Trifecta (51 page)

"D
ivide and conquer."  Sabrina shook her head
ruefully as they drove down Melrose Avenue to her shop in the early afternoon traffic. 

"Pardon?" 

"Real life just isn't like this."

"What's it like?"  Eve asked.

"A lot more boring." 

Even driving on one of the most fantastic streets in Los
Angeles was a normal everyday experience.  They passed shops which specialized in
everything from the newest fads in clothing and hair-do's, to restaurants that advertised
French-Thai food.  Melrose could be outlandish, but nothing had prepared Sabrina
for the occurrence of a person that was part her and part computer; someone who
decided to break people's legs, take out agents of the United States government,
or sleep with them.  Eve would live a long time before she got a real dosage of
everyday life, because to Eve, everything was conceivable.  She could do anything
she pleased.

"I'm being surprised all the time,"  Eve said.

"I thought you were kidding when you said that we
would have to divide up and separate the agents.  And hope the stout one went after
you."

"Fifty-fifty chance." 

Eve was looking out the back window of the car.  She believed
a tan Ford had been following them.  She squinted her eyes.  She could discern two
distinct shapes in the vehicle. 

"Go around the block,"  Eve said.  Sabrina did
so and when they got back on Melrose the car had disappeared.

When they entered Sabrina's shop, Bea almost collapsed
when she saw them.  She had to sit on the floor with her head between her knees. 
Bea had lived in the orphanage with Sabrina and knew she had no living relatives. 
Sabrina couldn't tell her the truth, so she made up a story about finding a long
lost cousin.  Bea was thrilled, so moved she had tears in her eyes.

Sabrina took Eve into the back room and started making
them lunch.  Eve sat down at the slanted easel where Sabrina used charcoal and pastels
to design the clothing in her store.  Eve started drawing.  As she was doing so,
she said to Sabrina, "We were being followed.  But I don't understand what's
happening because one of the men was Ivar Cousin.  And I wonder why he is not off
the case.  He broke cover.  He even said so, in the phone conversation I wasn't
supposed to hear."

Sabrina felt unreality slipping into the everyday again. 
"Are you sure?"

"I would recognize the shape of Ivar Cousin's head
anywhere."

Sabrina watched over Eve's shoulder as she designed a suit. 
It was the latest style.  On the side of the suit Eve quickly drew accessories. 
"I would like to see Ivar again." 

"Do government agents carry guns, I wonder?"

"I don't think he will shoot me.  He'll call.  Tonight. 
I have to decide what to do."

"It might be dangerous."  Sabrina took the drawing
that Eve had finished, walked into the front of the shop.  She put it on the counter
in front of Bea.

"Wow!"

"Can you make it?"

"Oh, yes,"  Bea enthused.  "It will be beautiful."

Eve had finished another drawing.  Sabrina could recognize
her own designs, but there were subtle differences that did not come from her and
which made the clothing unique.

"I will see him."  Eve nodded her head decisively. 

Sabrina guessed that Eve would have to see the agent. 
If he was just using Eve for sex and information it would be very sad.  Eve was
so new and vulnerable it was scary. 

Sabrina wanted to warn Eve and keep her from danger, and
from being very badly hurt, but it wouldn't do any good.  If Eve had sex with the
man and liked him there was really nothing she could do.  She would have to learn
the hard way about men, like all women did.  Still, it would be a shame if he was
a real jerk. 

That evening Sabrina watched Eve wait for Ivar to call
and was reminded of how she had felt when she was a sensitive adolescent, much too
tall and skinny, waiting for a call from that special person.  It had been agonizing,
and most of the time demoralizing.  But Eve did not seem at all agonized.  In fact,
Sabrina realized that Eve was confident Ivar would call.  It was an attitude she
herself had certainly never experienced.

Eve smiled at the phone when it rang, but it was Mark calling
Sabrina from his office at work. 

Mark said he would have to work late tonight.  There had
been two more gangland shootings, with three fatalities in south central Los Angeles,
He had to go and get eye-witness reports.  Sabrina was always scared when Mark took
on those kinds of assignments in such dangerous parts of Los Angeles. 

The next phone call was from Tracy Rieber requesting an
experimental photography shoot with Eve to see if the camera loved her as much as
it did Sabrina.  Eve agreed to go to his place next week for the photography session.

