Free Albatross by Evelyn Anthony Page B

person in the world to know. You understand that?’
    She bent and kissed him. ‘I understand,’ she answered softly. ‘You are a genius, Igor; that’s all I need to understand about you. I wish sometimes we could make love here.…’
    Borisov was tempted by the closeness and the pressure of her breasts against his arm to pull her down to the floor. But he had made the rule from the beginning. No intimacy inside the office. She was making his head swim with desire, and the whispered suggestion was repeated often now. At first, they had never touched hands while they were in Dzerzhinsky Square. But gradually she managed to get near him, to rest a hand on his arm, to remind him of what they had done in private a few hours before. It would be easy to order a sofa for himself … easy and a fatal mistake. He broke away from her and stood up.
    â€˜That’s all, Comrade Natalia. I’ll have my tea now.’
    Instantly she resumed her role. She wiped the sensuality off her face and stood before him in mute respect. From the sensuous lover, she became the deferential secretary. He liked to show his power at times; she suspected that it stimulated his lust when they were private together. ‘Yes, Comrade General. I’ll bring it to you at once.’
    He watched her go and smiled. It was a smug little smile. He loved her; he was in helpless sexual thrall to her, He found her an extraordinary sounding board for his reflections, and capable of strange intuitive flashes that he had come to depend upon. She had established a hold over him he wouldn’t have thought possible for any woman. He could revel in it, only so long as he kept that ultimate authority which put her in her place. And made it all the more exciting to take her out of it when they were alone. Replace Albatross. How clever was she? he wondered sometimes. How much actual penetrating thought went into her simple statements – or was it just the feminine instinct developed above normal? Again it didn’t matter. He was the master as well as the lover. They interlocked in their relationship. He didn’t doubt that she was deeply in love with him. And he admitted that he loved her with the heart, as the Russian saying went, not only with the loins. Replace Albatross. Withdraw the thorn from the enemy’s flesh and slip another into the empty wound without their knowledge. It was indeed an original idea, and perhaps the most daring intelligence operation the KGB had undertaken in twenty years. He wouldn’t talk to Natalia. He would wait and let the seed germinate. And when it was showing its first shoot, he would keep his promise to her. And afterwards he would keep another promise, made to Zerkhov, the head of the Supreme Soviet and of the empire of Soviet Russia and its satellites in Eastern Europe. He would go with the plan and tell Zerkhov, and Zerkhov would keep the promise made to Borisov. To support him and work with him against the man they both distrusted. Yuri Rudzenko, the Foreign Minister, opponent of Borisov and hungry for Zerkhov’s crown. The capitalist enemy was ever present, like the oxygen in the air he breathed. The dissidents and Jews were like the dust in that air; they irritated the nose and throat. But the threat of Yuri Rudzenko was like carbon monoxide. Once released it meant death.
    â€˜You’re not making a lot of progress,’ Grant said. They were parked by the kerb in Regent’s Park. That morning it was drizzling with rain and the place was deserted except for a few passing cars. ‘And please don’t light that in here – I can’t stand smoking in a confined place!’
    Davina hesitated. She debated the choice of telling him they could get out and walk, or putting the cigarette away. She shut the packet and put it in her bag. ‘I’m dependent upon Harrington,’ she said. ‘If you want quick results, you’ve got to help.’
    He