Spies in St. Petersburg

Secret Service Bureau HQ, London

Lil didn’t feel quite so confident as she made her way back to the Bureau the following morning. She’d spent all of the previous afternoon at Taylor & Rose talking with the others, but to her surprise and disappointment they’d shared Joe’s uncertainty about her plan.

‘Of course we’re all worried about Sophie,’ said Tilly, Taylor & Rose’s resident technical expert, in pragmatic tones. ‘Terribly worried. But you can’t just rush off. We have to think it through.’

‘We don’t know anything about what she’s doing in St Petersburg, or where you could look for her,’ added Mei, who worked as their receptionist. ‘And it’s a very big city, isn’t it? How would you even begin to find her?’

‘I’m a detective, aren’t I?’ Lil protested. ‘I’d investigate.’

She’d been sure that Billy at least would be on her side: she knew how devoted he was to Sophie. But to her annoyance, he agreed with Tilly and Mei. ‘It’s awful to think of Sophie being missing – and I agree we’ve got to do whatever we can to find her. But Lil, just think: if you abandon the mission the Chief has planned for you, then you’ll be going against the Bureau and putting us at odds with the government. Directly disobeying the Chief’s orders like that – well, it just doesn’t sound like a terribly good idea.’

‘I don’t have to abandon the mission,’ argued Lil. ‘I can still do what the Chief wants. I could collect the report on my way to St Petersburg – or on my way home, perhaps. I’ll simply be extending the assignment, that’s all. Anyway, does anyone have any better ideas? Because I’m not going to leave Sophie all by herself in Russia and this is the only way of trying to rescue her that I can come up with.’

In the end it had been Joe who had said: ‘Well, I reckon we should at least look into it. Work out how Lil would get to St Petersburg from Hamburg and what’s possible.’

They’d all agreed on that and had spent the rest of the afternoon poring over maps and the Bradshaw’s Railway Guide. Then the telephone had rung, summoning Lil to see the Chief the next morning to receive her new assignment. And now she was here once more – hurrying past Carruthers at his desk, and through into C’s office, her heart thumping in her chest. Inside, everything was exactly the same as usual – the gramophone playing, the rain pattering gently against the window – and yet it didn’t feel the same at all.

‘Ah, Miss Rose,’ said the Chief. ‘Come in and sit down. I have a new assignment for you.’

It took all of Lil’s acting skills to keep her face calm and attentive as he laid out his plans, explaining that she would be travelling to Hamburg to collect a report from one of his agents there. ‘You’ll travel undercover of course, posing as a tourist visiting the city. The papers you’ll need are being prepared. Once you arrive, you’ll see a few sights for appearance’s sake – old churches, a museum, that kind of thing – and then proceed to the agreed rendezvous point where you’ll collect the report. Then you simply need to bring it back here. There will be the usual border checks, but we’ve prepared rather a clever little suitcase with a hidden compartment, which will easily get round those.’

‘And what exactly is this report?’ asked Lil, trying to keep her voice light.

‘No need for you to worry about that,’ said the Chief breezily. ‘Just know that Admiral Stevens will be very grateful to get hold of it – very grateful indeed.’ He paused for a moment, and his tone became more serious. ‘However, there is one other thing that I wanted to speak to you about . . .’

Lil leaned forward eagerly. Was he going to tell her the truth about Sophie at last? Perhaps she had misjudged him – perhaps he did have a plan to help her, after all?

‘The Hamburg assignment is a straightforward one, and I know you’re perfectly capable of handling it alone. However, I’d like to ask someone else to accompany you.’

Blow, thought Lil. Was he planning to send Forsyth with her again? If they were travelling together, it would spoil everything.

‘Carruthers!’ called out the Chief. A moment later, Carruthers appeared through the door, looking as sulky as ever.

‘Now then, old fellow. I have exciting news! I’ve decided that you’re to go on your first field assignment – what do you think of that? Miss Rose, Captain Carruthers is going to accompany you to Hamburg!’ he announced, with the air of a magician pulling a white rabbit from a top hat.

Lil gaped at him ‘He’s coming with me?’ she said incredulously – even as Carruthers himself burst out, ‘You mean to say that my first field assignment is going to be with her?’

‘That’s right. Now, Carruthers here hasn’t had much chance to get field experience. That’s through no fault of his own – he’s always needed here. But it’s really too bad to keep him shut up with all these dossiers forever. He must have the chance to see what it’s like out in the field. That’s what you’ve been wanting, isn’t it, old chap? And this assignment should be just the ticket. So, Miss Rose, you’ll be heading up the mission – and Captain, you’ll be there to follow along and learn. See how it works, get a feel for the fieldwork side of things.’

Carruthers’ face was a picture of disgust. Meanwhile, Lil’s heart had sunk to her boots. Having Forsyth with her would have been tricky enough – but with Carruthers shadowing her, no doubt furious at the very idea of learning from her, it would be almost impossible to follow through with her plan. However would she manage to break away to St Petersburg now? ‘Er – wouldn’t it be better for the Captain to learn from Forsyth, or one of the other agents?’ she asked, rather desperately. ‘You know . . . someone a bit more experienced?’

