Greg put the phone down softly. He wanted to slam it across the room in his frustration and anger.

Elena had just told him that she was unable to get an exit visa so she could meet him in Moscow. She again wanted him to just fly over there and see her. But he couldn't.

He cursed his past that made it dangerous for Elena and dangerous for him if he traveled to Kazakhstan. The KGB had a long memory for those that helped destroy the USSR.

He could not just tell Elena that he was an 'enemy of the state'. And since his talk with his friend from the CIA he knew that the KGB in Kazakhstan was planning to use Elena to lure him into the country.

If he had not fallen in love with her the best course for him would be to forget her. Sure, they would arrest her and try to hold her hostage but he knew Sironov too well to believe he would let her go free after consorting with a counter-revolutionary. She would be branded a traitor at the very least. Most likely she would spend her life in a Gulag. The only way he could protect her would be to go there and hope that they would be curious to see if he would contact any of the opposition.

He had no trouble until he arrived in Switzerland and found out that he was going to have to fly to Poland to catch the Kazakhstani National Airline. He wondered if he had miscalculated and they were planning to say he never boarded the plane while they kill him after he got off the plane. He considered skipping the flight but realized that such would put Elena in danger.

He was certain that they intended to kill him when he stepped off the plane and was stopped by three soldiers with machine guns.

They guided him away from the customs area. When he slowed down and asked about going to customs one of the guards behind pushed him with the barrel of the gun. It hurt but he gave no indication. He knew he had to play the naive American that was just happy to be there to see a beautiful young Russian.

The room they took him to was dark except for one light in the room in front of a booth. He was led under the light and his bag was taken from him. He started to protest about his bag being taken but was jabbed in the rib again and ordered to only look straight ahead. He grumbled and allowed some anger to show in his face.

He saw there was someone in the booth. They turned on a desk lamp and said, "your papers."

Greg pulled his papers out and passed them under the glass.

He was struggling to put a smile on his face and look excited rather than scared. He reminded himself to look at this as if he believed this was customs.

"Your full name."

"Gregory Matthew Stevens."

"Your home address."

"1679 Howard Avenue, Falls Church, Virginia."

"What is your occupation?"

Greg could hear them going through his bag but dared not look. "I am a medical laboratory technologist for a hospital."

"Why are you here?"

"To see Elena Romanierov."

"Why do you want to see her?"

The questions kept coming. They wanted to know every detail about what he was doing in the country. They also inquired about what he had with him, whether he had any ammunition or gold. They were also interested in who else he knew in the country.

At least an hour passed before his passport and visa were slid back to him under the desk.

"Do not forget to register your stay in the morning." He was talking about the requirement to register in the community that one is staying. This was a way the KGB kept track of where someone was.

He was escorted to Customs where he had to again declare everything he had with him down to the number of garments. The paperwork was in German and Russian. He thought about it a moment before deciding he did not want them to know he spoke either language. So he asked the Customs official to help him.

The official was rude and even muttered about his being a stupid pig in Russian but Greg gave no reaction.

Leaving customs he had to adjust to the dark lobby where people waited for friends and relatives to come through customs. He looked around to see that there were two women that looked like Elena in the dark. Now he knew fear. What if he walked over to the wrong woman? A woman never accepts mistaken identity.

Fortunently one of the women started walking to him.

"Is it you?" he said as she approached. But she did not speak. He was able to ask two more times before she reached him and took him in her arms.

The next morning Greg got up early to check out his environment. He found that there were two bugs in the living room. While Elena was getting dressed he found two more bugs in the kitchen. He assumed there would be more in her bedroom.

They spent the next few days talking and her showing him around town.

Greg kept an eye on the KGB agents following them in the park. He would observe them out of the corner of his eye while turning his head to talk with Elena or when they would stop to look at something.

He started to feel nervous when he noticed a third agent show up off to his left. When he saw a car stop at the far end of the park that looked like it contained agents he concluded that their patience had expired.

Quickly he evaluated the possibilities and concluded they would arrest both of them in an effort to find that he was in some contact with opposition leaders.

He knew it would not matter that he was an American, he would disappear. They would tell the embassy that he had been taken by Mafia or terrorist.

