>Opening up the door, Leo said, "Zenya, come in, >come in. Almost didn't recognize you in civvies."
>"Civvies?" Zenya asked, surveying Leo's apartment.
>"Civilian clothes." Leo replied, as he watched her >move towards the living room. "Can I get you >anything?"
"Anything, as long as its at least a hundred proof."
"Vodka, or is that a terrible ethnic stereotype," Leo asked, grinning.
"It's a terrible ethnic stereotype that happens to be perfectly accurate," Zenya said.
While Leo disappeared into the kitchen, Zenya sat down on the sofa. She suddenly felt very awkward, the fact that she was having to turn to someone else to discover details of her own life history really sinking in for the first time. The more she thought about the fact that in those last days there had been people watching the family, the more she resented it, and the only place she could think to lay the blame was with her father, exactly what she had always feared would happen. It was his choice to turn international intrigue into a game, his ego that made him think he could emerge as the winner, his family that had paid the price.
Then there was Leo. Whatever history he had with Docker, Zenya had no doubt that it was no more pleasant than her own. She had seen his reactions, when the name was first mentioned and then when Docker showed up. Leo was no more inclined to talk about his past than Zenya was, and she could respect and understand that. She felt guilty for pushing him into talking about this.
Leo returned and held up a bottle. "No problem that can't be solved, right," he said, recalling their conversation at the cabin. Had it only been a couple of nights ago? He put a glass in Zenya's hand and the bottle on the table before taking a seat next to her.
"Thank you," Zenya said. She contemplated the liquid in the glass for a moment, took a sip, set it down. "Nice place," she said, looking around, "but I would have expected a little more clutter."
"Thanks. I think. I try not to let it get too out of control around here."
Zenya laughed and relaxed a little. She hadn't missed the corner of a newspaper sticking out from under the sofa, and she was secretly pleased that he had gone to the trouble for her sake. "Personally, I think a little controlled chaos is good for the soul," she said.
-----
[Georgetown, December 1984]
"Hurry up! She'll be here any minute!" Boris ducked back into his bedroom with the stack of books he'd gathered off the dining room table.
Irina, just seven years old at the time, sat on the floor in everyone's way playing with an old rag doll, while the rest of the family, caught up in Boris' excitement, pitched in to remove any sign that the house was actually lived in. Even their father helped out, if his idea of helping was taking his newspaper and retreating to his study.
"It's not like she hasn't been here before, Borya," Zenya called after him.
"I know. But it's been over a year. Do I look all right?"
"Come out here so I can see you, and I'll tell you." When he didn't appear right away, Zenya shrugged and went back to sweeping the floor. "You know, you're trying to hard. Just relax and be yourself."
"That's easy for you to say. Your entire life isn't riding on the next five minutes! She'll be here in five minutes!"
Zenya snorted. "Right. What are you going to do? Propose?"
Boris returned to living room and did a quick turn, showing off his new shirt. Zenya thought it was the most hideous thing she had ever seen, but telling him that would mean setting off another whirlwind. "I might," he said.
Zenya looked over at Irina. Their little sister could hold on to a secret like a sieve holds water. "Irya, go play in your room for a while."
"I don't want to."
"Go!" The little girl got up and stomped out of the room. "Do Mom and Dad know about this?"
"Why would I tell them?" Boris picked up the ashtray next to their father's chair and put it, cigar butts and all, in the bottom drawer of the china hutch.
"Well, it's kind of a big deal. What about college?"
"A lot of schools have housing for married students. Do we have any air freshener?"
"Bathroom closet. You know that." Zenya swept the dirt under the rug by the front door and stashed the broom in the back of the coat closet. "Does Lydia know about any of this? I mean, she's been back in Leningrad for a year. She might have"
"Met someone? We've been writing. She hasn't."
Zenya had a sinking feeling. One way or another, she just knew that it was never going to happen. "Whatever you do, you know I'm behind you. Just, don't get your hopes up, okay?"
-----
[Leo's apartment]
"Zenya?"
