The Interpreter Ch. 04

Yuri put down the tea tray and sat on the bed and placed the nylon-shrouded limb in his lap and stroked it gently.

"I have to go into London to Century House and continue being debriefed and if I get back into bed with you I won't want to get out," Yuri, now known as Stefan, continued to stroke Valerie's long leg.

Stefan and Valerie Petrović were a married couple who had immigrated to the UK from Crimea and with their considerable wealth had purchased Craftsman's Cottage in the Kentish town of Aylesford. They had assimilated into village life and Stefan's accented English often brought a chuckle to some of the locals in The Kentish Quarryman which the Petrovićs had adopted as their local pub.

Stefan and Valerie had all of the legal documentation to establish their bona fides, a benefit of which was that Valerie was legally a woman. She kept her trans identity a close secret. Finally being able to live openly as a woman enjoying the freedom of the quaint British town and nearby London was everything Valerie could hope for.

Yuri had assured Valerie that with glasnost and perestroika firmly on Gorbachev's agenda, it was not in the interests of the KGB to come after them; they had more important items on their agenda like how they were going to maintain power when the Union of Soviet Social Republics collapsed.

Valerie had been able to contact her family in Russia and they had assured her that they were safe. Her mother and father had retired to a little farm near the Ukraine border and her sister Valentina was happily married to her soldier husband and was expecting a baby. Valerie was not able to disclose her location or tell her family that she was now living as woman. They still though of Valerie as Valéry, their son and brother respectively.

Century House was MI6 headquarters and both Yuri and Valerie had spent countless days there being debriefed, handing over everything they knew about KGB operations. Yuri was a goldmine of information regarding the inner workings of the KGB and had revealed the names of two high ranking British government officials who were spying for the Soviets.

Yuri had been astute and had insisted on a comfortable life for himself and Valerie and guarantees for their safety and their secret identities.

"If you won't come to bed, at least pour me a cup of tea and hand me a slice of toast and marmalade," Valerie pouted.

"Toast and fucking marmalade and fucking tea! You're becoming more English every day," Stefan Petrović teased his wife.

Valerie threw a pillow at him which resulted in a wrestling match on the bed.

Needless to say that Yuri was late arriving at Century House that day.

The End