They reached the end of the Prospeckt under the gleaming spire of the Admiralty Building and turned right into the Quay. There along the banks of the river stood the Winter Palace; its effect on Vasili was the same as it had always been. It made him think about the Russia that once had been and ended here.
There was no time for such reflections, nor was this the Leningrad he would roam for the next several days-although, ironically, it was this Leningrad, that Russia, that brought him here. Prince Andrei Voroshin had been part of both.
"Drive over the Anichov Bridge and turn left," he said. "Head into the old housing development district. I'll tell you where to stop." "What's down there?" asked Maletkin, his apprehension growing with each block they traveled, each bridge they crossed, into the heart of the city.
"I'm surprised you don't know; you should. A string of illegal boarding nouses, and equally illegal cheap hotels that seem to have a colleet.,e;y revisionist attitude regarding official papers." "In Leningrad?" "You don't know, do you?" said Taleniekov. "And no one ever told you. You were overlooked, comrade. When I was stationed in Riga, those of us who were area leaders frequently came up here and used the district for con- ferences we wished to keep secret, the ones that concerned our own people throughout the sector. It's where I first heard your name, I believe." "Me? I was brought up?" "Don't worry, I threw them off and protected you. You and the other man in Vyborg." "Vyborg?" Maletkin lost his grip on the wheel; the car swerved, narrowly avoiding an oncoming truck.
"Control yourselfl" Vasili shouted. "An accident would send us both to the black rooms of Lubyankal" "But Vyborgl" repeated the astonished traitor. "KGBVyborg? Do you know what you're saying?" "Precisely," replied Taleniekov. `l7wo, informers from the same source, neither aware of the other. It's the most accurate way to verify information. But if one does learn about the other... well, he has the best of both worlds, wouldn't you say? In your case, the advantages would be incalculable." "Who is he!?" "Later, my friend, later. You cooperate fully with every. thing I ask and you'll have his name when I leave." "Agreed," said Maletkin, his composure returning.
Taleniekov leaned back in the seat as they progressed down the traffic-laden Sadovaya into the crowded streets of the old housing district, the dom vashen. The patina of clean pavements and sandblasted buildings concealed the mounting tensions rampant within the area. Two and three families living in a single flat, four and five people sleeping in a room; it would all explode one day.
Vasili glanced at the traitor beside him; he despised the man. Maletkin thought he was going to be given an advantage undreamed of only minutes before: the name of a high-ranking KGB intelligence officer from his own station, a traitor like himself, who could be manipulated unmercifully.
Chapter Nineteen
He would do almost anything to get that name. It would be given to him-in three words, no other identification necessary. And, of course, it would be false. Pietre Maletkin would not be shot by the Americans crossing the ice to Vainikala, but instead in a barracks courtyard in Vyborg. So much for the politics of the insignificant man, thought Vasili, as he recognized the building he was looking for down the street.
"Stop at the next comer, comrade," he said. "Wait for me. If the person I want to see isn't there, I'll be right back. If he's home, I'll be an hour or so." Maletkin pulled to the right behind a cluster of bicycles chained to a post on the curb. "Do remember," Taleniekov continued, "that you have two alternatives. You can race away to KGB headquarters-it's on the Ligovsky Prospeckt, incidentally-and turn me in; that will lead to a chain of revelations which will result in your execution. Or you can wait for me, do as I ask you to do, and you will have bought yourself the identity of someone who can bring you present and future rewards. YouT have your hook in a very important man." "Then I don't really have a choice, do IT' said Maletkin. "IT be here." The traitor grinned; he perspired on his chin and his teeth were yeHow.
Taleniekov approached the stone steps of the building; it was a four-story structure with twenty to thirty flats, many crowded, but not hers. Lodzia Kronescha had her own apartment; that decision had been made