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The burner cell she kept near the bedside table vibrated, and Orina ran to grab it.
“Ovsyanaya kasha,” a woman’s voice said. She and her oldest and dearest friend, Zaryana Ivashov, had agreed on the code phrase years ago to identify themselves to one another.
While Zary was the only person who had the phone’s number, Orina wasn’t foolish enough to think it would stay that way. United Russia’s reach was global, and eventually, regardless of what fail-safes she put in place, they’d find her.
“Hello, Zary,” she responded. “How are you?”
“I’m worried about you, Losha.”
The code name Zary called her by was one her friend had given her years ago. She’d told Orina at the time that her long dark hair looked as beautiful as a horse’s mane.
The two had met when the then-KGB took them and several other teenage girls from the orphanages they were living in, and trained them to be spies.
“Orina, please tell me where you are,” Zary pleaded. “You don’t need to hide anymore. The bounty has been lifted.”
She could hear the desperation in her friend’s voice, and understood that she would’ve felt the same way if the situations were reversed.
If it were just Orina’s life at risk, maybe she would’ve believed the words of the only person worthy of her trust when she assured her again and again that she no longer had to stay in hiding. As it was, she couldn’t be too careful.
“It is difficult for me to believe that United Russia would give up so easily.”
“It wasn’t easily, Losha. Shiver—”
From the other room, Kazmir began to cry, as though he’d heard Zary’s words and understood the pain they brought his mother.
Orina immediately ended the call but knew it hadn’t been quickly enough. Zary had to have heard the baby’s cry.
When she was about to park in front of her rented flat after running some errands, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Danger was close; she felt it on every nerve ending.
She’d known the day would come; her only question was, who? Had United Russia found her, or had Shiver?
She looked in the review mirror at the beautiful baby sleeping peacefully in the backseat. As hard as it would be to leave the sweet flat they’d called home since shortly after Kazmir was born, they had no choice. Someone had found them, signaling it was time for them to move on.
Her only regret was not being able to spend the upcoming holiday in Lapland. After being almost entirely destroyed during World War II, the region had rebuilt, proclaiming itself the official home of Father Christmas.
Orina supposed spending the holiday here was more for her than her son; Kazmir wouldn’t remember anything of their temporary home.
She turned her car around and was about to drive away, when she recognized a man getting out of another SUV.
Axel “Pinch” Fulton. His presence meant three things. Shiver Whittaker was either with him or not far behind; SIS was likely involved in her manhunt; and any hesitation she might have felt over leaving, was long gone, like she soon would be.
“I’m in the States and…I need help,” Orina said when she called Zary three days later.
“Where in the States are you?”
“DC.”
“Tell me what you need, Losha.”
“A place to stay. At least temporarily.” She felt her eyes fill with tears when she looked at her sleeping baby. They’d spent the last two nights in different hotels, and the change in surroundings was affecting Kazmir’s sleep. Orina needed to find a place where they could stay for several nights in a row.
“Let me see what I can do.”
“You can’t tell anyone.”
“I have to tell Gunner,” Zary sighed.
“Why?”