As she became aware of her surroundings again, Zenya forced a smile. "Izveni. Sorry. Guess I drifted away for a minute." She picked up her glass and drained it. Pouring another one so soon wouldn't look too good, so she just held the empty glass, turned it, studied it, pondering how to begin the conversation.
"Why don't you tell me what you know," Leo said. "Then I'll fill in the blanks where I can."
Zenya stared at him for a long moment. Listening was one thing, but talking about all of this was quite another. Finally, she nodded slowly. "All right, but where do I begin? We never really knew who's side my father was on. His own, I suppose. His job was to get close to people in power, and if he had to sell a few worthless secrets to get to them, so be it. I don't think he stopped there, though. He never came right out and said it, but he loved to talk, and he hinted at it repeatedly. My family's defection, whether it was a political ploy or a political statement, I don't know. I do know that he had a contact, someone very high up in the military, someone he met perhaps a few months before"
Leo took the glass out of her hands and filled it before passing it back. Zenya smiled gratefully and searched his face for some reaction to what she had said. What would he think? Was all of this familiar to him, or would he question her loyalty based on her father's crimes? She found nothing but calm acceptance.
"I think that was the first time I ever saw him truly frightened," she said. "I never knew why."
Leo chewed over this piece of information in his mind as he got up to retrieve the file he had stowed away in his bedroom. Hoping that he didn't accidentally "store" it away during his attempt to clean up the apartment, he looked around the room, trying to remember where he had left it.
"Well, whatever secrets he was able to tell, it had caught the ear of someone VERY high up in the DOD." He called from the bedroom, finally able to find it on the floor next to the closet. "We were called in to protect you by a certain general with more than one star on him."
As he re-entered the living room, he saw that Zenya seemed to be hanging on his every word. Then he realized that she knew not much more about this than he did, or than whatever he was able to glean from his team's background check into the family. Sitting back down on the sofa, he handed over the thick case- file of the Gorky surveillance to Zenya.
"This is all the info that we were able to gather on your father's activities before and after the family's defection to the states." he said as she started to pore over the various documents stored within. "It seemed as though his information made him enemies on both sides of the Atlantic. There were several assassins from Russia and the U.S. that were, um... neutralized during our surveillance."
All of a sudden, Zenya's eyes widened as she stared at the newspaper clipping of a seemingly innocent traffic accident that occured outside of one of the area malls. "I remember this, I was with my younger sister ....
**********
[The D.C. Mall, Late August, 1984]
Leo wasn't much for malls, never liked it and pretty much thought that he never would. Growing up in Derry, it was weird enough without hanging out at the local mall there. As he shadowed the sisters making their way through the crowded mall, he padded his jacket to make sure that his automatic (w/silencer attached) didn't fall out. With this being his first job with the military, he didn't want to be responsible for messing up. So, keeping a casual distance away from the girls, he kept scanning the area for any would-be killers or kidnappers that might have the guts for an attempt.
Before he knew it, he was almost on top of the two girls, the younger one seemed to be fussing over wanting to buy something as the older one ("Her name is Zenya... at least I think that's it." Leo thought to himself. "Some weird sounding name like that.") was starting to look a little exasperated with her little sister. One of those "Why me?" looks crossed her face as she explained something to the younger one in Russian. Leo smiled as he passed them by, only to stop further down as he watched them in the glass of a men's clothing shop.
A few moments (and a double-scoop ice cream cone) later, the sisters made their way out of the mall. Leo made sure they were well in sight as they seemed to be waiting for someone to pick them up. Making his way across the roadway, he noticed a car down the street just idling. A minute later, the car started to take off towards the point where the sisters were standing. As the car got closer, the little one gave out a shriek of fear as the older one could only stare at the car bearing down on them. At that moment, Leo had his automatic out and squeezed off two shots. One blew out the front left tire as the other ricocheted off of the ground near the rear left tire. Losing control of the car, the driver careened the car into the parking lot smashing the car into a row of parked cars.
