The Masterful Russian
Cordelia Gregory
Published by Blushing Books
An Imprint of
ABCD Graphics and Design, Inc.
A Virginia Corporation
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Charlottesville, VA 22901
©2020
All rights reserved.
No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The trademark Blushing Books is pending in the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Cordelia Gregory
The Masterful Russian
Amazon ISBN: 978-1-64563-529-1
B&N ISBN: 978-1-64563-599-4
Kobo ISBN: 978-1-64563-600-7
Apple ISBN: 978-1-64563-601-4
Print ISBN: 978-1-64563-530-7
Audio ISBN: 978-1-64563-531-4
v2
Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design
This book contains fantasy themes appropriate for mature readers only. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual sexual activity.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Cordelia Gregory
Blushing Books
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The Masterful Russian
By
Cordelia Gregory
©2020 by Blushing Books® and Cordelia Gregory
Chapter 1
Refugee Camp, Marzello, Southern Coast of Italy
Adalina Morelli shook her head and stood up from the long thin camp bed in the tent. She stared at the young woman sitting on the opposite bed dressed in a Burqa holding a small five-year-old girl who was crying in her arms. Next to her was a quiet thirteen-year-old girl with a black hijab around her head. There were tears locked in her dark brown eyes but she did not shed any of them. The young woman removed her arm from around the small child and put it around the teenager’s shoulders and squeezed them to give comfort.
Adalina put her hands on her hips feeling pity swell inside her for the two girls. No matter how many times she saw children and the people in the refugee camp suffering, she couldn’t become hard to it. She had tried to place her feeling of hopelessness at a distance but it always reared its head and threatened to interfere with her aid work. Now it was affecting her better judgment and penetrating the cold armour she had placed around herself to get the job done. What the undercover journalist was asking to be able to do was either an act of courage or perhaps on reflection, stupidity. Either way, Adalina couldn’t help but admire her bravery and determination. She genuinely wanted to help the woman succeed in her quest but the danger was immense. It could kill them both. The journalist needed to understand sacrifices had to be made so others could be saved.
She threw her hands up in the air in defeat when she looked at the faces of the girls and made every effort to harden her heart but it was getting harder and harder to do. She said to the young journalist, “You shouldn’t be here. I can’t protect you. If they find out who you really are, they will kill you. They don’t call this refugee camp ‘The Hole’ for nothing. All forms of low life exist here among the innocent. There is even talk about IS operatives in here. People get swallowed up and disappear. They won’t take kindly to a journalist living among them and reporting what they see. I shouldn’t be letting you do this but, damn it, I need people to know what is going on here.”
Adalina rubbed her tired face. The young woman stared back at her with sparkling green eyes but said nothing. The only communication she received in return was a nod. There was no moving her stubbornness and resolve to put her life at risk. She was going to stay in the camp to protect the two girls she had befriended and to get the story she wanted to tell the world about the refugees.
“You still have the number I gave you to contact me if you need anything?” Adalina checked trying to ease her fear for the woman. “Good. I could lose my job for this. Don’t use the toilets in the wash block. They are overflowing. Use the field. And for God’s sake don’t drink water from the tap here. I will get you some more bottled water. Yesterday the camp amenity workers were checking the outside taps and found traces of E-coli and Coliform present. If the men in this camp don’t get you, the water will.”
If anything happened to the journalist it would be on Adalina’s head as manager of the camp. It hadn’t been her idea to let her in but the aid team she worked with encouraged it. They needed all the help they could get in exposing the truth of what went on in the camp and Adalina’s hand had been forced. There had been too many deaths and this one could be avoided. She was turning her mind back to marching the woman out of the camp but those two girls kept staring at her pleading with her sympathy, her humanity. If the journalist left they would be unprotected as orphans. Their fate would be unknown. Adalina would never sleep at night again.
“I will check in on you in another couple of days. By then you might have all the time you needed to find the lead on all these missing women refugees your source spoke to you about. You have been in here a week already. I dare not risk any more than another couple of days. You have already been attacked. I don’t want your rape or death on my conscience. So many women in here live in fear of being attacked as it has happened so many times. I cannot guarantee your safety…”
“I understand,” the English journalist’s voice was calm and even when she spoke. “When this is over I need…”
Adalina thrust her hand up to halt her speech and nodded.
“I will help you get the girls out when you leave.” Adalina meant it. They wouldn’t
