Black Ops (Presidential Agent 5)

"I'm going to leave Colonel Alekseeva here. And probably move Mrs. Berezovsky and Sof'ya here."

"Is leaving her there smart, Charley?"

"It's out of the question," Svetlana said. "'For wither thou goest, I will go' . . . Read the Bible, my Charley, that's in the first chapter of Ruth."

"I don't want all our eggs in one basket," Castillo said.

"That's right. You trust Pevsner, don't you?" Delchamps asked sarcastically.

"I'm with Charley, Alex," Munz said. "Leaving her here makes sense."

"Well, I guess that makes two of you," Delchamps said.

"I'm going to find out as much as I can about the money from her. Alek is going to tell me what he knows about the Congo operation, but he says he doesn't know much, so get what you can out of the colonel."

"Dmitri, tell them everything you know about that," Pevsner ordered.

It took Berezovsky a long moment to reply.

"You are sure, Aleksandr?"

"Of course I'm sure. We can do something about that, Dmitri, through Charley."

"If you're worried about the two million, Colonel," Castillo said, "Alek will tell you I'm a man of my word. I promised it to you, and I'll pay it."

Castillo saw that Svetlana shook her head as if wondering how stupid just one human male could be.

What the hell is that all about?

"One quick question, Colonel, now that we're no longer dancing," Castillo said. "And we're no longer dancing, right?"

"I trust Aleksandr's judgment, Colonel," Berezovsky said. "We are no longer, as you put it so quaintly, dancing."

"Did you go to the Kuhls when you decided to leave, or did he try to turn you?"

"I went to him. We have known about them for years."

"And he put you in contact with our station chief in Vienna?"

"Finally."

"What about her?"

"I presume you wish an honest, rather than a courteous, opinion?"

"Yes, I do."

"She was the problem. She would do nothing without permission."

"Is that what you meant by she 'finally' made contact with you?"

"She finally allowed us to make contact with her. And it was Svetlana and I who were taking the risk, not she."

"Is that why you suddenly decided to approach me?"

"There was a possibility they were onto us. That was a possibility. In Svetlana's and my judgment, it was a certainty that should it appear to Miss Dillworth that there was any possibility of anything going wrong, we would be left to fend for ourselves."

"Thank you for your honesty," Castillo said.