Henri Mallet - Customer loyalty

Everyone saves someone at least once.

Just as he kills someone at least once.

Even though he may not know it.

Erich Maria Remarque

The USSR. Moscow – France. Paris. 1963-1964.

The rising autumn sun has barely touched the roofs of morning Moscow, giving rise to long, transparent shadows. The golden light seemed to illuminate the city from beneath against the violet-blue sky and its orange clouds. The streets were already abuzz with that special bouquet of sounds typical of large cities.

From the outside the massive KGB building made of gray and pink granite on Dzerzhinsky Square looked calm and majestic. Inside the building, filled with offices, dungeons, archives, life was in full swing.

Major Anatoly Lazarev of the Special KGB Division sat in the chief's office and listened attentively to the information for his new assignment. He sat there pensively, running his hand through his light brown hair, which stuck out slightly from the top of his head giving its owner a slightly cocky appearance. General Yershov relayed amazing things, which is why the major’s eyes, deep blue with specks of gold, expressed, both, interest and confusion.

Major Lazarev has worked enough in the KGB and has long learned not to be surprised at anything, not to react in any way to various orders that he had to carry out. Inborn tact and excellent upbringing helped to maintain composure in critical circumstances, but it was also his distinguishing feature, one might say a life principle. Now he found himself ready not to believe what he heard. General Yershov introduced him to the course of affairs, identifying the main points and tasks. The new assignment turned out to be rather unusual.

The fact that always, both before and after the October Revolution, the special services monitored the life and movements of the Russian royal family, as well as all their close relatives, did not surprise Lazarev. But the fact that Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, in addition to the well-known children Olga (1895), Tatiana (1897), Maria (1899), Anastasia (1901) and Alexey (1904), had another girl, but her birth carefully concealed, caused some wave of mistrust and interest.

The girl was born in 1907, after the birth of the heir to Alexey. The Emperor and his wife very much hoped for the birth of another son, but alas, the Empress gave birth to another daughter. Since the political situation in Russia at that moment was extremely tense, the announcement of the birth of the fifth girl would have been a shock for everyone and could have serious political consequences.

The royal spouses understood perfectly well that Tsarevich Alexey was in poor health, and a considerable number of male relatives from the branches of the Romanov dynasty were ready to inherit the royal throne and hoist themselves on it with great pleasure. Therefore, the birth of the Empress took place in an atmosphere of complete secrecy. Immediately after the birth of another daughter, but not a son, it was decided to give the girl to be raised in a reliable family in the Voronezh province.

Naturally, the Tracking Service took care of her life in a new family. The name was given to her Sophia. After the revolutionary events of 1917 and the change of power in the country, everything changed. Sometime later, the new government learned about the existence of a direct heiress of the royal blood in Russia. At the highest level, a decision was made – subsequent children will be born as possible from the successors of noble families, and all information about the real biological parents and about the foster families of these children will be recorded in the KGB archives. Thus, the royal blood will be maintained in the next generations in the same way as it was done for centuries before. And it doesn't matter if such children know about their noble origins or not.

«I don’t quite understand the reason for all this. Who needs the Tsar’s descendants now? Moreover, as is known, one of the tasks of Russian Special Commission for Combating Counter-revolution and Sabotage right after the revolution was to find and destroy all the Tsar’s relatives. How could it happen that the imperial couple had another daughter who survived?» Major Lazarev shook his head in surprise.

“A good politician must always have an ace up his sleeve. The times are changing, and the political tasks, too. Nobody knows how the situation will develop in the future.”

“But do you really admit the thought, that in our country the monarchy can be revived?”

“Lazarev, we are here to follow orders, not to discuss them. So, Sophia grew up, got married and gave birth to a daughter, and later, to a son. All this time officers of People’s Commissariat for Interior Affairs not only tracked the life of Sophia and her children, but directly or indirectly took part in their fate. The specialists were obliged not to show themselves in any way, to help Sophia and her children in every possible way, and if necessary, to protect them. This is in general terms a prelude to your assignment. How do you like the topic?”

«Quite unusual, but, as you said, we are here to follow orders.»

«In all the following generations of heirs to the throne we are mostly interested in boys, because only males can succeed to the throne. As I have already said, Sophia, the daughter of the royal couple, had a son, Gleb, in 1941. Now he is going to get married. This is his picture,» the boss handed Anatoly a big photo.

«Wow, this is Gleb Svetlov, an actor; I saw a film with him. He is the descendant of the tsars and the grandson of Nicolas II?» Major Lazarev looked at his boss in surprise.

“It turns out that so,” the boss narrowed his eyes, “we received information, he was going to marry one of the actresses. She does not fit him in terms of status; therefore, the birth of children in this marriage is undesirable. And someone at the very top,” the general pointedly raised his index finger, “came up with the idea to correct the situation and get the "right child" from Gleb Svetlov.”

