“Lucky you. I’ll be here until the end of the week, and then I’m back to Leningrad.” Grigori set the menu aside and focused his dark gaze on Vladimir. “You’re correct, though. There was a reason I sought you out today, Comrade. Something I thought you would find interesting.”
“Oh?”
“I received some information from the Germans the other day. Do you remember the British agent in Oslo last November? Blonde woman?”
Vladimir raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Yes. The Germans interfered to such an extent that she got away from you.”
Grigori scowled at the reminder. “Yes.”
Vladimir made a slight gesture with his hand and they fell silent as a waiter came over to take their order. Once he’d left again, Grigori looked at Vladimir.
“We never did pick up her trail again. She disappeared.”
“I doubt that she disappeared, Grigori,” Vladimir murmured, amused. “She’s not a ghost.”
“Perhaps not, but we were unable to find any trace of her. Until now. The Germans think they know where she is.”
Vladimir looked across the table, his face not betraying anything but mild interest. “Really?”
Grigori nodded. “Yes. They say she is in Norway again.”
“Why would she go back to Norway? There is nothing there to interest the British.”
“Why was she there in November?” Grigori retorted. “It doesn’t matter why. What matters is that the Germans have sent Eisenjager.”
“That’s the second time I’ve heard that name today,” Vladimir said, his brows drawing together.
“Is it?” Grigori didn’t sound surprised. “I find it interesting that the Abwehr has become involved.”
“It was the SD that lost her in Stockholm. I would think that didn’t sit very well in Berlin.”
“Very true.” Grigori nodded and sat back as the waiter returned to set down glasses of clear liquid. “They are obviously serious about apprehending her if they’ve sent Eisenjager,” he continued after the man had gone again. “His reputation doesn’t allow for the kind of sloppy carelessness that happened in Stockholm.”
“No. It does not.”
“If the Nazis get her, we will look like fools,” Grigori said after a moment. “I mentioned it this morning in a meeting. I’m pushing for one of us to be given the task of finding her.”
Vladimir raised an eyebrow. “I thought they determined that she wasn’t a threat?”
“Do you really believe Canaris would send Eisenjager if she wasn’t?” Grigori demanded, reaching for his vodka. “I don’t pretend to know why they want her so badly, but if they do, there must be a good reason.”
He took a drink, then pushed his chair back. “I have to piss. When I come back, we toast to your new rank.”
Vladimir nodded and watched as his old friend made his way to the door leading to the restrooms. He reached for his glass and took a sip of the vodka, his eyes narrowing. So the Germans were getting close to tracking down Evelyn. How the hell had they found her? What was MI6 doing? Were they really that careless? Didn’t they know what they had in Robert Ainsworth’s daughter?
His mind went back to the library in Oslo last November. His conversation with the pretty young woman had been brief, but it had been long enough for him to realize that she was following in the steps of her father. And, unless he was mistaken, she would far exceed what her father had been capable of. Jian was a raw talent, but she was one that would learn quickly and become invaluable to whatever government controlled her.
And clearly the Nazis wanted to be that government.
Eisenjager was only sent for one of two reasons: to assassinate or to turn. If the Nazis wanted her dead, they would have stuck with the SD. That was what they were trained for, to hunt and kill. No. The very fact that Eisenjager was on Jian’s trail told him that they wanted her alive. If they got their hands on her, there was a very real possibility of them being able to turn her into one of their greatest weapons. It was something his own government excelled at, and Himmler had shown a definite flair for the process. If he had his way, the Nazis would soon be almost as good as the Soviets were at psychological manipulation.
Vladimir took another drink. It was time for him to begin setting his own plans into motion. He had to take precautions against Jian being captured by either the Nazis or his own agency. She had the potential to be far too valuable to him. He couldn’t risk anyone else gaining control of her.
It was time to contact her again.
Chapter Fifteen
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Oslo, Norway
Evelyn looked up at the tall building skeptically. While it wasn’t shabby, precisely, it was not the type of building that she was used to frequenting. In fact, the whole neighborhood was bordering somewhere between the fading grandeur of times past and the encroaching poverty of a depressed economy. She looked at Anna.
“This is it?”
Anna nodded. “Yes. He’s on the fourth floor, according to the letterboxes.”
She opened the door and Evelyn swallowed a sigh, following her into the apartment building. Inside, the light was dim but the entryway was clean and the paint, while not fresh, wasn’t peeling from the walls. She forced herself to relax. She had no doubt in her ability to defend herself if needed, but she would rather not have Anna see that side of her just yet. She already knew far too much about Evelyn as it was.
The two women climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. They didn’t pass anyone and the only sound came on the second floor where someone was playing a radio behind one of the doors. When they reached Olav’s floor, Anna looked around before leading the way down the narrow hallway to a door at the end.
“This is it,” she said, lifting a gloved hand to knock briskly on the door. “Here’s hoping that he’s at home.”
There was a moment of silence and then they heard a muffled noise
