Chapter 24: Alex

I have done it. I have really done it, I thought as I sat in my cramped apartment, rejoicing in my recent success – delivering tangible results of my undercover work to Chairman Kerimov. You have outdone yourself this time, I told myself. Stealing the plans was certainly a good move, but personally delivering them to Kerimov was a stroke of pure genius! With a celebratory bottle of White Gold Premium in my hands, I thought through the events of the day in an attempt to re-live it in all its glory.

…

I picked up my phone and dialed Kerimov’s office number.

“This is Grisha. May I help you?” I had never needed to directly call Kerimov, so I was shocked to hear such a direct greeting. I suppose if you are powerful enough to have this number, then you already know who you are calling and there is no need to hide anything from you, I reasoned.

“Yes. This is Aleksandr Buchkiev, and I need two things from you. One, I need you to schedule an appointment for me with Chairman Kerimov. I will only need an hour with him. I have something for him, and I think he will want it sooner rather than later. Two, I need you to arrange for a jet to pick me up and take me there. I want to leave soon, no more than two hours from now. And I will need the jet to fly me back here after I meet with Kerimov,” I said authoritatively.

“Uh huh. Remind me again who this is,” Grisha said disdainfully. He did not sound too thrilled to be hearing from me, and he definitely did not like the demands I was making. Sure, it was a lot of work for him to set up a jet flight on such short notice, especially considering I would only be in the Motherland for a few hours. But who cares? His job is to serve; he might as well serve me, I thought.

Fortunately, Grisha agreed to make the proper arrangements, and I left within the hour.

On the flight, all I could initially think about was Kerimov’s reaction. I imagined him praising me for my intelligence and skill. This is just fantastic, Aleksandr. You are a great asset to this country. But eventually my thoughts drifted to Kisa. Here I was, delivering plans for a fully-functioning rocket to bring honor to Russia, and my bitchy, ballerina sister would still receive more glory just for spinning around in circles. I knew I was better than her, and this is my personal proof. Sure, she can prance around on stage and look pretty. But I am furthering the interests of this entire nation. And my parents will never know. But I am better than her. Better, better, better!

When I got off the plane and made my way to Kerimov’s office, my pride was almost unbearable. I could not wait to tell Kerimov what I had done!

“You needed to see me, Buchkiev? I hear it’s urgent,” said Kerimov the second I entered his office.

“I have the plans,” I said, trying to suppress a smile as I handed them over to the chairman.

“Well, well, well. You proved useful after all. It seems I just had to light a fire under your toes,” said Kerimov. I was a little bit frustrated that he had not started praising me immediately, but I waited patiently and tried not to let my disappointment reveal itself on my face.

“But I must say,” Kerimov continued, “that was pretty quick. I am pleased with your work and expect you to keep doing it. Don’t let this distract you. I will have a new project for you by the end of the week, and it will require that you keep up appearances in America. So get back to the United States and await your new orders.”

As I walked out of his office, Kerimov congratulated me one final time on a job well done. I thanked him, smiled to myself, and headed straight to the jet Grisha had waiting for me.

…

The clank of an empty bottle in my hand woke me from my reveries. I lay down on the couch in an attempt to steady myself; the room started spinning and I soon became dizzy. I have really got to start taking it easy with the vodka.

I shortly realized that lying down was not the best idea. I stood up and stumbled my way into the kitchen for a glass of water. Just then a thought occurred to me: Luna. I left her at the hospital. She must feel like I have abandoned her. If that’s the case, then I am already failing my next assignment. I have to find Luna and try to ‘make nice.’ And I thought I was through with her, too. Well, I don’t have much of a choice. I’ll have to make her love me again. It shouldn’t be too difficult. I’m charming and attractive; she’s ignorant and gullible.

The last time we talked, Luna said her dad would be released soon, so I figured my best chance of finding Luna would be at the office. I called a taxi and directed it to the NASA complex. As I stumbled through the doors I had so recently broken through, my stomach began to churn. At first I couldn’t tell if that was my nerves talking, or the vodka. I decided it was probably a combination of the two and I considered going home and talking with Luna another day. But something in me kept pushing my body forward, and before I knew it, I was in Luna’s and my shared office.

“Alex!” Luna looked up quickly from her work when I entered.

“Luna, how are you?”

Immediately, I knew I had said something wrong. Luna looked puzzled for a moment. Under her breath she mumbled, “You bastard.” But then her expression turned to one of – I’m not sure what to call it – frenzy. She was definitely angry, but I had no idea why.

“YOU BASTARD! How dare you! It was your voice on the phone, you damned liar! Who the hell are you, anyway?” she shouted at me. Why is she so angry? How does she know I am not who I appear to be? Then I realized: My accent. I can’t control it as well when I’m drunk. Shit. I knew this was a bad idea. I should have left her alone for the night. How could I let this stupid girl jeopardize my career?

“So you are the one who paged me earlier this week. What do you know, Alex? What do you know, you son-of-a-bitch?” Luna continued to yell. “And you are Russian! Has everything you’ve ever told me been a lie?”

I needed to get out of there, and fast, before Luna realized my true identity. I was especially afraid that she might connect the dots and recognize that I stole her rocket plans. Wait a second, I thought. This is Luna we’re talking about here. She probably hasn’t even noticed that her plans are missing. God, she is so thick. Any intelligent human being would have called me out for stealing them already. She is so damn clueless!

Just as I started to leave on the off chance that Luna would use some common sense for once in her life, Tera walked in. Since Tera had already threatened my relationship with Luna once, I feared she might be the one to ruin me. I walked up to her and wrapped my hands around her throat. For a second, I felt all-powerful. I was finally going to stop this bitch. But then she started fighting back, and the vodka made me less steady and slowed my reflexes. Before I knew it, Tera was free of my grip and moving toward me. All I could do was to flee.