Moscow Rules

Lada?”
     
     
    “What kind of car are the watchers using?”
     
     
    "An S-Class Mercedes.”
     
     
    “That’s not really a fair fight, is it?”
     
     
    “Not really.”
     
     
    “We’d better make it an official car, then. Something that can take a punch. Tell the station chief we want to borrow the ambassador’s limo. Come to think of it, tell him we want the ambassador, too. He’s really quite good, you know.”
     
     
    Elena Kharkov had left her mother’s apartment just one time that day, a fact that Arkady Medvedev and his watchers found neither alarming nor even the slightest bit noteworthy. The outing had been brief: a quick drive to a glittering new gourmet market up the street, where, accompanied by two of her bodyguards, she had purchased the ingredients for a summer borscht. She had spent the remainder of the afternoon in the kitchen with her mother, playfully bickering over recipes, the way they always had done when Elena was young.
     
     
    By evening, the soup had chilled sufficiently to eat. Mother and daughter sat together at the dining-room table, a candle and a loaf of black bread between them, images of the president’s rally in Dinamo Stadium playing silently on the television in the next room. It had been nearly twenty-four hours since Elena’s arrival in Moscow, yet her mother had assiduously avoided any discussion of the reason behind the unorthodox visit. She broached the topic now for the first time, not with words but by gently laying Elena’s letter upon the table. Elena looked at it a moment, then resumed eating.
     
     
    “You’re in trouble, my love.”
     
     
    “No, Mama.”
     
     
    “Who was the man you sent to deliver this letter?”
     
     
    “He’s a friend. Someone who’s helping me.”
     
     
    “Helping you with what?”
     
     
    Elena was silent.
     
     
    “You’re leaving your husband?”
     
     
    “Yes, Mama, I’m leaving my husband.”
     
     
    “Has he hurt you?”
     
     
    “Badly.”
     
     
    “Did he hit you?”
     
     
    “No, never.”
     
     
    “Is there another woman?”
     
     
    Elena nodded, eyes on her food. “She’s just a child of nineteen. I’m sure Ivan will hurt her one day, too.”
     
     
    “You should have never married him. I begged you not to marry him, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”
     
     
    “I know.”
     
     
    “He’s a monster. His father was a monster and he’s a monster.”
     
     
    “I know.” Elena tried to eat some of the soup but had lost her appetite. “I’m sorry the children and I haven’t been spending more time with you the last few years. Ivan wouldn’t let us. It’s no excuse. I should have stood up to him.”
     
     
    “You don’t have to apologize, Elena. I know more than you think I know.”
     
     
    A tear spilled onto Elena’s cheek. She brushed it away before her mother could see it. “I’m very sorry for the way I’ve behaved toward you. I hope you can forgive me.”
     
     
    “I forgive you, Elena. But I don’t understand why you came to Moscow like this.”
     
     
    “I have to take care of some business before I leave Ivan. I have to protect myself and the children.”
     
     
    “You’re not thinking about taking his money?”
     
     
    “This has nothing to do with money.”
     
     
    Her mother didn’t press the issue. She was a Party wife. She knew about secrets and walls.
     
     
    “When are you planning to tell him?”
     
     
    “Tomorrow night.” Elena paused, then added pointedly: “When I return to France.”
     
     
    “Your husband isn’t the sort of man who takes bad news well.”
     
     
    “No one knows that better than I do.”
     
     
    “Where are you planning to go?”
     
     
    “I haven’t decided yet.”
     
     
    “Will you stay in Europe or will you come home to Russia?”
     
     
    “It might not be safe for me in Russia anymore.”
     
     
    “What are you talking about?”
     
     
    “I might have to take the children someplace where Ivan can’t find them. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”
     
     
    The Party wife understood perfectly. “Am I ever going to see them again, Elena? Am I ever going to see my grandchildren again?”
     
     
    “It might take some time. But, yes, you’ll be able to see them again.”
     
     
    “Time? How much time? Look at me, Elena. Time is not something I have in abundance.”
     
     
    “I’ve left some money in the bottom drawer of your dresser. It’s all the money I have in the