Major Lazarev was looking at the photo in front of him.

«This tall handsome guy with bright blue eyes and a charming smile is the grandson of the Emperor Nicolas II,» Anatoly looked up and stared at his boss in sheer amazement.

«Now go to the archive. I have booked the required documents, they are waiting for you there. If you need anything else, you have been granted access to all top-secret documents on this topic. You have been assigned an archivist. She will be helping you to sort out the papers. You must find a suitable girl for bearing Gleb Svetlov’s child. I think I need not explain the importance of all this. You do understand that she must come from an aristocratic ancestry and be of perfect health. Her age is not important. What is important are her life story and looks. You must also ruin Gleb’s marriage to the actress and arrange his affair with our candidate before the confirmed pregnancy of the girl. It is not important whether Gleb will marry her or not. What really important is the smooth period of pregnancy and the birth of a healthy child, because this baby will be of royal lineage. Do you have a questions?» General Yershov lightly slapped his hand on the massive table and looked at Major Lazarev.

Anatoly was silent, forming a plan of action in his head.

«Yes, a weird matter, that’s why you interrupted my vacation and called me here,» he smiled.

«I won’t hide it from you – you have been chosen for this mission at the very top,» the general replied proudly, « the operation was named "Alexandrite"».

«I could not wait till the end of your vacation. Moreover, my deputy, Colonel Polyakov is ingratiating himself, willing to take my place. When he learnt about this mission he started fussing and even wanted to deal with it himself. But I decided that I cannot trust him with this delicate matter.»

«Why on earth would Colonel Polyakov want to fulfill this mission himself?»

«I even don’t want to waste time guessing.»

«Yeah, it is not worth it.»

«Well, I know about your non-standard approach to things, therefore I chose you. To speed up the process I requested everything we have on Tatiana Roshin in the archive. This is the actress that Gleb Svetlov wants to marry. We have also prepared dossiers for the girls of aristocratic origin who are more or less the same age as Svetlov. We have also prepared dossiers for all Gleb’s acquaintances cooperating with us. It’s up to you how to use them. You do realize that using any medication during this operation is not allowed. The impregnation must occur naturally and the pregnancy must continue as normally as possible. We need a healthy child. Think what else you might need and you will make a request. There is no time at all, go straight to the archive, and if you have any questions, then, since you need to act as quickly as possible, immediately contact me directly,» General Yershov slightly bowed his head and became like a predator that hunts.

Major Lazarev nodded slightly, “ yes, you will not get bored .” But it’s true, he already wanted, as soon as possible, to be in the archive and in the pile of documents and dossiers to start looking for a solution to such an unusual problem.

Going along the corridor to the stairs Major Lazarev suddenly remembered when he was a kid his nanny Agatha told him fairytales about magic castles, countless treasures, kings, evil trolls and beautiful princesses. Enraptured, he was listening to these stories, holding his breath and wrapping himself up in a blanket, up to his nose. When Agatha turned off the light and left the room, he closed his eyes and pictured himself riding a beautiful white horse on a green lawn in front of an ancient castle where he was to meet a fair princess and kiss her. Afterwards they would walk in the park surrounding the castle, holding hands. If any trolls tried to capture the princess, he would instinctively fight with the nasty beast and save her. Anatoly realized suddenly he was grinning from ear to ear. In the building on Dzerzhinsky square such a smile among colleagues could cause, at least, bewilderment. He forced himself to focus on work, namely, princes and princesses, as strange as it may sound.

Speculating in this manner, Anatoly reached the archive. He produced his ID and permit to the security guard and waited for the arrival of the assigned employee. He did not have to wait long. The door opened: a quite tall woman of indefinite age was standing in the doorway wearing a figure-hugging uniform coat. She had a narrow ratty face and her light hair was done in a topknot. The cold look in her bleak eyes seemed to pierce right through him. Her beautifully curved lips failed to improve the first impression, but when she began talking, her voice turned out to be deep and pleasant.

«Good afternoon, Major Lazarev. I am Major Matilda Pokrovsky. You can call me Major Pokrovsky or just Matilda,» she said as she smiled and motioned to the door. Her eyes seemed to be scanning the figure and the face of the handsome major.

«Good afternoon, Major,» nodded Anatoly politely, «мay I just call you Matilda, and you can call me Anatoly.»

«Oh, you are like the others, you think that "Major Matilda" sounds like a lame joke?» she giggled.

On hearing these words Lazarev felt a sudden urge to give her a smack on the shoulder and laugh out loud. He followed the archivist to a small room where a security guard checked his ID and permit once again. Major Lazarev had to produce his documents two more times. It seemed to him that they were walking along countless corridors and staircases for ages.