Ghost Bird... Do You Copy?

Curious Encounters

Chapter Thirty-Three

Curious Encounters

(Playlist – Dirty Old Town by Craig Cardiff )

The majority of this chapter is in Russian unless otherwise noted.

Kota and Gabriel only know a few key phrases in Russian.

Raven's POV:

October 30th

Driving into Omsk, I felt some trepidation. It was a large city, but I had caused a lot of havoc during my lifetime while here. My name was very well known. On top of that, it was a military hot bed. It was a good thing that we had stopped on our way through and got hair dye. I was now a bleached blonde; even the eyebrows. Kayli was going to kill me. There wasn't much we could do for Charles, and thankfully Kota and Gabriel had gotten cleaned up.

Going through the military checks was always tense. We had taught Kota and Gabriel just enough Russian to get them through. "Take a right at the next stop." I was getting anxious.

There was coughing and sneezing in the back seat. "How much further do we have to go?" Gabriel croaked out.

"Not much further, Gabe. How are you doing, Kota?" He had gotten more ill in the past week. When we first left, I had been more worried about Gabriel, but Kota had taken a turn for the worse. His breathing was severely labored and his color was off. Gabriel said he thought it might be pneumonia.

"Where to now?" Charles looked to me for directions.

"Go straight for three kilometers, and then find somewhere to park." Please let this plan work. Surely of all my connections that remained here in Russia, this one hasn't been burned.

Once Charles had found a parking spot, I looked at my hands that sat in my lap. They were clasped, while my thumbs rolled back and forth over each other.

"It isn't going to get any easier the longer you wait. Go on. What's the worst that could happen? They run you out with a gun?" Charles clasped my shoulder and gave me a reassuring smile.

"That's exactly what I'm worried about. I'm not going in with any weapons." I gave a nervous laugh. "I will go to the door. You stay here with them please. I will be back as quickly as I can." I left the car and headed a few buildings down. Making sure my hat was on securely, covering my blonde hair, and refastening my coat, and stood for moment as so many memories flooded my mind. Before I knew what I was doing, I had begun knocking. "Ugh, this is suicide!"

I heard loud footsteps and the door was flung open. It took a moment for my brain to work. How long had I been away? Too long. "Mama. Otets. I am home. May I come in so we may talk?"

My mother and father seemed to be frozen. After a time, my mother reached a hand up. I prepared my face for a slap, but instead I felt her caress my cheek. "Yevgeniy? Is it really you?"

"Da. YA skuchal po tebe. I missed you." Then she and my father were both hugging me there on the doorstep. "We need to go inside and talk, quickly."

"Are you in trouble again? Already?" My father asked.

"Not the kind you are thinking. Please, let us hurry." They pulled me in, looking both ways on the sidewalk before closing the door and securing it. "I need to speak quickly, then we will have plenty of time to speak and catch up."

"Speak then." My mother was quick with her words. She was a formidable woman, rising up to her full height which was much shorter than I, and crossing her arms. It made me smile. I spoke quickly and quietly. "I am working with the U.S. Government on a secret mission to integrate myself back into Russian society and help overthrow the military. My partner has a much larger role in this, but has been unable to speak to me about it. Our two brothers from the U.S. Air Force were shot down and in a POW prison. While we were acting as officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we got assigned to the prison, and by chance found them there. We helped them escape last week from Moscow and now we are all on the run. It won't take much for us to create new identities and continue our mission, but our brothers are very ill from their mistreatment in the prison. May we please stay here to get them well enough to arrange transport out of Russia?" I felt like I had just laid the fate of the world in her hands.