‘Please don’t underestimate yourself, Miss Rose,’ said C sternly. ‘Your work for the Bureau has been exemplary. There will be a great deal the Captain can learn from you – I know he will be most interested to see how you approach an undercover assignment. Won’t you, Captain?’ He gave Carruthers a sharp look.

‘Yes, sir,’ mumbled Carruthers.

‘Now, I’ve arranged things so you’ll be travelling as brother and sister.’

‘Brother and sister?’ repeated Carruthers, more appalled than ever.

‘Yes – that will make things straightforward. No eyebrows raised about unmarried girls racketing about Europe with young men, or anything like that,’ said the Chief briskly. ‘Tickets have been booked for you on tomorrow’s boat to Ostend, and from there you’ll take the train to Cologne, and change for Hamburg. Accommodation is arranged at a small guest house. You’ll visit two or three tourist spots, and then collect the report and bring it back here to me.’ He sat back in his chair, obviously well pleased with his plan.

Carruthers was scarlet with indignation, but as ever, the Chief didn’t seem to notice. ‘I’m sure you’ll want to go and talk it over,’ he said amiably. ‘Here’s the details of the rendezvous point for you, Miss Rose. Commit them to memory and then burn the paper, if you please.’ He slid a document across the desk towards her. ‘I’ll expect you both back here by the end of the week with the report,’ he finished. ‘Good hunting!’

Lil got to her feet. Her mind was in a whirl, but all the same, she managed to ask the most important question. She wanted to give the Chief one more chance to tell her the truth. ‘I was wondering . . . I know that yesterday you said Sophie was fine, but have you heard anything from her lately? Any letters – or telegrams?’ she prompted. ‘It’s been quite a while now that she’s been away, hasn’t it?’

‘Hmmm?’ The Chief looked up, already preoccupied by the paperwork on his desk. ‘Oh yes, well these things can sometimes take a while, you know.’

He gave her an avuncular smile – but to Lil it was no longer reassuring. Instead, it seemed more like a mask, concealing an expression that was cold and blank. She followed Carruthers hurriedly out of the room.

‘Well, isn’t this just brilliant,’ Carruthers was muttering under his breath, banging things about on his desk. ‘For my first field assignment! Good lord!’

But Lil wasn’t listening. One thing was very clear to her. Whatever the Chief’s orders were, whatever the others thought, and even with Carruthers joining her on the assignment, there was not in the least chance she was going tamely to Hamburg and back again. She was going to St Petersburg to find Sophie – and that was that.

‘Last week we arrived in Russia, and I scarcely know what to write about it. I have visited a dozen different countries, but I really think St Petersburg is the most extraordinary place I have ever seen. I feel as though I have stepped into a fairy tale.’

– From the diary of Alice Grayson

A Very Long Way from Piccadilly Circus

At the same time that Lil was preparing to attend Sir Edwin’s ball on the other side of Europe, in the warm kitchen of a tall, pink house beside a narrow canal, Vera Ivanovna Orlov was telling stories to her grandchildren.

‘Once upon a time, there was a cross old Tsar, who lived in a palace surrounded by a beautiful orchard,’ she began. ‘Amongst all the trees in the orchard was one that was very special: a wonderful apple tree, which grew magical golden apples – the Tsar’s pride and joy. But one night, the Firebird appeared. It swooped down from the sky and ate the golden apples from the Tsar’s tree. The Tsar was furious: how dare a mere bird help itself to his golden apples? He summoned his three daughters, and commanded them to catch the Firebird, and see it punished for its insolence. But the youngest princess, who was also the cleverest –’

‘Wait! You’re telling it wrong, Babushka!’ protested Luka, aged seven. ‘The story is supposed to be about the Tsar’s three sons. And it’s the youngest prince who is the cleverest.’

Vera tutted, from where she was stirring a steaming pan at the stove. ‘Who’s telling this story – me or you?’ she demanded, pausing to rap the fingers of six-year-old Elena with her wooden spoon, before they could creep any closer to the contents of her mixing bowl. ‘Me. And I say it was daughters. So . . . as I was saying. The youngest princess, who was also the cleverest and the bravest . . .’

Sophie grinned to herself as she passed the kitchen, with its smells of smoke and spice. She caught the fragrance of honey and nutmeg and sniffed appreciatively, guessing that Vera was baking a batch of her famous biscuits. They’d eat them later, accompanied by lots of black tea from the samovar, served with spoonfuls of jam.

‘Do svidaniya!’ she called through the kitchen door, waving goodbye to Vera and the children, before she went out of the house, on to the Ulitsa Zelenaya.

