Ivan Petrov

Chapter 1

September 1993

Yekaterinburg, Russia

"Today,  the Supreme Soviet has made a response towards the President's allegations of corruption on the Vice President, in which it has deemed unacceptable and lacks any evidential basis..."

*TV turns off*

Ivan sits on his couch finishing his glass of vodka, wondered what the hell is going on with the government again. He wasn't surprised that there's more news on his country's government; he was surprised that his country hasn't fallen into a mad civil war.

He realises that his house is now cluttered in mess, reading on papers and monitoring events of his government. One could notice some of passports lying on his table, indicating that he holds multiple citizenship.

He decides to step out of his house and clear his mailbox, he hasn't checked them in days. 

He slowly walked down the steps of the Khrushchev-era apartment where he stays, with broken windows and steps littered with empty Baltika beer bottles and cigarette buds. This was very different from what he used to see back in the olden days, where everything was neat and orderly despite the ageing architecture.

As he collects his mail from the mailbox room, riddled with graffiti, an old lady came down to collect her letters do; it was his neighbour, Lyudmila. She was hastily checking through her letters and dropping some important ones such as utility bills. 

To Ivan, he know something is not right, perhaps she was expecting a mail from someone, it can never escape from his 50-year old strong eyesight.

"Mr Petrov, are you ok?" asked Lyudmila as she noticed Ivan looking at her.

He wanted to ask, but he decided to observe it out a little longer, perhaps it was just not that important at all. He wants to observe a pattern.

"Yea... yea, everything is fine. I was thinking what should I eat tonight..." replied Ivan.

"I do have okroshka, if you want..." offered the old lady.

Ivan hesitated for a while before agreeing to it, the cold soup was his favourite after all.

Fast forward to Ivan and the old lady sharing a table in her house, Ivan is carefully sipping on the okroshka that she made. It was delicious, and certainly undefeatable compared to other stuff that he ate.

"I know what you were thinking just now..." said Lyudmila, "you were wondering what letter I was looking for, right?"

Ivan stopped sipping and looked at her for a moment, before she continued.

"There's no need to hide, I've been watched by people like you for most of my life. I know how you guys operate..." said Lyudmila.

"I'm no longer those 'people', I'm retired." said Ivan. "But what letter were you expecting?"

"My daughter, Anastasia, went missing many days ago... I've lost count." she said. "I know she's old enough to take care of herself, but her boyfriend, is someone I don't trust."

Ivan realised that this is a missing person's case and that she was expecting a letter from either her daughter or the possible kidnapper.

"This boyfriend of your daughter you speak of, what makes not trust him?" he switched up his tone to sound more professional. 

"Now you sound like them." she remarked. "He looks like a gangster, those leather-jacket scum who wears shades, you know how they look like."

"So his appearance bothered you?" asked Ivan.