No more time could be wasted. He began to devise a way to reach New York, saving up his modest salary to buy gold on the black market, necessary once he crossed the border, carefully plotting a route to the United States. These preparations offered the glimmer of a resolution – no matter how difficult it might be to achieve.

***

Christmas, 1973, he’d eaten dinner with his family, his daughters and their husbands. He’d given them presents. He’d kissed them goodbye. He’d told them nothing of his plans. The next day he began his journey, making his way towards the Finnish border. He’d come close, only metres away before he was shot and caught. The failure of his attempt and his subsequent capture could have resulted in his execution. Once again Frol Panin intervened. Now frail and ill, the old man warned him:

I cannot save you again.

They were words that Leo had once uttered to his own protégé. Interpreting his attempt to cross the border as grief rather than treachery, the State gave Leo an ultimatum – life in prison, or a job so dangerous that no one would ever volunteer for it.

Greater Province of Kabul

City of Kabul - Karta-i-Seh District

Soviet Embassy

Darulaman Boulevard - Next Day