Page 80 - double revenge 3.

Her shaking hands were barely up to unlocking her front door and once inside, she bolted the door
and quickly went from room to room to close all the curtains. She picked up her shoulder bag from
the hall where she had dropped it and sank into her sofa. She knew she had been compromised and
the envelope would probably explain things but it was an age before she could pluck up enough
courage to open it.

The envelope contained ten thousand pounds, and typewritten instructions.

At exactly eleven o’clock tomorrow morning, she had to enter the telephone Kiosk situated at the
far side of the green opposite the Richmond Library and await a call.

She knew that if she obeyed the instructions she was hooked; there would be no going back. If she
attempted a double cross then the Russian Embassy would receive photographs and recordings
implicating her involvement with the British. They might have already filmed her receiving the
envelope. She stood up and once again checked that the curtains in every room were tightly closed.

She could, of course, just get in touch with her Embassy and explain that an attempt was in
progress to bribe and compromise her. She also knew that ten thousand pounds was only the
opening bid for her cooperation and enough money would be forthcoming to start a new life. The
fact was, she was much preferring life in the free West to the oppressive existence she and her
parents had endured in Moscow. Her fear was someone, either her comrades or whoever was
shadowing her, had seen her take the envelope. At any second, there could be a knock at the door.
She had to get the money out of the flat.

She took the instructions into the kitchen and set fire to them, washing the ashes down the sink
with a lot of bleach.

Next, she took some sheets of brown paper from a kitchen drawer and made a secure parcel of the
money, addressed to herself, which she placed in her shoulder bag and left the flat.

Sudbury Hill post office was less than a fifteen-minute walk. The last collection would have gone by
now which suited her. She would post it second class so that a couple of days in the Post Office
sorting and delivery system would give her a bit of breathing space.

She heaved a sigh of relief as she exited the post office.

She never noticed the man in the shadows wearing a Donegal Tweed overcoat with the large collar
pulled well up and with a James Lock Trilby pulled low over his eyes.

*****

Svetlana took her morning coffee break just before eleven o’clock and walked across The Little
Green towards the telephone box. Surprisingly, she was not nervous, at least not as nervous as the
previous evening. Now she had put some temporary distance between herself and the
incriminating evidence, she just needed to hear what was required of her and how much she would
be paid. Hopefully she would be out of this double life soon.

It was a raw morning, the glass of the telephone box was iced up and her breath turned to
condensation as she waited for the call. She took pity on a down and out rummaging through a
litter bin, two Labradors started to sniff around and she was about to open the door to shoo them
away but their owner called them and they continued their walk.