Excerpt
“It will soon pass,” the cabbie told him, as he turned into a side street only to find that there was no exit through the blockades that faced a main thoroughfare. “We will wait here for five minutes.” So they sat together, the cabbie impatient with lost work time, Chopyk uncomfortable with the enforced companionship, until the barricades were pulled away. Just as the procession had passed and the cabbie was starting the car, Chopyk spotted Lona on the other side of the street engaged in serious conversation with two of the roughest-looking specimens of Russian manhood that he had ever seen. One of them was tall, brutish, with a great hooked nose in profile, and it was to this hulk that she was addressing most of her attention.
When the car had inched its way onto the main street, he asked the cabbie to pull over just in front of Lona and her friends. As they slowed down, he noticed the hulk pass her something, an object. She accepted this ungraciously and he could see her mouth form a pout.
“Stop here,” he had called. If she was in any trouble, he should know about it. But just as he opened the car window, a whistle shrieked from the roadway and a uniformed militsioner waved them on. The thugs took one look at the officer and melted instantly into an alleyway, taking Lona with them.
“It was extraordinary,” Chopyk told Jennifer. “I wanted to ask her about it when she returned to the hotel, but there was no opportunity. She rushed off to the bar with someone. I did not pursue the matter.” Jennifer watched him squirm as he related this incident.
“In fact,” he went on, “I was a little afraid to know what she was doing. I thought that she might have opened up to you? They were rough characters. How did she meet them so fast?”
“She’s a pretty girl,” Jennifer replied. “She’ll meet lots of guys.” She couldn’t help smiling. Chopyk’s idea of a gang of toughs was probably men who didn’t wear hats. “Sorry, I have no idea what’s up. But I can try and find out.” Chopyk seemed satisfied now that he had done his duty, and he turned his attention to the day’s itinerary.
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On the fourth afternoon the group was taken to Moscow’s much vaunted trade fair grounds. Natasha proudly marched them around the various show buildings, reeling off statistics: so many tractors produced in…
