The Pushkin café

The novelette "A fateful opportunity" that opens up my eighth book is a gripping espionage thriller, https://www.oauthor.com/buy/A_fateful_opportunity

The Pushkin café

"A fateful opportunity"

An excerpt

He was sent to serve as a cultural or press attaché' in the US embassies of two ex Soviet Union countries, to operate the CIA local agents in these countries. He was sent there due to his fluent Russian and did rather well and acquired two more similar languages, which he learned by his own initiative.

He served three more years as a press attaché' in the U.S. embassy in Abidjan the capital of the West African state the Ivory Coast, which was the easiest job he ever had; and now here he is at the age of thirty one years in Moscow, on his first mission as an agent or as a secret courier with an ordinary U.S. passport; without the knowledge what he is supposed to achieve, except pose as a tourist on a nostalgic visit.

After a few moments of consulting the city map, he decided to take the metro to the Red Square visit the Kremlin and cross the road to the famous Okhotny Ryad shopping center, and have supper over there and then decide what else he wants to see; the best option is the recommended "B1 Maximum club", which is not far off or maybe he will visit some other joint at the same vicinity.

He dressed up with an overcoat and a fur cup, left his room and went down to the lobby. He did not forget to exchange a few polite words with the reception clerk and went out.

He walked at ease towards the metro station without checking surveillance of course or without acting haphazardly or fretfully with the intention to cut off contact, and that's how he carried on during the afternoon and evening. He enjoyed very much the B1 Maximum club, and stayed there up to three am in the morning and then took a cab back to his hotel.

On the next morning he woke up at eleven thirty with a hangover. The first thing he did was to take a cold shower, to recover as much as he could; and as he missed breakfast he went out on foot to the Pushkin Café, to have something to eat.

The café at these hours was not crowded of course except on weekends, thus he was led to a table without delay.

A moment or two after he sat down next to his table, a young couple entered and advanced towards his table straight away. They reached his table smiling and the young man pulled a chair for his escort from a nearby table, and they sat opposite him the two of them as if they were his closest friends.

The male was a good looking fair headed man about the same age as Boris, while the female was an exotic beauty a Georgian or from some other part of the Caucasus Mountains.

'Well what a night it was eh?' The young man said in Russian and both his guests burst out laughing.

A smile appeared on Boris pursued lips but he had nothing to say to these two, he did not even dare to ask what they wanted and who they are.

'Do consult the menu and order for us too, if you don't mind.' The young man added and his two guests watched him smiling.

'Be my guests but you haven't introduced yourselves yet, and what is it all about?'

'Well this Vera and I'm Ivan, but we'll talk later we're hungry.' He said noticing the waiter that was approaching their table.

Boris ordered the dishes and the wine, and they sat in an embarrassing silence several moments till their orders arrived.

It was the strangest lunch he had ever had, but he was not annoyed or frightened he had no reason to be in such a state meanwhile. It must have been the presence of that exceptional exotic beauty the so called Vera, which made this strange encounter a pleasant one.

At the end of the meal and over the coffee, things started to clear up.

© Haim Kadman 2013 �" all rights reserved.

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