[Do I take orders from him?]
Good question! Vincent is the only one who knows how this thing works, so you kinda have to do what he says. But he’s not military. Would you like to be, Vincent? I can make you a captain!
—No, Katherine, I don’t want to be a captain in the Russian Army … Look, Alex—can I call you Alex?—this thing, it works on trust more than anything else. I can’t … tell you what to do because by then it’ll be too late. You need to … I’m a center. You play wing. We need to anticipate each other.
[She said I have to shoot you if you do anything wrong.]
—Really? What part of trust—
—Only during training, Vincent. After that, we’ll have something less …
—Crazy?
—I was thinking ominous.
—No, Katherine. Having someone behind you with a gun pointed at your head all day isn’t ominous. It’s insanely stupid, ridiculously dangerous. I think you need more words.
[I’m sorry. You said trust. I thought you should know.]
Right … Thank you, Alex, for your honesty. And Katherine, I hate to ruin that ominous plan of yours but he won’t be able to hold a gun, not with the gloves on. They’re like hockey gloves.
[Oh!]
Exactly.
—All right! We’ll think of something else. Why does everything have to be so difficult?
[So what do we do now?]
Well, Sergeant, it looks like you won’t start training today after all. No, Vincent, I’m not letting you into Themis without some sort of safety measure in place. You can start tomorrow.
—We can start today. We don’t need to be inside Themis for now. We can just hold hands for a while.
—What did you just say?
—Hands. Ever tried walking while holding someone’s hand? It doesn’t work if your pacing is different. You need to adjust speed, distance, so your arms can move in sync. We’ll start with that to get our feet moving together. It’ll be a mirror image, but it’s easy to switch later. Then we’ll work on the arms. You can just follow me around. I’m going to exaggerate my arm movements a bit. You have to move like I do. You’ll need to walk like that even when I’m not around.
[This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life.]
—It sounds perfect. I’ll let you boys do your thing, then. I don’t wanna be a third wheel.
—Don’t go, Katherine. I need to talk to you first.
[This … training thing sounded much better when she explained it to me.]
Oh, don’t worry, we’ll get to the part where we fall ten times a day soon enough. That reminds me, Katherine, we’ll need a place where you don’t mind things getting crushed.
—And they say I’m high-maintenance. You can leave us, Sergeant. I’ll send for you when we’re done here.
[Yes, ma’am.]
So?
—Any news about Eva?
—No. We haven’t found her yet. She’s really good! Or whoever is helping her is really good. Whatever. We’ll find her. Don’t worry about it.
—You gave me your word she wouldn’t be harmed.
—I promised I wouldn’t give the order to shoot first. They still need to bring her in. I’m not responsible for what happens if she doesn’t want to. You know how she is.
—That’s not good enough. I need to know you won’t hurt her.
—Hurt her? Why would I do that? But you know we can’t let the Americans get their hands on her. If it comes to that, they’ll put her down. They’ll shoot to kill. No one is going to hurt her.
—I won’t help you if anything happens to Eva. You can kill me if you want to, but then you’ll have nothing.
—Oh, Vincent, Vincent … I thought we’d been through this. Do you really think anything’s changed because Dr. Franklin and your daughter are gone? Look at your hands. How many fingers do you see? Are you sure? Oh don’t worry, they wouldn’t start with you. They’d bring in a little girl and let you watch while they do it to her. They can do things that you and I can’t even imagine, Vincent. They can do things to you until there is no you left. They can screw with your mind so much you’ll be begging for them to hurt you more. They can turn you into a pet.
—You’re a sick fuck, Katherine. I hope you know that.
—Me? I’m not the one who wants to do any of this. I’m the one, the only one, stopping them. My boss, he doesn’t like this plan. He doesn’t like you. He doesn’t like you at all, Vincent. It’s the accent, I think. If this doesn’t work out …
—If this doesn’t work out, what?
—Let’s just say you’re not the only one who’ll spend some quality time with a blowtorch and some bolt cutters.
—You guys watch way too much TV. Am I really supposed to fall for this?
—Trust me, Vincent, the GRU can be …
—Oh, I know you can do some very nasty shit to people. I have absolutely no doubt about that. I was talking about that Stockholm syndrome thing you’re going for. Next thing you know, you’ll be asking me out on a date. Just a casual dinner in a dimly lit restaurant. Do you think I’ll develop feelings for you? That I’ll use Themis to destroy armies … out of love? Is that it? I’ll admit, if the circumstances were different, and maybe you weren’t a psychopath, and the world hadn’t gone to shit …
—Wow. I don’t know what to say, Vincent. I’m … hurt. Hey, that dinner thing is a great idea, though. What do you say we get out of here and go for a big steak? I know the perfect place.
—I’m serious, Katherine. I want Eva to be safe. You hear me?
—I’ll do my best, Vincent. I promise you I’ll do my best. Come now. Steak!
FILE NO. 2138
PERSONAL JOURNAL ENTRY—EVA REYES
Location: Kaarina Work Camp, near Turku, Finland
There’s a way out. Everyone knows about it. There’s a tataarit kid—they call him Baba. I have no idea what his real name is. He goes out every single night for supplies. Cigarettes, mostly. One hundred percent markup, but Baba can get you anything. He’ll even bring you a receipt, so you know you’re only getting ripped off a hundred percent. The kid—he can’t be more than twelve—makes over two thousand dollars a week, or so he says. I get the feeling it’s Baba’s dad who pockets the money, but Baba likes to brag. He lives well, that’s for sure. New clothes. New phone. He’s cocky as hell. I like him a lot.
I asked if he could take me with him. He said no, of course. I’ve given up on things not being complicated. I tried threatening him, told him I’d tell the guards. He laughed. The guards get 20 percent, so does the chef. It turns out my way out of here is through the kitchen, and the chef is the man with the key. I offered to pay, but he asked to see the money. I really like that kid. I like him enough that I told him who I was. That made him smile. Then he asked for the shirt off my back. Literally. He thinks it will fetch a fortune online. “Genuine shirt from Eva Reyes, worn on alien planet.” We even took a picture he can use as a certificate of authenticity. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about my clothes. Anyway, I hated that shirt. The Russians gave it to me. I might have forgotten to mention that part to Baba. Unfortunately, that priceless fashion item was my one shirt, and if I manage to leave this place, I’ll do it wearing a tee shirt from a metal band called Nightwish, courtesy of Baba himself. At least it’s black. He also gave me enough money for a bus to Turku and the ferry to Mariehamn though I’m supposed to pay him back. I’m not sure how. I didn’t ask.