people we haven’t identified yet?”

“Unfortunately, we don’t know for sure,” Ann said. “But no one else has popped up yet.”

“Yet,” Gate said.

“How are you feeling about it now?” Erika asked. “Is this going the way you expected?”

“In general, I guess so.”

“And in particular?” Ann asked.

“Nothing in particular, really. I’m just ready to get on with it.”

“Don’t be too eager,” Erika said. “Let it all come to you.”

“You’re doing great,” Ann said. “Just keep it up.”

“Cate,” Erika said, “you will be okay. Have faith in your instincts.”