“Of course. But I want the search begun at once. It has the highest priority, from the White House itself.”
“I’ll put every available person on it,” undertook Lyulin.
“But supervise it yourself. Nothing must be overlooked. And each camp must be identified in a summary of each shipment, understood?”
“Completely,” assured the man.
There was a benefit Natalia hadn’t anticipated when she got back to the ministry later that afternoon. Dmitri Nikulin’s congratulatory memorandum for the effectiveness of the previous day’s Yakutsk statement was marked as having been copied to the deputy interior minister, which forced a matching note from Viskov within thirty minutes. By which time Natalia was dictating memos of her own.
To the president’s chief of staff she wrote that the reason for the murdered Westerners being in Yakutsk could well lie in the slave colonies that existed in the vicinity at the time of their deaths and that she intended as comprehensive a check as possible of all surviving records at Lubyanka, particularly for any Western prisoners. Her deputy, Petr Travin, would be in personal charge of the search, authorized to employ as many extra staff as necessary for it to be completed as soon as possible.
Her instruction to Travin was for a daily summary, as well as a detailed assessment of the total number of camps that had existed around Yakutsk and for any that had a specific purpose other than simply housing prisoners or exiles. She dictated the authorization that the Lubyanka archivist had asked for and duplicated everythingto everyone-including Viskov-satisfied that she had effectively buried Petr Travin beneath Charlie’s bullshit mountain that hopefully really would become her deputy’s career grave if Camp 98-the records of which she’d sift first-had held someone of linking significance to the dead officers.
Natalia felt better-safer-at the end of the day than she had at its beginning, especially when another memorandum was delivered just as she was leaving.
It had been a good evening. They’d eaten Scotch beef from the embassy commissary and gone through in detail all that Natalia had done that afternoon to overwhelm Petr Pavlovich Travin. Charlie insisted Nikulin’s memo as she’d been leaving the ministry, praising her for making the gulag check, prevented either her deputy or Viktor Viskov from maneuvering an escape. “You’re not just ahead, you’re out of sight.”
“What happens if it’s Petr Pavlovich who comes up with something from one of the
“It was still your idea,” Charlie pointed out. “So it’s still your success, whichever way it goes.”
They went to bed early, Charlie having been awake for almost forty-eight hours, but he wasn’t too tired to make love and it was perfect, as it always was. Afterward they lay side by side, their bodies touching, and Natalia said, “Yakutsk was the first time we’ve been apart-your not being in Mosow-for over a year.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t like it.”
“Neither did I.”
“I hope it doesn’t happen again too often.”
“Me, too.” He hadn’t told her about Sir Rupert Dean’s talk of his being recalled to London and decided not to. Or of the unspeaking men at the American embassy, one trained not to blink. He said, “You hear from Irena while I was away?”
He wasn’t sure, but Charlie thought he felt Natalia stiffen, imperceptibly, beside him in the darkness. She said, “No. Why?”
“No particular reason. You’ve never told me much about her.” There was definitely a stiffness.
“There’s nothing much to tell.”
“Why didn’t you see her, for such a long time?”
“What is it, Charlie?”
“Just curious.” This hadn’t been the right moment, he realized. Or had it?
“She make a pass at you?” demanded Natalia.
“No,” lied Charlie.
There was a long silence. Then Natalia said, “Konstantin left me for Irena.”
Konstantin had been Natalia’s first husband, Charlie remembered. It had been so long since they’d talked about the man that Charlie had forgotten the name. He said, “What happened?”
He felt Natalia shrug. “He was a lecher, like I’ve told you. But he’d never left me before. She always wanted anything I had, from when we were children.”
“How long did it last?”
“Until I divorced him so he could marry her. She didn’t want him then.” She was quiet for several moments. “I’m sorry I’ve been so stupid. About us, I mean.”
“No real harm done.”
“There could have been. I can’t think how awful that would have been.”
“It’s over,” assured Charlie. Irena knowing someone at the British embassy was something else he wouldn’t tell Natalia. Their holding-back roles had been reversed, he realized.
“I’m glad you called,” said Miriam. She really wasn’t sure who was the better lover, Cartright or Lestov. Which wasn’t the most important comparison. Cartright’s usefulness, apart from in bed, was what she could get from his involvement in the case.
“It’s good to have you back.” said Cartright. “It must have been appalling.”
“Known better.”
“How did you get on with Charlie?”
Miriam was surprised Cartright had managed to hold out through dinner and the before-and-after drinks. “Fine. He sure as hell knows how to operate.”
“How’s that?”
“We wouldn’t have gotten on that plane if he hadn’t known how to flash dollars around.”
“He seems adept as making money work,” prompted Cartright.
“But I gave him a ride back, so I guess we’re even. What happened while I was away?”
“Nothing of any consequence. London doesn’t seem to be able to find any trace of our man. Or why he should have been there. How about you?”
“Lots of questions. No answers.”
“You think Charlie’s being straight with you?”
“Don’t you?”
“No. This is a joint operation. Anything I get from London I’m quite prepared to share with you. We do have rather a special relationship, don’t we?”
“Very special,” agreed Miriam, happy in every way with her night’s work.
18
The first shipment from the Lubyanka archives-yellowing, crumbling folders and box files, mostly handwritten and detailing five camps, none Gulag 98-was waiting for Natalia when she arrived at the ministry the following morning.
So, too, were all the replies from Petr Pavlovich Travin to her previous day’s flurry of messages, although none from the deputy foreign minister.
Travin’s overall response-to complain of insufficient staff and inadequate funds temporarily to employ the extra people necessary for such a mammoth task-was precisely what Charlie had predicted, but Natalia felt a flicker of uncertainty at the next step. Just as quickly she realized there was no going back.
She ordered Travin to withdraw clerk and office staff from every militia district station in Moscow and volunteered three of her own secretariat, suggesting that Travin and Viskov match the transferfrom their staff. She proposed that Travin organize a shift system extending until midnight-around the clock, if it became necessary-and
