Paris and Moscow

Craig and Elizabeth were in Craig’s office, waiting for Betty to arrive. He glanced out of the window.

A cab pulled up and Betty got out. She wheeled a suitcase toward the building and stopped by a bench. As he expected, she sat down and lit up a cigarette.

“You see her?” Elizabeth asked.

“She’ll be here in two cigarettes,” he said with a smile.

When Betty walked in fifteen minutes later, after freshening up in the lavatory, she kissed both of them on each cheek.

“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do over here?”

“Not necessary,” Craig said. “We’re still Americans.”

“Can you get me a cup of good, strong coffee?”

Craig hit the buzzer. Waiting for the coffee, Betty said, “I’m too old for overnight flights. I didn’t do it for you, Craig. I did it for Elizabeth.”

Craig smiled, “You did it because you know why we wanted to see you.”

“General Zhou—sorry, President Zhou.”

“For sure.”

“You know what this reminds me of?” Betty said.

“I can’t imagine.”

“When your daughter Francesca was a little girl, I took her to the movies. Sometimes in those days they showed cartoons at children’s matinees.”

“I remember,” Craig said.

“I don’t,” Elizabeth said.

“I didn’t expect you to. Craig’s a lot older than you are.”

“Ouch. That stung,” he said.

They all laughed.

“Well, anyhow,” Betty continued, “Francesca’s favorite cartoon was one in which a cat was trying to capture a mouse, but the mouse always managed to escape.”

“Zhou’s only gotten away from me twice,” Craig protested. “Three will be the charm.”

“I hope so.”

Coffee arrived. Three double espressos. Betty took a gulp, then put the cup down. “Let’s talk,” Betty said.

“You know,” Craig responded, “the world has become a much more dangerous place with Zhou as president of China. And you can be sure he’ll be gunning for the United States.”

“You’re preaching to the choir.”

“The U.S. will have to increase its vigilance vis-à-vis China. And President Dalton should stop baiting Beijing with threats to impose trade sanctions. They would be counterproductive. Even if Congress went along.”

“You want to come to Washington and deliver your message to Dalton and Norris?”

“They’d never see me.”

“Fact is,” she said sadly, “neither of them has the competency to deal with challenges like this.”

“That’s what I figured. But I want to know if you can make an end run around Norris. Deal with people on the China desk in Langley. At DIA and NIA. Then shoot me any information you obtain about Chinese plans or troop movements. I could try to get England,
France, and Germany to lean on Dalton for action. Or even take action themselves. What do you think?”

She pondered his request for a minute.

“Let’s do it,” she said. “I’ll have stuff e-mailed to you from a location outside of the Agency. Less chance of detection.”

“What about the risk to you?” Elizabeth said. “The information could be classified.”

Betty shrugged. “The most they’ll do is fire me. They’ll never be able to cut off my pension. I’ll take my chances. Nothing is more important now than blocking whatever scheme Zhou next hatches.”

With a swagger, Orlov entered the Kremlin. He walked into the office of the secretary to the Secretary, who immediately passed him through to the Secretary to President Kuznov. There, he waited only thirty seconds before the Secretary led him into the inner sanctum of Kuznov’s huge office.

The Russian president was alone. He was studying a document on his red leather topped antique desk and frowning.

“I have good news,” Orlov said.

“I need good news. Everywhere in this great country, the Muslims are making trouble. What’s wrong with those people?”

Orlov took a seat in front of the desk. “We should have killed all of them in Chechnya.”

“I agree. And elsewhere. I assume you came to see me about your sister’s friend, Zhou, the new president of China.”

“Precisely. She called a couple of hours ago to say that General Zhou will meet with me in one month in Beijing.”

Kuznov looked irritated. “Why not now? Why in a month? Gamesmanship?”

“She said he wants to get his government solidified. She told him I’ll be coming as your official representative. She’s confident he’ll agree to work with us.”

Kuznov perked up. “If that’s really true, it would be a good development. An alliance with China would help us do battle with the United States and also assist a Russian resurgence.”

“I’ll do my best to develop that alliance.”

Kuznov got up and walked over to the window. He was staring out. Orlov saw wet snowflakes falling. Doesn’t winter ever end in Moscow? Orlov could tell Kuznov was deep in thought. He didn’t interrupt the president.

Finally, Kuznov wheeled around and said, “Since you last spoke to me, I had our intelligence people do some research on Zhou. He’s smart and cunning. He’ll realize that an alliance with China is important for me. He may impose some conditions for a meeting. Do you know what I mean?”

Orlov nodded.

“Listen carefully to what Zhou says to you,” Kuznov continued. “Tell him that you have to report back to me. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir. I do.”

In truth, Orlov didn’t understand what Kuznov was talking about. Though Orlov was clever, he feared that he might be in over his head. Being used by two savvy statesmen with their own agendas, he didn’t want to get hurt himself. And he didn’t want to hurt Androshka.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Kuznov asked, as if reading Orlov’s mind.

“For sure. It was my idea.”

“Zhou plays rough. This could be a zero-sum game. There could be winners and losers. We can’t afford to be the losers.”

“I understand about Zhou.”

What Orlov didn’t add was: I also understand about you. I’ll have to protect myself. You’ll call the shots, but if Zhou gets the best of us, you’ll throw me to the wolves and walk away as if you played no role. I won’t let that happen.