As they were making dinner, Alexander Steinbrenner called
and said he would like to propose a meeting.  Sabrina put her hand over the mouth
piece and told Eve to go listen in the bedroom.  She watched Eve take off.  It was
really remarkable how fast she could move.  She heard the click when Eve picked
up.

"I'm on a safe cell phone,"  Alexander said. 
"My brother and I are still being followed, I think, but it's important we
speak to the...um, the, ah...person called Eve Miller."

"Why?" 

Sabrina thought that Alexander's voice had an oily sound. 
She knew he was trying to be ingratiating, but he reminded her of a hyped used car
salesman.  He asked for a meeting with the computer, no longer calling Eve a person
or even using her name.  He said that it would be best if they would come to a neutral
spot where they would not be seen speaking to each other.  Sabrina suggested the
jogging path on Doheny and Santa Monica Boulevard.  There they would be out in the
open and could see if anyone approached.  Alexander said that was a brilliant idea. 
They would meet at noon on the following afternoon. 

When Sabrina asked about the reason for the meeting, Alexander
said vaguely that it was about a future job proposal for Eve with great benefits,
which included travel.  It sounded like a come-on.  Alexander requested they bring
a color head shot of Eve for making up a drivers license and other identification. 
Sabrina dreaded the meeting, but knew they had to go so that Eve could get her identity
papers.

As Sabrina was reheating the meal the telephone rang again.

"May I speak to Eve Miller, please,"  a man's
voice said.

"Just one moment."  Sabrina handed the phone
to Eve, but covered the mouth piece.  "You can go into the bedroom."

"Why?"

"Privacy." 

Eve shook her head and took the phone, "Hello, Ivar."

"You knew it was me?"

"Yes, I knew."

"Oh."  There was a pause.  "I'm sorry to
call so late, but I'm on a rather interesting case and got free for only a moment. 
I really would like to see you."

"I want to see you." 

"Ah, good.  I have to work late tonight, until about
nine.  I really can't get free until then, and it's probably too late so...maybe
tomorrow evening would be better?"

"Nine would be a fine time." 

Sabrina started banging plates and silverware around. 
Poor Eve was so naive. 

Eve excitedly told Sabrina that Ivar was going to pick
her up at the back entrance of the condominium at exactly twenty minutes after nine. 
They both knew why he was not using a more traditional method to pick her up.  Ivar
said that he was still supposed to be working so he did not want to be seen.  Sabrina
thought to herself, Sure, he's going to take you to a public place, but can't be
seen going in the front door here.  Ivar must think Eve is really stupid with that
explanation.

Eve was thrilled because she was going to see her first
movie.  She would get to eat popcorn and hot dogs with mustard.  Ivar had told her
so.

Sabrina did not say anything about what she was thinking. 
Ivar was a spy and a liar and thought Eve was stupid.  Well, he was going to get
some big surprises himself.  She hoped Eve would obnoxiously crunch all of the un-popped
popcorn kernels, so he wouldn't be able to hear the movie.  Then, maybe Eve would
hug him, crack a few ribs when the movie was over.

Luring Eve with food and sex, Sabrina thought sourly to
herself, as she helped Eve pick out clothes and get ready for her date.  He must
really be dumb.  Then Sabrina remembered that Ferd had warned Eve about her extraordinary
appetites and thought that maybe Ivar wasn't dumb at all.  That was even more frightening.

I
var promised himself he was just going out with Eve to
accumulate more information as he parked near the back door of her condominium. 
He really had to call his operative from the Soviet Union.  His excuse for not doing
so was that he needed more definite data. 

It had been bizarre following her today.  He had been forced
into the uncomfortable knowledge she had been aware of him.  There was an incident
when her cousin had driven around the block for no apparent reason.  Unless she
had been checking for a tail.  Just before his shift began he had been told that
Eve had hurt one of the investigators.  Eve had apparently stepped on the agent's
toes, almost breaking them, and elbowed him hard enough so that several ribs were
cracked. 

Ivar promised himself he would be very cautious.  Thinking
back on the night before, when he had met Eve, was like remembering a happy dream. 
He had believed she was one of the most wonderful women he had ever met, smart,
beautiful and fun.  He had been ready to break cover for her, jeopardize his position
here in the United States, and risk his association with the KGB.  When Stephan
Steinbrenner started stupidly waving his gun around in front of Ferd's Tanning Salon,
Ivar almost shot him.

Ivar had done quite a bit of research.  Dr. Steinbrenner
was a remarkable man and he supposed that the government believed he had experimented
on a human being.  His son's were less admirable.  There had been allegations that
they were not the most honest or honorable of lawyers, but there was no hard proof,
just records of reprimands from judges. 