Elena would not likely do well either. It was likely they would eventually release her but she was certain to be tortured at the very least. How he wished he had not gotten involved with her. She would have been able to have a normal life in her country. But they did get involved and they did fall in love. It had reached a point that it did not matter whether or not he called things off with her without ever going there to see her. She would be treated by the KGB as a traitor for just knowing of him.

At least with him in the country with her he had a chance to talk her into getting out of the country before anything happened. But he had run out of time. They were minutes away from arresting them and he had not yet talked with her about getting out with him.

"Honey, let's go over to the farmer's market."

She was excited to show him the market. She picked up the pace as they changed directions and walked right by one of the agents. He wondered if she would have the cool to do what she just did if she knew what was going on.

It was close by with a lot of people. It would give them a chance to keep ahead of the KGB. There was another reason for going to the market. He had friends there ready if he needed help.

He put on his sunglasses as they walked. She was telling him about the market.

As they walked through the market he looked for one of his contacts. Halfway through the market he saw the cap with the two red stars that he was told to look for.

He paused to face Elena while she told him about her enjoying to shop in the market. While they talked he pulled off his glasses and cleaned the lenses. This was the signal that he needed immediate extraction.

He removed his cap to swipe his forehead with his arm. This indicated that they were ready. The man with the cap directed Greg with his eyes to keep walking in the general direction they were going.

As they walked they heard the commotion behind them. Someone was yelling, "fire."

He held on tight to Elena's arm as someone pulled him between the booths to a van.

Elena began to struggle when she says that they were heading for a van. Greg covered her mouth with his hand and pulled her quickly into the back of the van. The doors closed behind them and the van pulled off.

"Settle down. Nobody is going to hurt you." Greg told her.

"I am going to take my hand from you mouth. Please do not scream or try to get away."

"What do you think you are doing? What is happening?" She was almost screaming as she pulled away.

"Honey..."

"Don't call me honey. Tell me what is going on."

"The KGB is after us."

"What do you mean 'us'. I have NOT done anything that would have them after me."

"Elena Vladimirovna, if you do not keep quiet I will not be able to answer your questions."

She tensed her face in angered shock but slid against the wall of the van and crossed her arms. "I am listening."

"Good! Before the fall of the Soviet Union I was heavily involved in public education about communism. The KGB thus labeled me as a counter-revolutionary and an enemy of the state. After the collapse of the USSR and the disbanding of the KGB in most of the former republics I was lead to believe that it would be safe to communicate with people here openly on non-political matters. There was no reason to believe that my writing you would cause you any danger."

"But I was wrong. The KGB here was not disbanded. I found out that they were monitoring you only after we had fallen in love. I found out that they were intending to use you to lure me into the country so to settle some old scores. I thought of calling things off between us to protect you but I learned that if I had tried that they intended to arrest you and hold you hostage unless I surrendered myself."

"My only chance to protect you was to come here and hope they would just watch me for awhile in hope I would lead them to the opposition here. I hoped I would have time to talk with you and give you a chance to leave the country with me."

"And if I do not?" She said defiantly.

"We have a plan to make it look like we tried to kidnap you but you escaped. They will still arrest you and interrogate you but at least they would likely believe your story in the end and let you go."

"How do you suggest to leave the country if they are after you?"

"I have my ways. That is all I will tell you for your own protection, and ours. In any case you have to decide now. We have run out of time. Are you coming with me or not?"

She bit her lip as she stared him in the eye. "Do you love me?"

"Very much. I have risked everything for you."

"Are you going to marry me?"

"That is my intention if we get out of here alive."

"How can I be sure you are not just some lunatic?"

"Do you think a lunatic could have organized our escape from the market like this?"

"Yes!" She paused. "But for some reason I believe you are crazy but sane."

"Thank you," he nodded.

"I'll go with you on one condition."

"What is that?"

"I choose the honeymoon."

"Done."

Greg banged the side of the van twice.

"What was that for?"

"To let them know that you have decided to marry me?" he said with a smile.

Soon thereafter the van came to a stop and the doors opened. The man at the door startled Elena with a hood over his face.

"He is just wearing that so if captured neither of us could identify him."

They were transferred from the van to a truck. There was a change of clothing for both of them and they changed in the back as the truck moved.

