Washington

The 2nd chapter of my 29th book and thriller "The Imperative U-turn".

Chapter 2

At three fifteen pm after having a downhearted lunch with his Lusya and a dejected adieu, Ilayev went out to the waiting cab, which headquarters has sent him. They reached Vnukovo airport quiet early, thus Ilayev had enough time to have a drink before boarding the plane. He could have called his Lusya, but he gave up his yearning to hear her voice; simply because he had no idea what would be his mission, he might fail and be arrested or even lose his life. He boarded the plane with a bad conscious, but in a second thought he knew he did the right thing, by not calling his beloved Lusya.

During the ten hours flight Ilayev slept giving up dinner and snacks later on, he was not hungry and had no wish to meet someone that knows him during that rather long time.

The time was 11.10 am when the IDA flight number 728 landed at Dulles airport Washington. At 11,50 am Ilayev has crossed without hitch emigration and the customs counters, and having picked up his suitcase, he hailed a cab and was on his way to the Russian embassy.

‘Welcome dear Yevgeni how was the flight?’ The embassy’s press attache welcomed Ilayev with a warm smile. He guided Ilayev to his office while exchanging just a few words with, and didn’t even ask to sit down.

‘I’ve ordered a room for you Yevgeni at The Darcy hotel not too far from our embassy, I’ll call a cab right away; and we’ll meet again tomorrow at about 10 am, to let you know what we expect from you, okay?’ The press attache summed up his short briefing in the Russian language of course. He called a cab and sent Ilayev to wait for it in front of the embassy.

He kept me in his office and didn’t introduce me to the ambassador, or at least to any of the embassy’s personnel… Ialyev wondered worried on his way to the hotel. It must be an exeptional mission, which is waiting particularly for me; and if they could not carry it out with one of their local agents, it must be some mission… Ilayev kept thinking worried, all along the ride to his hotel.

@ Haim Kadman 2020/1 - all rights reserved.