“Ah yes, duty.” Vladimir’s lips twisted and he nodded sagely. “A very compelling word, that. It covers all manner of sins with the respectable blanket of morality and patriotism. Tell me, why is it that you agreed to take your father’s place?”
“You didn’t leave me with much of a choice, did you?” Evelyn asked with a shrug. “In order to continue our relationship with you, I had to step in.”
“And are you regretting it?”
“Not yet. Will I?”
Vladimir met her direct gaze and smiled. “I hope not. I wish you nothing but the best, my dear. I want you to know that.”
“Do you know, I always feel very suspicious when someone tells me that they want only the best for me.”
He chuckled and stopped before the next column, looking up at it thoughtfully. “That shows some wisdom. It is, however, true in this case. I had a very high regard for Robert, and you have proved yourself to be very capable in his stead.” He lowered his gaze to her face again. “I wish you had better training, and more time to adjust to this world we find ourselves navigating now, but I have nothing but confidence in you.”
Evelyn stared at him for a moment, then inclined her head slightly. “Thank you. There is nothing I can do to rectify either point, but I appreciate your faith in me. You must be aware that I’m simply bumbling my way through everything, though.”
“As we all do in the beginning.” He hesitated, then gently took her elbow and guided her into an antechamber that turned out to be a smaller chapel. “But where I had the luxury of experiencing my growing pains during peace, you must now go through them in war. I hope you won’t be offended when I say this, but I’d like to help you as much as I can.”
“I’m not offended at all, but I don’t see how you can.”
“There are so many things you still have to learn if you are to survive, but there isn’t time to go over everything. For now, let me tell you the most pressing. Eisenjager was able to find you so quickly and so easily in Norway because he already knew where to look.” Vladimir seated himself in a chair before a statue of the Virgin Mary and Evelyn sank down beside him. “You returned to the same boarding house where you stayed last November, and used the same woman to help you.” He held up his hand when she would have spoken, shaking his head. “No. Just listen, please. The German assassin only had to go where he knew you’d been before, and there you were. The first thing you must learn, and learn now, is that you can never revisit the same place twice, or use the same contacts so openly.”
“But Anna was working with the embassy,” Evelyn protested. “It only made sense to...”
“Yes, and he knew you worked with her before. If he hadn’t been able to find you through the boarding house, he still would have found you through Anna.” Vladimir’s gaze was not unkind, but the disapproval was apparent in the set of his lips and his jaw. “That is why it is a miracle that you escaped. He could have killed you at any time before you ever knew he was there. And those are the mistakes that cost hundreds of people like us their lives, as well as those civilians around them.”
Evelyn swallowed and sat back in her chair, shifting her gaze blindly to the Virgin Mary and her beaming countenance. As much as she was uncomfortable being corrected by a Soviet agent, she knew that his experience far outweighed hers, and she would be a fool not to listen to him.
“What should I have done?” she finally asked, breaking her silence a few moments later.
“Stayed in another part of the city, and communicated with Anna only through messages that could never be traced back to you. Not only would it have protected you, but it would have also protected her.” Vladimir shifted on his seat to face her. “Our contacts are our most valuable weapon, Jian. Without them, we are useless. They must be protected at all costs.”
“How do you know my codename?” she gasped, turning her head sharply.
“I know everything about you, even about your young pilot friend.” He held up his hand again when she opened her mouth to reply. “Don’t let’s argue. You are my contact. I must know everything I can about you, not just to protect myself, but to protect you as well.”
Evelyn stared at him, her brows snapping together. “That’s why you’re always two steps ahead of me,” she said slowly. “You’re protecting your interests.”
“Yes. And you must learn to do the same for the contacts you will make in this business. You will find them in the most unlikely of places, and they must be protected above all else because that’s where you’ll get all your information, help and, in turn, protection.”
“How do I do that, though?” She looked at him helplessly. “How do I communicate with them and not see them in person?”
“The same way we will. You will set up channels of communication that have safeguards to protect both parties. When the chain of communication is activated, it will follow certain patterns. Any deviation from those patterns will warn you of danger, and you will be able to walk away before you are caught.”
Evelyn nodded, her mind spinning. What he was saying made perfect sense. Everything he’d said made perfect sense. So then why hadn’t she been trained like this from the very beginning by her own government?
“And what of us?” she finally asked, reluctantly coming back to the reason for their meeting. “How will we communicate?”
“I have a system in place, one that I used with your father on occasion when I had something I didn’t want
