'They were comrades. This Romanov fellow had been part of Filitov's own tank crew through the first few months. Well, he was a hero. He died for the Motherland, saving the life of his officer,' Vatutin observed. And Misha still talks to him
I have you now, Filitov.
'Shall we wake him up and-'
'Where's the doctor?' Vatutin asked.
It turned out that he was about to leave for home and was not overly pleased to be recalled. But he didn't have the rank to play power games with Colonel Vatutin.
'How should we handle it?' Vatutin asked after outlining his thoughts.
'He should be weary but wide awake. That is easily done.'
'So we should wake him up now and-'
'No.' The doctor shook his head. 'Not in REM sleep-'
'What?'
'Rapid Eye Movement sleep-that's what it's called when the patient is dreaming. You can always tell if the subject is in a dream by the eye movement, whether he talks or not.'
'But we can't see that from here,' another officer objected.
'Yes, perhaps we should redesign the observation system,' the doctor mused. 'But that doesn't matter too much. During REM sleep the body is effectively paralyzed. You'll notice that he's not moving now, correct? The mind does that to prevent injury to the body. When he starts moving again, the dream is over.'
'How long?' Vatutin asked. 'We don't want him to get too rested.'
'Depends on the subject, but I would not be overly concerned. Have the turnkey get a breakfast ready for him, and as soon as he starts moving, wake him up and feed him.'
'Of course.' Vatutin smiled.
'Then we just keep him awake? oh, eight hours or so more. Yes, that should do it. Is it enough time for you?'
'Easily,' Vatutin said with more confidence than he should have. He stood and checked his watch. The Colonel of 'Two' called the Center and gave a few orders. His system, too, cried out for sleep. But for him there was a comfortable bed. He wanted to have all of his cleverness when the time came. The Colonel undressed fastidiously, calling for an orderly to polish his boots and press his uniform while he slept. He was tired enough that he didn't even feel the need for a drink. 'I have you now,' he murmured as he faded into sleep.
'G'night, Bea,' Candi called from the door as her friend opened up her car. Taussig turned one last time and waved before getting in. Candi and the Geek couldn't have seen the way she stabbed the key into the ignition. She drove only half a block, turning a corner before pulling to the curb and staring at the night.
They're doing it already, she thought. All the way through dinner, the way he looked at her-the way she looked at him! Already those wimpy little hands are fumbling with the buttons on her blouse
She lit a cigarette and leaned back, picturing it while her stomach tightened into a rigid, acid-filled ball. Zit- face and Candi. She'd endured three hours of it. Candi's usual beautifully prepared dinner. For twenty minutes while the finishing touches had been under way, she'd been stuck in the living room with him, listening to his idiot jokes, having to smile back at him. It was clear enough that Alan didn't like her either, but because she was Candi's friend he'd felt obligated to be nice to her, nice to poor Bea, who was heading toward old-maidhood, or whatever they called it now-she'd seen it in his stupid eyes. To be patronized by him was bad enough, but to be pitied
And now he was touching her, kissing her, listening to her murmurs, whispering his stupid, disgusting endearments-and Candi liked it! How was that possible?
Candace was more than just pretty, Taussig knew. She was a free spirit. She had a discoverer's mind mated to a warm, sensitive soul. She had real feelings. She was so wonderfully feminine, with the kind of beauty that begins at the heart and radiates out through a perfect smile.
But now she's giving herself to that thing. He's probably doing it already. That geek doesn't have the first idea of taking his time and showing real love and sensitivity. I bet he just does it, drooling and giggling like some punk fifteen-year-old football jock. How can she!
'Oh, Candace.' Bea's voice broke. She was swept with nausea, and had to fight to control herself. She succeeded, and sat alone in her car for twenty minutes of silent tears before she managed to drive on.
'What do you make of that?'
'I think she's a lesbian,' Agent Jennings said after a moment.
'Nothing like that in her file, Peggy,' Will Perkins observed.
'The way she looks at Dr. Long, the way she acts around Gregory? that's my gut feeling.'
'But-'
'Yeah, but what the hell can we do about that?' Margaret Jennings noted as she drove away. She toyed briefly with the idea of going after Taussig, but the day had been long enough already. 'No evidence, and if we got it, and acted on it, there'd be hell to pay.'
'You suppose the three of them??'
'Will, you've been reading those magazines again.' Jennings laughed, breaking the spell for a moment. Perkins was a Mormon, and had never been seen to touch pornographic material. 'Those two are so much in love they don't have the first idea of what's going on around them-except work. I bet their pillow talk is classified. What's happening, Will, is that Taussig is being cut out of her friend's life and she's unhappy about it. Tough.'
'So how do we write this one up?'
'Zip. A whole lot of nothing.' Their assignment for the evening had been to follow up a report that strange cars were occasionally seen at the Gregory-Long residence. It had probably originated, Agent Jennings thought, from a local prude who didn't like the idea of the two young people living together without the appropriate paperwork. She was a little old-fashioned about that herself, but it didn't make either one of them a security risk. On the other hand-
'I think we ought to check out Taussig next.'
'She lives alone.'
'I'm sure.' It would take time to look at every senior staffer at Tea Clipper, but you couldn't rush this kind of investigation.
'You shouldn't have come here,' Tania observed at once. Bisyarina's face didn't show her rage. She took Taussig's hand and brought her inside. 'Ann, it's just so awful!'
'Come sit down. Were you followed?' Idiot! Pervert! She'd just gotten out of the shower, and was dressed in a bathrobe, with a towel over her hair. 'No, I watched all the way.' Sure, Bisyarina thought. She would have been surprised to learn that it was true. Despite the lax security at Tea Clipper-it allowed someone like this inside! — her agent had broken every rule there was in coming here.
'You cannot stay long.'
'I know.' She blew her nose. 'They've about finished the first draft of the new program. The Geek has cut it down by eighty thousand lines of code-taking out all that AI stuff really made a difference. You know, I think he has the new stuff memorized-I know, I know, that's impossible, even for that.'
'When will you be able-'
'I don't know.' Taussig smiled for a second. 'You ought to have him working for you. I think he's the only one who really understands the whole program-I mean, the whole project.'
Unfortunately all we have is you, Bisyarina didn't say. What she did was very hard. She reached out and took Taussig's hand.
The tears started again. Beatrice nearly leaped into Tania's arms. The Russian officer held her close, trying to feel sympathy for her agent. There had been many lessons at the KGB school, all of them intended to help her in handling agents. You had to have a mixture of sympathy and discipline. You had to treat them like spoiled children, mixing favors and scoldings to make them perform. And Agent Livia was more important than most.
It was still hard to turn her face toward the head on her shoulder and kiss the cheek that was salty with tears both old and new. Bisyarina breathed easier at the realization that she needed go no further than this. She'd never yet needed to go further, but lived in fear that 'Livia' would one day demand it of her-certainly it would happen if she ever realized that her intended lover had not the slightest interest in her advances. Bisyarina marveled at that. Beatrice Taussig was brilliant in her way, certainly brighter than the KGB officer who 'ran' her, but she knew so little about people. The crowning irony was that she was very much like that Alan Gregory man she so
