She gave a quick,wordless nod, and he left her alone in her first office with herfirst diamond still gleaming on her finger.
Moments later, a softtap came on her door.
“Please come inside,”Anya said.
The door opened, andSascha pushed through with a pair of bags in his hand. He set them onAnya’s worktable and slid the blue bag well to the left of theblack one. “Viktor explained the importance of keeping the bagsseparate until a match is made, correct?”
“Yes, he did.”
Sascha took a stepback. “Look, I’m sorry about this morning. This is my life’swork, and I take it very personally as well as seriously. I waswrong, and I shouldn’t have blamed you. It won’t happen again.”
She rose from the tableand stepped to within inches of the man. She leaned in and kissed hischeek innocently just in front of his ear. “Do not worry, Sascha. Iam not threat to you. I am only simple actress with very goodmemory.”
He let out the breathhe’d been holding and stepped away. Anya was left almost alone inher new office. The six cameras she’d already detected left herbelieving there were at least six more, and her claim to be anactress was being put to the test. Her performance for the cameraswould have to be flawless.
She pulled thesweatshirt over her head, providing camera number-one a perfect viewof her toned stomach and delicate lace of her bra as her T-shirt rosewith the hoodie. After straightening her clothing, she sat at theworktable and adjusted the articulating arm of the light.
An hour later, she’dmade six matches and devised a system of four columns on the edge ofher table. The two left columns were reserved exclusively for stonesfrom the blue bag. If a pair was made and both diamonds came from theblue bag, they would rest side by side in columns one and two.Columns three and four were exclusively for black bag diamonds. If apair was made with one diamond from each bag, column two held theblue bag stone, and the black bag stone rested in column three. Justlike columns one and two were reserved for the blue bag, columnsthree and four were exclusively for black baggers.
The system provedefficient and effective until the ninety-minute mark when every stonebegan to look like every other one. She stood from her seat,stretched, and turned for the tea service she’d noticed after onlyseconds in her office. The break and tea kept the coming headache atbay, and she returned to her table.
A solid rasp at thedoor startled her, and she almost knocked the stones from theircolumns. Without an invitation, Volkov came through the door andleaned against the corner of her table. “How are you doing on yourfirst day in the diamond mine?”
Anya rubbed hertemples. “It is harder than I thought, but I am making progress. Ihave so far only six matches. I fear this is terrible, but I amtrying.”
“Six? You’ve madesix matches in two hours?”
She sighed. “Yes, Iam sorry, but this is all I could do so far. I will get better andfaster in time. I am still making process.” She pointed toward thepaired diamonds and explained the column system she devised.
Volkov laid his hand onher shoulder. “It takes seasoned gemologists hours to make a singlematch, and you’ve made six already. You’re a gift from God.”
Anya feignedembarrassment. “I am not gift from God. Only lucky find for youthis time.” She motioned toward the columns of paired stones. “Iwould like for you to look closely at diamonds and tell me if youagree they are matching. You will do this for me, yes?”
He pulled a loupe fromhis pocket. “I’ll take a look, but I’m sure they’re perfect.”
He clamped the firsttwo stones in a pair of tweezers and alternately inspected eachstone, switching several times. After carefully placing the stonesback in the appropriate columns, he repeated the procedure with twomore pairs and replaced each to their previous positions. “Stayhere, and don’t touch anything. I’ll be right back.”
She did as heinstructed and sat with her hands folded neatly in her lap, just asthe cameras would expect. Moments later, Volkov returned with Saschain tow. “Look what she has done. In less than two hours, she claimsto have made six pairs. See for yourself.”
Sascha leaned down,lifted a pair to his loupe, and thoroughly examined the stones.Without a word, he returned the stones to the table and lifted asecond pair. After meticulous inspection, he stood up straight.“Remarkable.”
Anya moved the stonesSascha had misplaced and aligned them with her column system.
Volkov said, “Explainthe columns to Sascha.”
Anya did, and he wasadequately impressed.
“Six matches in lessthan two hours is unbelievable. The computer can’t match them soquickly.”
Anya looked up. “Youhave computer to do this job?”
“We do.”
“If this is true, whydo you need me? I can only work ninety minutes before I must havetime to relax, but you could have computer working constantly andnever needing tea.”
“This is true,”Sascha said. “But with one hundred stones, the computer matches onepair every six hours and has only sixty percent accuracy, so thatmeans, mathematically, considering the erroneous matches, it wouldtake the computer sixty hours to make the six matches you made inninety minutes. That’s why Viktor is right . . . again. You are agift from God straight to us.”
Anya shot a thumbtoward the door. “Go away. There are at least two more matches, andyou are interrupting my work.”
Viktor and Sascha wentthe way of the thumb and pulled the door closed behind them.
When they were well outof earshot, Viktor turned to the scientist. “How many matches arein those bags?”
Sascha held up hispalms. “I found only five in two weeks of searching.”
20
DRUGDRUGA
(FRIEND OF A FRIEND)
When Anya steppedthrough the apartment door, she discovered Special Agent Gwynn Daviswith a cell phone pressed to her ear and a finger pressed to herlips. Anya obeyed the instruction to remain silent but sat on theoverstuffed chair and stared at her partner. The look on Gwynn’sface said she was shoulder-deep in official business.
“Yes, sir, that’scorrect . . . Supervisory Special Agent Ray White . . . Thank