Bells were chiming out across the city as she crossed a little bridge over the misty canal. She’d never known a city with as many bells as St Petersburg: the silvery chime of the little bells blending in harmony with the deep, resonant toll of the larger ones. The air felt chilly against her face after the snug warmth of the house, and her breath puffed out in little clouds. It might still be September, but the weather was already beginning to turn. By the end of October, Vera had told her, the temperature would fall below zero, and the canal would begin to freeze. Now, Sophie could already feel the cold swish of the wind blowing up from the river, and she pulled her coat more closely around her, as she turned on to the Nevsky.

The Nevsky Prospekt was St Petersburg’s grandest street, lined with elegant buildings that gave it the air of a London avenue, or a Paris boulevard. At night it glittered with new electric lights: now, in the morning, it was alive with the rattle of tram cars, the clatter of horse’s hooves and the fanfare of motor horns. In the distance Sophie could hear the faint smoky hum of the mills and shipyards and ironworks – but the Nevsky was far from their smog. Here were palaces like birthday cakes, in a rainbow of ice-cream-coloured stucco. Here were the windows of magnificent shops, with their displays of feathered hats and furred capes, sugar-dusted chocolates and candied cherries. French boutiques offered Parisian gowns and gloves; the Eliseyev Emporium exhibited bon bons and cakes elaborate enough for a Viennese coffee house; and at the Magasin Anglais, Russian aristocrats could purchase Pears soap, Scottish tweeds and lavender water imported from England. Everywhere signs read English spoken or Ici on parle Français.

There were always many languages to be heard on the Nevsky. Sophie’s ears hummed with Russian and French, English and Polish, Yiddish and German. At this time of day, it seemed all of St Petersburg must be here: fashionable ladies and gentlemen, taking in the shops; green-capped students with books under their arms, hurrying to the public library; a swagger of young officers, jostling a clerk in a cheap overcoat into the gutter; a gaggle of sightseers, gawping at the bright window displays. There was plenty for tourists to see here: Sophie knew all the sights now. There was the grand Mikhailovsky Palace, whose sumptuous halls housed the Russian Museum, and there was the dramatic sweep of the Kazan Cathedral, with its rows of magnificent columns. There was the elegant Hotel Europa – the best hotel in St Petersburg – and just beyond it, an enchanting glimpse of the glittering fairy-tale domes of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. There was the glass-roofed bazaar, designed to look like an exquisite Paris arcade, and twinkling in the distance, the golden spire of the Admiralty Tower.

It was splendid – and yet, Sophie knew that if the sightseers were to venture the full length of the long street, they would find it changed entirely. By the time they reached its opposite end, the magical grandeur would have melted away like a dream. The shops and palaces would be replaced by ramshackle tenements; the elegant people by ordinary working folk in old shawls and big aprons, or muddy sheepskins; an old man selling roasted pumpkin seeds from a brazier, and beggars huddling out of the cold.

Just like London, St Petersburg had two different faces – and during the six weeks she had been here, Sophie had made it her business to get to know them both. She knew most English people in the city stayed away from its darker corners, remaining safe in their own comfortable circle – socialising at the New English Club, shopping at the Magasin Anglais, and barely understanding a word of Russian. But Sophie wanted to know the real St Petersburg. She’d spent hours walking around the city streets until her feet ached; and had persuaded Vera’s son, Mitya, to begin teaching her to speak Russian herself.

Today however, no Russian would be required. Sophie’s destination was on the most splendid section of the Nevsky. Beneath the sign of the Imperial Eagle, gold letters spelled out in both English and French: Rivière’s Jewellery & Fine Goods. Some of the sightseers had paused to admire the sumptuous façade, and to peep into the arched windows, through which it was possible to glimpse St Petersburg’s elite, lingering over glass-fronted cabinets. Inside them, a treasure trove of exquisite objects glittered like a fairy hoard.

Rivière’s was a maker of marvels and dreams. There were twinkling crystal flowers fit for an enchanted garden; tiny jewelled scent bottles, no bigger than Sophie’s thumb; and little gold tea sets that the Tsar’s daughters used for their tea parties. There were jewel boxes no bigger than a bird’s egg, and diamond brooches that glittered like frost. There were miniature animals, carved from precious stones, which Nakamura said made him think of the Japanese sculptures called netsuke – a carnelian fox with eyes of rubies, a crystal rabbit, a jade frog with a single pearl in its mouth.

But what Rivière’s was really famous for was its music boxes. Each year, Monsieur Rivière himself designed a new music box for the Tsar to give to his children at the New Year festivities. Each music box was extraordinary – from a silver-gilt castle, with jewelled flags flying, to a moving carousel, complete with golden horses. Keen to follow the Imperial family in everything, St Petersburg’s wealthy flocked to Rivière’s to purchase music boxes of their own. Sophie’s favourites were all in the shape of birds – a green parrot in a gilded cage, a wonderful peacock with a jewelled tail, and a magnificent golden firebird, decorated with gleaming rubies. They reminded her very much of a music box which had been made here in this very shop: the Clockwork Sparrow.