“It’s a long way.”

“I’d travel ten times as far to meet the woman who gave me Frostbite.”

“He’s written a novel.”

Anna sat back with a satisfied sigh. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.” She poured wine into Tanya’s glass. “Where is it?”

“Hidden. I’ll give it to you before we leave.”

“Okay.” Anna was puzzled, for she could see no sign of a typescript, but she accepted what Tanya said. “You’ve made me very happy.”

“I always knew that Frostbite was brilliant,” Tanya said reflectively. “But even I didn’t anticipate the international success you’ve had. In the Kremlin they’re furious about it, especially as they still can’t figure out who the author is.”

“You should know that there’s a fortune in royalties due to him.”

Tanya shook her head. “If he received money from overseas that would give the game away.”

“Well, maybe one day. I’ve asked the largest London firm of literary agents to represent him.”

“What is a literary agent?”

“Someone who looks after the author’s interests, negotiates contracts, and makes sure the publisher pays on time.”

“I never heard of that.”

“They’ve opened a bank account in the name of Ivan Kuznetsov. But you should think about whether the money should be invested somehow.”

“How much is it?”

“More than a million pounds.”

Tanya was shocked. Vasili would be the richest man in Russia if he could get his hands on the money.

They ordered dinner. Prague restaurants had improved in recent months, but the food was still traditional. Their beef and sliced dumplings came in a rich gravy garnished with whipped cream and a spoonful of cranberry jam.

Anna asked: “What’s going to happen here in Prague?”

“Dubcek is a sincere Communist who wants the country to remain part of the Warsaw Pact, so he presents no fundamental threat to Moscow; but the dinosaurs in the Kremlin don’t see it that way. No one knows what’s going to happen.”

“Do you have children?”

Tanya smiled. “Key question. Perhaps we may choose to suffer the Soviet system, for the sake of a quiet life; but do we have the right to bequeath such misery and oppression to the next generation? No, I don’t have children. I have a nephew, Grisha, whom I love, the son of my twin brother. And this morning in a letter my brother told me that the woman who will soon be his second wife is already pregnant, so I’ll have another nephew or a niece. For their sakes, I have to hope that Dubcek will succeed, and other Communist countries will follow the Czech example. But the Soviet system is inherently conservative, much more resistant to change than capitalism. That may be its most fundamental flaw, in the long run.”

When they had finished, Anna said: “If we can’t pay our author, can we perhaps give you a present to pass to him? Is there anything from the West he would like?”

A typewriter was what he needed, but that would blow his cover. “A sweater,” she said. “A really thick warm sweater. He’s always cold. And some underwear, the kind with long sleeves and long legs.”