BooksBarbecue
Back The Asset
Chapters (86)
  1. Foreword
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. 35
  37. 36
  38. 37
  39. 38
  40. 39
  41. 40
  42. 41
  43. 42
  44. 43
  45. 44
  46. 45
  47. 46
  48. 47
  49. 48
  50. 49
  51. 50
  52. 51
  53. 52
  54. 53
  55. 54
  56. 55
  57. 56
  58. 57
  59. 58
  60. 59
  61. 60
  62. 61
  63. 62
  64. 63
  65. 64
  66. 65
  67. 66
  68. 67
  69. 68
  70. 69
  71. 70
  72. 71
  73. 72
  74. 73
  75. 74
  76. 75
  77. 76
  78. 77
  79. 78
  80. 79
  81. 80
  82. 81
  83. 82
  84. 83
  85. 84
  86. Afterword

“Olga,” she said. “They’re covering their tracks. They’re trying to make it look like this is a disease outbreak so that they can deny it’s a bioweapon.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Because they’re being watched.”

“Watched?”

“The world is always watching,” Sofia said. “We signed treaties saying we wouldn’t do this. Saying we’d stop making new bioweapons.”

“We need to get out of here,” Olga said.

Sofia nodded. “But how? They’ve surrounded us with machine guns.”

26

Tatyana leaned back on a velvet sofa. She was in one of the hotel’s boutiques and two girls fluttered around her.

“Maybe that one,” she said, pointing at a black Chanel dress with jewels embroidered around the neckline.

One of the girls went to get it while the other offered her a bottle of Perrier on a silver tray.

Tatyana waved it away.

“No,” she said. “Not that one. The one with the crystals.”

The girl took it carefully from the hanger and held it up. It was exquisite.

“Oh,” Tatyana moaned, “it’s so beautiful.”

“It is,” the girl said.

The girl was pretty. She had a pleasant demeanor. Tatyana wondered what it would be like to have a life like that. A life that was honest. A life that was safe.

Maybe if she’d been born in America instead of Russia she’d be a girl like that. A girl who showed rich, foreign women dresses that cost more than she earned in a month.

“Would you like to try it on?” the girl said.

Tatyana was about to say yes when her phone rang.

It was her operator. “He wants to speak to you.”

“I’ll hold,” Tatyana said.

She waited for the click and then Igor’s voice.

“Arrived?” he said.

“I’m at the hotel.”

“How’s the room?”

“I haven’t been up yet.”

Igor chuckled. “The boutiques?”

“You’d be suspicious if I didn’t,” she said.

He laughed again and she thought he sounded very jolly. She could tell he was smoking a cigar.

“Is everything okay?” she said.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“You don’t usually call for a chat while I’m shopping,” she said.

“Quite,” he said.

She rolled her eyes at the sales assistant and pretended to yawn. The assistant smiled.

Part of Tatyana’s job was to constantly sell herself to Igor. There was no shortage of blonde girls in Moscow who would sleep with foreigners for a Chanel dress. The bosses knew it. The girls knew it.

Stroking Igor’s ego was something Tatyana was used to. She was good at it.

“Miss me?” she said.

Not only did she have to flirt with him, she had to convince him that he got more bang for his buck with her than any of the literally hundreds of other girls who wanted her job.

That didn’t just mean favors in the office with the door locked.