They were taken back into town and dropped off behind a store. From there the walked through the store and out the front. They went to a nearby apartment.

"They are going to be looking for us everywhere. How are we going to keep from being recognized?"

He led her to the sink and showed her hair die and scissors. "We are going to change our appearance so nobody will recognize us."

He cut her hair and let her die it while he changed his looks. When she came back out there was an elderly man in the room.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Excuse me young girl. The door was open." The man said in Russian. "Don't you recognize your grandfather?"

"You are not my grandfather." she responded back in Russian.

Switching back to talking in his normal voice and in English he said, "Until I tell you otherwise I am your grandfather."

"I did not recognize you." She said with surprise. Than it dawned on her. "When did you learn Russian?"

He returned to character, "one of my many talents my dear."

They walked into town to catch the train back into the capital. At the train station in the capital the KGB was all over the station checking people for their papers. A couple of agents boarded their car.

"Papers." The agent demanded. Elena jumped ever so slightly. He had come up on them from behind.

"Here you are sir." He handed their papers to the agent and made a point to look at him without looking into the agent’s eyes.

"Why are you traveling?"

"My daughter is ill. My granddaughter and I are going to help take care of her."

"Stand up and come with me."

Greg did so quickly. They were taken into the interrogation room of the station where their bags were searched. They were questioned separately about where they were going and why they were traveling. They had rehearsed these very questions so many times Elena was able to hold to the story and they were allowed to reboard the train.

The train moved along. It was just getting dark.

"Wake up." Greg was nudging Elena.

"It is time to go."

The walked back to the restroom on the car.

"Wait here for me."

He went in and kneeled down by the toilet. He reached down through the toilet and pulled a package from the bottom of the train. Fortunently he had long arms and toilets on Russian trains were just holes with a seat.

When he came out there was an officer talking to Elena. He interrupted them and suggested that they move to the next car.

The officer followed them to the space between the cars.

"What are you doing with that package? You did not have it when you went into the restroom." The officer inquired.

"But I did sir. Maybe you did not notice."

"You did not have it. I am going to have to take the package and ask you some questions." He said as he started to pull out his pistol.

Greg moved swiftly. He grabbed the man's wrist to push the pistol back in the holster as he lunged forward with his elbow into the man's throat. As he leaned forward reaching for his throat Greg stepped behind him. With a quick jerk of the head there was a crack. The officer went limp.

"Open the door."

She swiftly complied as Greg pushed the body through the door.

"Come on. We do not have much time."

He led her to a cabin that was empty. He opened the package with fresh clothing. This time they had uniforms to change into.

"These are KGB uniforms."

He looked at the cap and responded. "Yep, you're right."

"Why are these KGB uniforms?"

"All the better to wear to the border my dear."

"Won't they know right away we are not agents?"

"Who stops the KGB?"

She stood there with her mouth open a moment. "You're right."

The train was slowing for the next station when they finished changing. He again changed his appearance so that he did not look as old. Then he took their clothes, bundled them together and threw them out of the window.

They got off the train at the station and took another train that was to cross the border. At the station he picked up another package that had a KGB seal on it. This package had army uniforms.

"Are we going to be changing into navy uniforms next?"

"Maybe." He said. "We would stand out if we were wearing KGB uniforms into Russia where the KGB has been disbanded. But, it would look very ordinary for a couple of army officers to be returning to 'mother Russia.' We had to use the KGB uniforms so that nobody would question our taking a train to the border."

He thought to himself that they also needed to change because after finding the dead officer they might be looking for the KGB agents that got off at the station.

"This is a man's uniform." She said with question and surprise.

"They will be looking for a man and a woman at the border, not an army officer and a young private. You will need to put your hair up so it does not show under the cap. I suggest you do not talk. If you must, make your voice as deep as possible."

Once they returned to the car they found a young army private that was traveling alone and befriended him.

At the border there was an earnest search for them. Every couple was being taken to interrogation as well as any two people traveling together. They asked for their papers but left them alone since there was three of them together.

Once across the border they got off at the next station. They walked into town and went to a small cafe to get a bite to eat. Afterwards they picked up another package of civilian clothes, changed, then took a train that crossed the border into Turkey.

In Turkey they went to the Embassy where they had new papers for Elena. She was getting asylum in the USA.