Leo made his way towards the girls after reholstering his gun and calling the squad on his cell phone to get the would-be assailant.
"Are the two of you alright?" Leo asked the girls, the younger one shaking as she clutched the leg of the older one.
"Umm.. yes." the older one answered, obviously shaken from what had just happened. "We are fine. Thank you."
"Don't worry about that mess. I've called the authorities and they'll be here in a bit." Leo said, with as calming a smile as he could muster. "Why don't the both of you go back inside to wait for whoever is going to pick you up and I'll explain to the authorities what happened?"
The older one looked down at the younger sister who was still clutching at her leg. Then she looked up at Leo and nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. Thanks again." Then she turned around and led her younger sister back into the mall.
Leo turned back towards the wrecked car and walked over. Seeing the man inside unconscious, he looked around to see if his squad would be there soon. Leaving them in the mall unprotected made him nervous, but this person was the best chance they had at finding out who was after Gorky. Seeing an ambulance and police car coming down the street, Leo backed away and stood a few cars away from the accident scene. Neither he, nor anyone from the rest of his squad, saw the driver again.
***********
"That was you?" Zenya questioned with a smile.
Leo nodded with a smile. "Yes, that was me. Of course, I was younger then, with a mustache and longer hair."
Zenya mused at the picture of a younger Leo in her mind. "Actually, I thought that you were kinda cute back then. Then again, I was just seventeen." she said with a little laugh.
Leo blushed a little. "Gee, thanks, I think. Your Flattery is much too kind." he said, rolling his eyes.
Zenya, catching the blush, turned back towards the file in her hand trying to hide a blush of her own. Studying the file more, it seemed as though the family bank account grew in spurts as sudden cash influxes occured. Scanning towards the back of the file, she saw Docker's swiss bank account also grew suddenly after the day of the explosion. Unfortunately, they weren't able to trace where the originating account came from since it closed the day the transfer was made. Seeing the date of the printout, it was sometime in mid-1995.
"Why were you investigating Docker's bank accounts in 1995?" Zenya asked.
"That was when we were gathering evidence to use against him during his court-martial." Leo said. "There was an incident where Docker messed up and gave our team the wrong coordinates for a bombing run on a supposed drug-cartel headquarters. A small village of innocent men, women, and children were destroyed instead. He escaped before we could carry out his sentence for that "mistake". We've been trying to track him down ever since."
Leo stopped for a moment, thinking about something before he added, "It wasn't until later that we found out that it wasn't a mistake that the village was destroyed. He was working for the cartel when we were assigned to take them out. Another thing we found out a bit later, Docker was hired by a group from within the U.S. to take care of your family. As to who this group is, or was, we weren't able to track down. But, if Docker's around, he may still be working for this same group, at least that's what I think."
Zenya stared at Leo for a moment or two. "Has he no sense of honor? What kind of an animal is he?"
"Honor is the last thing I'd accuse Docker of having." Leo said, getting up and headed off into the kitchen. The microwave clock showed that they had been talking for close to 2 hours. "I'm hungry, what do you say we get something delivered?"
Zenya got up to stretch for a while and said, "That sounds great. I didn't realize that we've been talking for so long. I'm famished."
Leo looked at the menus he had accumulated during his time in D.C. and called out, "So, what would you like to eat? We've got pizza, pizza, pizza, chinese, japanese, pizza or pizza."
Zenya looked back towards the kitchen with a raised eyebrow, "Hmm... with all those choices, I can't decide." She chuckled as she scanned the rows of pics that Leo had on his shelf. "I have a feeling it's going to be a long night, why not get a couple of pizzas. Extra pepperoni on mine." Her gaze settled on a photo of Leo in jeans and a pullover, with a woman and little girl in matching sundresses. Looking over towards the kitchen and seeing Leo ordering dinner over the phone, Zenya wondered to herself who those women were. Looking closer at the picture, she noticed Leo wearing something that he has never worn ever since that first day when they were first assigned to Zulu..... a wedding ring.