Chapter 33

After the long night with the Tankov's I was ready for bed. Mom was glad that I was home, and Agent Crow could work on his own plans without me.

On Sunday morning, when I woke up, I found that I had no plans, or obligations. It was cold, and snow was on the ground. Previously, I had caught up on all my schoolwork. I also realized that not one of my friends would be stopping by. What that meant was no one would be coming over to use the word processor, to type a report, or to join me in any other activities. I mentioned it to Dad, and he suggested that we try some cross-country skiing. Although I'd never done it before, both he and Mom had done it before.

He also knew that there were skis at the Embassy. When we went to look, I was lucky to find a pair that fit me. With the skis in hand, we drove out-of-town to a park designed for that type of skiing. In the beginning, I moved my feet more than my body. But in short order, I got the rhythm down, and moved well on the flats, and downhill areas. I didn't do so well on the inclines. At the end, I realized that I had a good workout, and enjoyed the outdoors with my family.

On Christmas day, we had a nice time playing games, and enjoying our time together. I read The Man From St. Petersburg by Ken Follett. One day, I received a phone call from Sophia. She invited me over to spend the day. She'd had a talk with her mom and dad. When I arrived, Emma met me at the door. She invited me to her bedroom. Victor had gone out, but would return home later. For some untold reason, Sophia stayed in the living room, not giving me more than a quick hello.

Emma just wanted a quick fuck, but I made her strip, for me, and put on a show. When I approved, she helped me out of my clothes. Then I gave her the release she craved, as fast as I could. I didn't orgasm, but left Emma alone in her bedroom. I walked naked to the living room, and spoke to Sophia. "Sophia was there a reason that you invited me over?"

She looked at me, and saw my hard cock still wet with her mother's juices, so she jumped up, and came to me. I took her in my arms, and then to her room. She was horny, so I spread her ripe peach with my fingers, and used my tongue to make her feel special. We were at it for an hour, before she conked out, and fell asleep.

When I walked out, I saw Victor, but he didn't look well. I dressed quickly, but Emma and Sophia were both napping. Each time I'd been by before to see Emma, Victor seemed happy, but this time he didn't.

"Are you alright Victor?"

"No, I just got back from the doctor, and I'm not well."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything that I can do? We have access to medicine from all over the world."

"I have cancer, and they tell me that it's too far along. I've less than six months, and I don't know what my family is going to do."

I sat next to him, and put my hand on his shoulder. We weren't best friends, but we both cared for his wife and daughter. I thought about what would be best, for them, and then came up with a plan. I figured that he'd either agree, decline, or want to think about it.

"Victor, I can make sure that the proper people take care of your wife and daughter, for the rest of their lives. But to make that happen, they'd have to leave the Soviet Union."

"We can't leave. They won't let us leave."

"I'm sure that you love your country like I love my country. I see things that your country does better than mine, and the other way around. You know enough to see those same things. The American approach has flaws in many areas. This is especially true in the areas of training and educating their young. With her knowledge, Sophia could be a top math student at any university. But she can't do that, because she's stuck here. America gives people choices, and freedoms. They can live their own lives, and achieve whatever they want. They can become as successful as they want to become, as long as they are willing to put in the effort."

"But even if they wanted to they couldn't leave."

"Victor. The Soviet Union has one of the longest borders in the world. Isn't there some place where they aren't watching it? I could move them out, but we'd have to plan it very carefully. The escape would be the easy part. But we must do it in a way that no one would look for them after they were gone."

"How?"

"I have an idea."

Suddenly, I became the middleman. I was helping Victor in creating a grand escape plan for his wife and daughter. We decided not to tell Sophia or Emma about any of this. This way, they couldn't do something to hurt the plan. I continued my focus at school and swimming. But I started to become the broker for the deal that we were creating for Victor's family. For the next three months, Victor spent his days at work, and his nights and weekends with his family. The girls felt that something was up, but to sooth their concerns, he said that he was just getting old and sentimental.

After swim season, I decided not to play any sports. This way, I'd have time for the big finish. Victor planned a spring trip to a St. Petersburg. He had a house, for two weeks, on the Baltic Sea, and a boat to use for fishing. He spent each day on the boat with his family having a great time. I was still in Moscow hoping and praying that the plan worked.

For the three months before the trip, Victor spent each night bringing home files that he'd photographed. He had access to a lot of information. But he didn't go out of his way to provide copies on something that would create suspicion. Everything that came across his desk he copied. This was his payment to give his family freedom. They'd receive new identities, jobs, education, homes, and monthly payments until they died.

Victor spent those last two weeks loving his family. On the second to last day of the trip, he finally told them that he was sick, and had only a few months left. He wanted them to have a life full of hope and freedom, and that he'd bought them a new life. They didn't understand, so he told them of the plan. He explained that he wanted them to go to America where they could be free. Just then, a fishing boat pulled alongside. After an emotional goodbye, he forced them inside the other boat, and it pulled away.

The raw emotions he felt were real when he pulled back to port. When later asked, those that saw him would confirm that he looked very upset, and out of sorts.

When he left the boat, he went back to the house. He wrote a note about how he'd found out that his wife and daughter were sleeping around, and he couldn't take it anymore. To take care of the shame, he'd taken them out to sea, and thrown them overboard. The reason he ended it this way, was so they'd have time to think about their betrayal, as they fought to stay alive in the cold water. He couldn't live his life any more, with his family's betrayal, and his sickness. The plan called for him to take sleeping pills. But, at the last minute, he changed the plan, and used a pistol to end his life. There were inquiries, and they even asked me questions. But I didn't know enough of the plan to have to lie about where they went, or who took them.

The suitcase full of film would make the guys at the CIA remember this day, as one of the largest information dumps of all time. By the end of the decade, it would lead to the end of the cold war. I stayed in Moscow so I could finish my school year. When the CIA couldn't convince me to go to college in the Soviet Union, they relented. They allowed my parents and me to leave the country.

Because of their service, the government gave them their choice of assignment. They had their choice of any location where they wouldn't face too many problems. Mom wanted to go back to Paris, but Dad wanted some place with less demands on him. He gave her the choice of Bermuda or the consulate in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. She chose the small island in the Atlantic.

Now that I had a high school diploma, I needed to pick a college. Adam was still at MIT, and that would have been a logical choice. I also could join Tess at NYU, and stay at our apartment there. I was actually in New York when there was a knock at the door. That was weird, because the doorman hadn't called. It could be a neighbor, but the only one I knew was Yoko. With all that had gone on, I hadn't seen her since we walked in the park after John's death, and I wasn't sure if she was still in the building.

Instead, it was Kari, the CIA agent. She had another lady with her. I let them in, and she saw the college catalogs on the table. "I guess we came at the right time."

"Can I offer you something to drink or eat?"

"I think that can wait. We wanted to talk to you about your future. I hope that you understand that you're still an undercover agent for the CIA. What that means is you can't apply your craft here in the United States. We'd love to push you to one of the foreign universities. How does Tokyo or London strike you? If you want to stay here in the US, we'd consider loaning you to the FBI. This way you could do some work against groups that prey on college students."

"I don't think that those groups hang out at MIT, Harvard, or Stanford."

"No, but they do at Berkley. There are other places where they don't push strong patriotic agendas. Places where it's cool to push back against our government."