*  *  *  *  *

Ivar promised himself he was just going out with Eve to accumulate more information as he parked near the back door of her condominium.  He really had to call his operative from the Soviet Union.  His excuse for not doing so was that he needed more definite data. 

It had been bizarre following her today.  He had been forced into the uncomfortable knowledge she had been aware of him.  There was an incident when her cousin had driven around the block for no apparent reason.  Unless she had been checking for a tail.  Just before his shift began he had been told that Eve had hurt one of the investigators.  Eve had apparently stepped on the agent's toes, almost breaking them, and elbowed him hard enough so that several ribs were cracked. 

Ivar promised himself he would be very cautious.  Thinking back on the night before, when he had met Eve, was like remembering a happy dream.  He had believed she was one of the most wonderful women he had ever met, smart, beautiful and fun.  He had been ready to break cover for her, jeopardize his position here in the United States, and risk his association with the KGB.  When Stephan Steinbrenner started stupidly waving his gun around in front of Ferd's Tanning Salon, Ivar almost shot him.

Ivar had done quite a bit of research.  Dr. Steinbrenner was a remarkable man and he supposed that the government believed he had experimented on a human being.  His son's were less admirable.  There had been allegations that they were not the most honest or honorable of lawyers, but there was no hard proof, just records of reprimands from judges. 

Ivar had learned all there was to know in the scant information files on Sabrina Miller.  He had found nothing at all regarding Eve Miller.  It was puzzling, as if Eve really did not exist. 

Ivar decided he had become lax because nothing much seemed to happen in Los Angeles, where he had been assigned for the last three years.  In the seven years Ivar had been in this country he had been placed on relatively easy assignments.  He decided that he had definitely become soft, believing that nothing could harm him or make him blow his cover.  Until now.

Ivar's reverie was cut short by tapping on the car's passenger door window.  He looked out and saw Eve.  She was dangerously gorgeous in jeans and a sweater with a large turtle neck collar.  He thought her neck, emerging out of the bulky sweater, looked as graceful and delicate white as a swan's against her dark hair.  Ivar did not know he was smiling until he saw Eve smile back at him. 

Ivar decided he was right to be wary.  She was so cute he wanted to hug her.  Instead, he started the car and told her that he hoped they would be on time. 

As they watched the previews of coming attractions and ate hot dogs, Eve whispered that the movie shorts were like her dreams.  First you were in one situation, and then suddenly popped inside another.  She said it was a little disconcerting, and Ivar wondered whether it was seeing the short clips that made her feel that way, or her own dreams.  He remembered her sobbing in her sleep the night before. 

As they watched the movie, Eve held on to Ivar's arm and leaned against him, so he felt her reactions.  Ivar had picked the old movie, "Russia House,"  so that he could behold his home land again.  Shooting movies in the Soviet Union was a relatively new phenomenon of harmony and co-operation between the two countries.  Seeing the onion domes of Red Square again made him feel sentimental.  It was a moving experience for him to see the beautiful country he had left so many years before. 

Ivar took Eve to Tommy's for hamburgers after the movie and they talked about the picture at length.  He thought that his choice of movie had been a mistake.  Eve was very interested in the spies and disinformation depicted in the movie.  He was made even more wary by her interest in the politics of the two countries.  Her summary of the intricacies of the plot was so succinct, he again wondered if she could be a computer.  Looking at her now, he could not really believe it.  But he now understood why Hood Eyes had asked the agents to look for scars or false hair.  He wanted to know if the women had had something implanted inside their brains.

Ivar ordered chocolate cheese cake for Eve, laughing at her expression as she tasted it.  She did not keep her face neutral at all when she enjoyed something and that tickled him.  It was so much fun watching her enjoy things, the movie, food, sex, even just talking.  But he vowed that tonight there would be no sex.  He liked to be with her, and that was enough for him for tonight. 

As Ivar drove Eve home, she was wishing she could tell him that she had never seen a movie before.  It was not at all like watching television.  The heads and bodies on the screen were so enormous she had been disconcerted.  It felt as though the people could come right out of the screen at her, and she had been a little frightened.  Eve's vision, or her interpretation of what she saw, was not like most people because she had not been trained to see in perspective.  Sometimes, while riding in a car, a street she was traveling on would seem to go straight up instead of straight ahead.  Then she would have to realize that she was going forward and not up.  Of course, it helped to have Sabrina's memories.  She was like a blind person suddenly receiving the gift of sight.

Ivar stopped his car at the back entrance of the condominium, where he had picked Eve up.  Eve had not noticed where they were because she had been admiring Ivar's side view.  "You took me home?" 

Ivar nodded.

"Oh.  You want me to go in now?"

"Well, it's pretty late.  Is something wrong?" 

"I though you would want to engage in sex.  I would like to."

Ivar had an immediate physical response to her words and he was also surprised.  Most women did not come right out and say they wanted to be intimate. 

Ivar reached over and stroked Eve's hair.  "Of course I would like to.  I didn't want to get you home too late.  And I didn't want you to think I was interested in you only because of a physical relationship we might have."

"I didn't think that.  I like to watch movies and eat and talk, too." 

Eve watched Ivar throw his head back and laugh.

"You might be right, though.  My cousin worries about me a lot."  She hugged Ivar quickly.  He felt the breath whoosh out of his lungs.

"I'll call you tomorrow,"  Ivar said.

"I know you will." 

She thought it was nice that Ivar laughed a lot.