Read Online Despite the Falling Snow by Shamim Sarif - Free Book Online Page A

not easily used. He is a man of integrity. And he would have suspected me if I’d tried for information. Besides, only now is he in a really useful position.”
    The pause that follows seems to her to be some kind of test. He is waiting for her reply, for the right reply, and it should not be so hard for her to give it. Perhaps it only seems a little difficult because she had liked Alexander. She swallows down the last taste of disappointment that remains in her mouth, and speaks.
    “Seems like a good opportunity,” she says.
    He turns with a half-smile and examines her face. “It is. Could be. If you can keep your head. If you’re not attracted to him.”
    “You know me, Misha.”
    “Yes, I do.” He stops walking and holds her gaze. “That’s why I was surprised. Last night. I’ve never seen you like that with anyone.”
    She sighs. “I liked him. For a moment. But if he’s government, he’s everything I work against. It’s not a dilemma for me. It’s black and white.”
    “Good.”
    “But he’s coming tonight. To see me. I told him he could,” she adds, with as much nonchalance as she can manage.
    “You don’t waste any time, do you?”
    “I don’t think that’s something you should be concerned about.”
    He raises an eyebrow, but lets the comment go and they walk on side by side in silence. Beneath her ribs, deep inside her empty stomach, Katya feels the teasing itch of fear and the flickering of excitement. This could be a big opportunity for her, a chance to directly make a difference. To tap her own source, not to simply pass out information from others.
    “Listen,” Misha says, and he is all briskness, all business now. “If you can do it, it would be wonderful. Just imagine. But it’s not easy to become involved with someone purely to betray them. You have to be emotionally strong. Clear. Clean. Business is business.”
    “I know.”
    “I hope so.”
    She resists the urge to turn away. Evidently she must reassure him a little more if she is to be trusted with this job.
    “Misha, he’s sweet. Like a puppy. But now that I know who he is, I can’t fall for him. It’s impossible, it would be a denial of everything I am. If you want me to do it, I will.”
    He finds himself momentarily irritated at her admission that she felt some attraction, any attraction, to Alexander. When it comes to women, he has within him a certain expectation, borne of arrogance, which means that he is always slightly surprised by their awareness of anyone other than he. But her earnest, decisive tone now pleases him, and she can see that. He is not the type to express himself openly; he prefers to play games with people, to keep his responses neutral and unreadable wherever possible. But still she knows him well enough to read the quickening of his step and the bright animation of his manner as he instructs her:
    “Very good. For the next few months, you captivate him. Get to know him, allow him to know a little of you, enough for him to fall in love, and above all, get him to trust you. He’s a good man, and he hasn’t yet had disappointments in life. He’s young, like us,” he adds, his voice lower, perhaps even hesitant. “He trusts easily.”
    They are at the crossroads behind her apartment, and he has stopped.
    “I’ll leave you here,” he says. “Think about it a little. Start seeing him, and think about it. You must be sure.”
    “I am sure.”
    He smiles slightly. The pleasurable tension of a new avenue, a new contact; the arousal of a new game beginning. A pulse of energy moves through him. He will go out tonight and celebrate. Drink a little and find a girl with pretty eyes to flirt with and make love to.
    “Then good luck,” he says. “Let me know how it goes. Keep me updated every step of the way.”
    She nods, accepts the touch of his cold lips on her cheek, and she turns to cross the road, her mind still reeling with the sudden shift that has occurred. Within the space of a few