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The champagne was having its effect on Tatiana. Probably worse was to come,
but now let it come quickly.
`No, Comrade. I am happy in Moscow.'
`You have never thought what it might be like living in the West all those
beautiful clothes, the jazz, the modern things?'
`No, Comrade.' She was truthful. She had never thought about it.
`And if the State required you to live in the West?'
`I would obey.'
`Willingly?'
Tatiana shrugged her shoulders with a hint of impatience. `One does what one
is told.'
The woman paused. There was girlish conspiracy in the next question.
`Are you a virgin, Comrade?'
Oh, my God, thought Tatiana. `No, Comrade Colonel.'
The wet lips glinted in the light.
`How many men?'
Tatiana coloured to the roots of her hair. Russian girls are reticent and
prudish about sex. In Russia the sexual climate is mid-Victorian. These
questions from the Klebb woman were all the more revolting for being asked in
this cold inquisitorial tone by a State official she had never met before in
her life. Tatiana screwed up her courage. She stared defensively into the
yellow eyes. `What is the purpose of these intimate questions please, Comrade
Colonel?'
Rosa Klebb straightened. Her voice cut back like a whip. `Remember yourself,
Comrade. You are not here to ask questions. You forget to whom you are
speaking. Answer me!'
Tatiana shrank back. `Three men, Comrade Colonel.'
`When. How old were you?' The hard yellow eyes looked across the table into
the hunted blue eyes of the girl and held them and commanded.
Tatiana was on the edge of tears. `At school. When I was seventeen. Then at
the Institute of Foreign
Languages. I was twenty-two. Then last year. I was twenty-three. It was a
friend I met skating.'
`Their names, please, Comrade.' Rosa Klebb picked up a pencil and pulled a
scribbling pad towards her.
Tatiana covered her sobs. `No, never, whatever you do to me. You have no
right.'
`Stop that nonsense.' The voice was a hiss. `In five minutes I could have
those names from you, or
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anything else I wish to know. You are playing a dangerous game with me,
Comrade. My patience will not last for ever.' Rosa Klebb paused. She was being
too rough. `For the moment we will pass on.
Tomorrow you will give me the names. No harm will come to these men. They will
be asked one or two questions about you simple technical questions, that is
all. Now sit up and dry your tears. We cannot have any more of this
foolishness.'
Rosa Klebb got up and came round the table. She stood looking down at Tatiana.
The voice became oily and smooth. `Come, come, my dear. You must trust me.
Your little secrets are safe with me. Here, drink some more champagne and
forget this little unpleasantness. We must be friends. We have work to do
together. You must learn, my dear Tania, to treat me as you would your mother.
Here, drink this down.'
Tatiana pulled a handkerchief out of the waistband of her skirt and dabbed at
her eyes. She reached out a trembling hand for the glass of champagne and
sipped at it with bowed head.
`Drink it down, my dear.'
Rosa Klebb stood over the girl like some dreadful mother duck, clucking
encouragement.
Obediently Tatiana emptied the glass. She felt drained of resistance, tired,
willing to do anything to finish with this interview and get away somewhere
and sleep. She thought, so this is what it is like on the interrogation table,
and that is the voice the Klebb uses. Well, it was working. She was docile
now. She would co-operate.
Rosa Klebb sat down. She observed the girl appraisingly from behind the
motherly mask.
`And now, my dear, just one more intimate little question. As between girls.
Do you enjoy making love?
Does it give you pleasure? Much pleasure?'
Tatiana's hands came up again and covered her face. From behind them, in a
muffled voice, she said, `Well yes, Comrade Colonel. Naturally, when one is in
love . . .' Her voice trailed away. What else could she say? What answer did
this woman want?
`And supposing, my dear, you were not in love. Then would love-making with a
man still give you pleasure?'
Tatiana shook her head indecisively. She took her hands down from her face and
bowed her head. The hair fell down on either side in a heavy curtain. She was
trying to think, to be helpful, but she couldn't imagine such a situation. She
supposed ... `I suppose it would depend on the man, Comrade Colonel.'
`That is a sensible answer, my dear.' Rosa Klebb opened a drawer in the table.
She took out a photograph and slipped it across to the girl. `What about this
man, for instance?'
Tatiana drew the photograph cautiously towards heras if it might catch fire.
She looked down warily at the handsome, ruthless face. She tried to think, to
imagine ... `I cannot tell, Comrade Colonel. He is good-looking. Perhaps if he
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was gentle . . .' She pushed the photograph anxiously away from her.
`No, keep it, my dear. Put it up beside your bed and think of this man. You
will learn more about him later in your new work. And now,' the eyes glittered
behind the square panes of glass, `would you like to know what your new work
is to be? The task for which you have been chosen from all the girls in
Russia?'
`Yes, indeed, Comrade Colonel,' Tatiana looked obediently across at the intent
face that was now pointing at her like a gun-dog.
The wet, rubbery lips parted enticingly. `It is a simple, delightful duty you
have been chosen for, Comrade Corporal a real labour of love, as we say. It is
a matter of falling in love. That is all. Nothing else. Just falling in love
with this man.'
`But who is he? I don't even know him.'
Rosa Klebb's mouth revelled. This would give the silly chit of a girl
something to think about.
`He is an English spy.'
`Bozhi moi!' Tatiana clapped a hand over her mouth as much to stifle the use
of God's name as from terror. She sat, tense with the shock, and gazed at Rosa
Klebb through wide, slightly drunk eyes.
`Yes,' said Rosa Klebb, pleased with the effect of her words. `He is an
English spy. Perhaps the most famous of them all. And from now on you are in
love with him. So you had better get used to the idea.
And no silliness, Comrade. We must be serious. This is an important State
matter for which you have been chosen as the instrument. So no nonsense,
please. Now for some practical details.' Rosa Klebb stopped. She said sharply,
`And take your hand away from your silly face. And stop looking like a
frightened cow. Sit up in your chair and pay attention. Or it will be the
worse for you. Understood?'
`Yes, Comrade Colonel.' Tatiana quickly straightened her back and sat up with
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