Next on the itinerary was a visit to Moscow University. Before an official could even begin to sell the idea, Austin had turned to Leo.

—Your girl is a teacher, you said?

Confused, Leo hesitantly replied:

—My girl?

—Your girlfriend? The one we were talking about. The teacher. Wouldn’t it be something to go see a school?

Moscow

Secondary School 7 - Avtozavodskaya

Same Day

Leo sat with his hands tight arund the steering wheel, furious at Austin for not understanding the danger that he’d placed him in. The man’s actions were naive – entirely foreign. Keen to prove his detractors at home wrong, he’d embarked on a programme of calculated sabotage, brushing aside their plans with the playfulness of a man who had no comprehension of the regime he flattered. It did not tolerate mistakes. Grave risks existed for the people organizing his trip, including Leo. Yet it hadn’t occurred to Austin that there would be consequences if he saw anything that didn’t chime with the idealized vision that the Kremlin wanted him to export to the United States. These attempts to duck the official preparations were little more than a game, evidenced by the way he’d whistled all the way to the Secondary School 7, where Lena worked.

Leo stared in dumb terror at Secondary School 7: a newly built box of classrooms supported on concrete legs. Fortunately there was no risk that the school building itself wouldn’t pass inspection. The officials were greatly relieved that their guest had chosen an institution they would have gladly picked themselves. The risk was solely on Leo’s shoulders. He’d lied. When he’d claimed Lena was the woman he loved, he’d presumed the lie would fold into the conversation, an irrelevance immediately forgotten. It had been intended to save him from the minor embarrassment of admitting that there was no one he loved and no one who loved him. Now he bitterly regretted his foolishness. Why couldn’t he simply have admitted that he lived alone? There was no way to wriggle out from the trap. Austin was intent upon visiting a school and he wanted to see one that couldn’t have been prepared in advance. Leo had set him up perfectly.