Ivar had learned all there was to know in the scant information
files on Sabrina Miller.  He had found nothing at all regarding Eve Miller.  It
was puzzling, as if Eve really did not exist. 

Ivar decided he had become lax because nothing much seemed
to happen in Los Angeles, where he had been assigned for the last three years. 
In the seven years Ivar had been in this country he had been placed on relatively
easy assignments.  He decided that he had definitely become soft, believing that
nothing could harm him or make him blow his cover.  Until now.

Ivar's reverie was cut short by tapping on the car's passenger
door window.  He looked out and saw Eve.  She was dangerously gorgeous in jeans
and a sweater with a large turtle neck collar.  He thought her neck, emerging out
of the bulky sweater, looked as graceful and delicate white as a swan's against
her dark hair.  Ivar did not know he was smiling until he saw Eve smile back at
him. 

Ivar decided he was right to be wary.  She was so cute
he wanted to hug her.  Instead, he started the car and told her that he hoped they
would be on time. 

As they watched the previews of coming attractions and
ate hot dogs, Eve whispered that the movie shorts were like her dreams.  First you
were in one situation, and then suddenly popped inside another.  She said it was
a little disconcerting, and Ivar wondered whether it was seeing the short clips
that made her feel that way, or her own dreams.  He remembered her sobbing in her
sleep the night before. 

As they watched the movie, Eve held on to Ivar's arm and
leaned against him, so he felt her reactions.  Ivar had picked the old movie, "Russia
House,"  so that he could behold his home land again.  Shooting movies in the
Soviet Union was a relatively new phenomenon of harmony and co-operation between
the two countries.  Seeing the onion domes of Red Square again made him feel sentimental. 
It was a moving experience for him to see the beautiful country he had left so many
years before. 

Ivar took Eve to Tommy's for hamburgers after the movie
and they talked about the picture at length.  He thought that his choice of movie
had been a mistake.  Eve was very interested in the spies and disinformation depicted
in the movie.  He was made even more wary by her interest in the politics of the
two countries.  Her summary of the intricacies of the plot was so succinct, he again
wondered if she could be a computer.  Looking at her now, he could not really believe
it.  But he now understood why Hood Eyes had asked the agents to look for scars
or false hair.  He wanted to know if the women had had something implanted inside
their brains.

Ivar ordered chocolate cheese cake for Eve, laughing at
her expression as she tasted it.  She did not keep her face neutral at all when
she enjoyed something and that tickled him.  It was so much fun watching her enjoy
things, the movie, food, sex, even just talking.  But he vowed that tonight there
would be no sex.  He liked to be with her, and that was enough for him for tonight. 

As Ivar drove Eve home, she was wishing she could tell
him that she had never seen a movie before.  It was not at all like watching television. 
The heads and bodies on the screen were so enormous she had been disconcerted. 
It felt as though the people could come right out of the screen at her, and she
had been a little frightened.  Eve's vision, or her interpretation of what she saw,
was not like most people because she had not been trained to see in perspective. 
Sometimes, while riding in a car, a street she was traveling on would seem to go
straight up instead of straight ahead.  Then she would have to realize that she
was going forward and not up.  Of course, it helped to have Sabrina's memories. 
She was like a blind person suddenly receiving the gift of sight.

Ivar stopped his car at the back entrance of the condominium,
where he had picked Eve up.  Eve had not noticed where they were because she had
been admiring Ivar's side view.  "You took me home?" 

Ivar nodded.

"Oh.  You want me to go in now?"

"Well, it's pretty late.  Is something wrong?" 

"I though you would want to engage in sex.  I would
like to."

Ivar had an immediate physical response to her words and
he was also surprised.  Most women did not come right out and say they wanted to
be intimate. 

Ivar reached over and stroked Eve's hair.  "Of course
I would like to.  I didn't want to get you home too late.  And I didn't want you
to think I was interested in you only because of a physical relationship we might
have."

"I didn't think that.  I like to watch movies and
eat and talk, too." 

Eve watched Ivar throw his head back and laugh.

"You might be right, though.  My cousin worries about
me a lot."  She hugged Ivar quickly.  He felt the breath whoosh out of his
lungs.

"I'll call you tomorrow,"  Ivar said.

"I know you will." 

She thought it was nice that Ivar laughed a lot.