The Secret Speech

Leo removed his hand from Nina’s shoulder:

— You have what you wanted. The Secret Speech has been retracted. You don’t need Fraera anymore. Let me have her. Give me my revenge as you gave it to her. You should have no compunction about betraying her. You’ve betrayed everyone else.

— Leo, I understand that you have no reason to trust me. But my advice is this: forget Fraera. Forget that she exists. Let me arrange for Elena to be released from hospital. You and Raisa can move out of the city, away from all these memories. I’ll find you another job. Whatever you want.

Leo turned face-to-face with Panin:

— She’s still working for you?

— Yes, she is.

— On what?

— That speech weakened us domestically and internationally. In response, we need a clear show of our strength. For this reason we’re working to manufacture an uprising abroad, in parts of the Soviet Bloc, small, symbolic uprisings which we will crush mercilessly. The KGB has established a series of foreign cells attempting to stimulate disorder, scattered across Eastern Europe. Fraera is in charge of one of those cells.

— Where?

— Take my advice, Leo, this is not a fight you can win.

— Where is she?

— You cannot beat her.

— How could she hurt me more?

— Because, Leo, your daughter, Zoya, is alive.

SOVIET-CONTROLLED EASTERN EUROPE HUNGARY

BUDAPEST

22 OCTOBER

ZOYA WALKED AS FAST as she could, on her way to the Operahaz, the drop point for her illicit cargo. Her pockets were brimming with bullets, one hundred rounds in total, each tip etched with a cross to ensure the bullet quartered upon entering the body. Though it was a cold night she felt hot and flustered. Wearing a knee-length coat tied at the waist, a black beret slanted across her forehead, she looked older than fourteen, more like a Hungarian student than a Russian orphan. Nervous, clammy with perspiration, she snatched the beret off her head, pressing it into her pocket, atop the bullets, muffling their telltale jingle.

Reaching the main boulevard Sztalin ut, not far from the Operahaz, Zoya paused, checking that no one was following. Taking her by surprise, someone grabbed her shoulders. She turned around, finding herself surrounded by a group of men, convinced that they were the Hungarian secret police. One man kissed her cheek, pressing a sheet of paper into her hand. It was a poster of some kind. The men were talking in rapid bursts. Having been in the city for four months she’d picked up only a handful of Hungarian phrases. Judging by their attire, the men were students or artisans, not officers, and she relaxed. Even so, she had to be careful: if they realized she was Russian there was no knowing how they’d behave. She smiled meekly, hoping they’d consider her shy and let her go. They were hardly interested in her anyway, unraveling another poster and plastering it to the front of a shop window. Zoya pulled away, hurrying to her destination.

Arriving at the Operahaz, climbing the stone stairs, she hid behind the pillars, out of view from the street. She checked her watch, a gift from Fraera. She was early and she pulled back into the shadows, nervously waiting for her contact to show up. This was the first task she’d handled alone. Normally she worked with Malysh. They were a team — a partnership forged in Moscow five months ago.

Taken from her cell that night, Zoya had been certain Fraera was going to execute her in order to punish Leo. Facing death, as she had done only days earlier, she had discovered that she was no longer indifferent to the prospect. She’d cried out:

— Malysh!

Fraera had set her down on the ground:

— Why did you call his name?

— Because I… like him.

Fraera had smiled, a smile turning into a laugh, slowly at first, then getting louder, her vory laughing beside her, a chorus of scorn. Zoya had blushed, her face burning with shame. Humiliated, she’d run at Fraera, arms raised, fists clenched. Before she’d landed a blow Fraera had caught hold of her hand:

— I will give you a chance, one chance. If you fail, I will kill you. If you succeed, you will become one of us. You and Malysh can remain together.

Driven to the middle of Bolshoy Krasnokholmskiy Bridge, that night had unfolded as Fraera predicted. Leo and Raisa had been waiting on the bridge. Soaked by the rain, they had climbed into the front of the car. Separated by a steel grate, Zoya had witnessed Raisa’s face crumple with distress. In that moment Zoya had experienced doubts. But it had been too late to change her mind. Pressing her hands against the grate, she’d bidden farewell to her unhappy life: a decision that necessitated leaving her little sister behind. She’d feigned resistance as she’d been dragged out of the car. Out of sight, she’d voluntarily climbed into the sack. Already inside, Malysh had been waiting for her.

The sack had been carried to the edge of the bridge while Zoya had continued to make a show of struggling until the vory had struck her, entirely unexpected. She’d collapsed. The sack had been zipped shut. In the darkness Malysh had wrapped his arms around her, supporting her as they’d been dropped. Briefly midair, in each other’s arms, in the darkness — then they’d crashed into the water.

Steel weights had carried the sack straight down. The waterproof, waxed canvas had shrouded them in a minute’s worth of air. The steel had thudded against the riverbed, toppling Malysh and Zoya to the side. Working blind, Malysh had flicked open his knife and cut through the material. Freezing water had rushed in as he’d sliced a gash, filling the sack in an instant. Malysh had helped Zoya out. Holding hands, they’d kicked their way back up to the surface. Swimming to the riverbank, they’d watched the final moments on the bridge as Leo and Raisa had jumped, mistakenly believing that they were going to save her.

Struggling upstream against the torrent, Zoya and Malysh had pulled themselves along the high stone sides of the riverbank. Reaching the timber jetty, they’d been reunited with Fraera as she listened to Raisa’s and Leo’s distant, desperate cries, savoring their grief for a child they thought was lost.

* * *

THERE WAS A MAN LINGERING at the bottom of the Operahaz steps. Zoya emerged from her hiding place. The man checked up and down Sztalin ut before moving toward her. Zoya emptied her pockets, filling his satchel with the customized bullets. He pulled out a handgun, loading the chamber. The bullets were a match. He filled the other chambers while Zoya continued to transfer the bullets from her pockets to his bag. Finished, the man hid his gun, dropping his head in a gesture of thanks before hurrying down the steps. Zoya counted to twenty before setting off again, making her way back home.

It was odd to think of this city as home. Five months ago Zoya had known nothing of Hungary except that it was a loyal ally of the Soviet Union, part of a brotherhood of nations, a frontline state in the global revolution. Fraera had corrected this classroom propaganda, explaining that Hungary had never been given any choice. Liberated from Fascist forces, it had been occupied and placed under Soviet rule. Hungary was a sovereign nation with no sovereignty. The leader for many years, Matyas Rakosi, had been appointed by Stalin and had imitated his master exactly, torturing and executing citizens. He’d created the AVH — the Hungarian secret police — modeled on the Soviet secret police. The language and location was different but the terror had been the same. With Stalin’s death, the struggle had begun for reform, electrified by dreams of independence. Zoya was a foreigner here, an outsider, yet not since her parents had died had she felt more at home here, in a country that, like her, had been adopted against its will.