Agafia Ayushiyev was so nervous. She was waiting for her entrance to go on stage. It was her first performance with the National Opera of Moscow. She didn't know how Andrei would react. He didn't know she was performing today.
She gasped as his familiar voice was heard echoing down the hallway, and her skin crawled. He was coming. She had to get away. The only way she could go was onstage. She fumbled out onto the stage of the Bolshoi opera house. The stage lights blinded her. She heard the far off orchestra. She saw her friend Afanasiia singing in the middle of the stage, what seemed like miles away from her. She looked back into the wings and saw the furious face of Andrei. She heard the collective gasps of the audience, and their fingers that all pointed up. She looked up and saw a huge light fixture falling down, towards her. Falling...falling... She looked back at Andrei, a knife in his hand, and a grin on his face. Everything went black.
The strong rays of sunlight streaming through the office window, combined with the annoying buzzing fly were liable to drive Sabrina insane. Thankfully then Bosley got up to draw the blinds closed, and the hum of the projector clicked on.
"Good morning Angels."
"Good morning Charlie," resonated though the office as Sabrina, Kelly, and Jill each answered out of unison to their boss, whose voice could be heard over the loudspeaker.
"Angels, this is a picture of Agafia Ayushiyev, a singer at the National Opera of Moscow."
A pretty young girl with black hair and sharp, angled features appeared on the screen. She was not smiling.
"She was and up and coming star, and her first performance was supposed to be on Sunday."
"Supposed to?" Sabrina's voice cracked.
"Yes, but there were certain complications; for some reason she ran out onto stage far before her entrance and a light fixture fell on her. Regretfully, after several days in a local hospital in Moscow, she died."
"That's awful!" Kelly shook her head, disapproving.
"Right you are, Kelly. That's why our job is to find out who caused that light fixture to fall on her. The only things we have to go on are that the rope was cut, and there was some bad blood between Agafia and the man who organizes the companies' tours, a certain Andrei Ankundinov. Other girls in the Opera were interviewed by my friend who flew out to Moscow to question them. They said that they had seen Agafia burst out of Andrei's office one night in tears. They then heard Andrei place a call and tell someone to 'follow her and be ready'".
"This Andrei doesn't sound very pleasant," Jill had a disgusted look on her face.
Kelly looked up, and with a shake of her head said "No. No he doesn't."
"Anyway Angels, the only way we can find out anymore is to be there in person. Angels, you're going to Moscow."
There were collective gasps around the room.
"But," Sabrina chuckled, disbelieving, "that's on the other side of the world!"
"Yes, I admit it is very far away, but there's nothing to be done. Jill, you are going there as a journalist who is interviewing singers about their up-and-coming tour, Sabrina you will be a business woman interested in buying the National Opera of Moscow (as Andrei helps to deal with company issues as well as arranging tours) and lastly Kelly, you will be an aspiring opera singer. I have arranged voice lessons for you already." A sharp click was heard several seconds after, right before any of the angels could protest.
"Wh-"
"Charlie!"
"H—"
"Oh girls it's no use!" Bosley said with glee. "You're going to Russia, and I just happen to not be," he chuckled. "Well, you should go get packed."
Whirling snowflakes rushed past the airplane window, as Jill stared out. Far, far below all she could was white snow-covered land stretching for miles and miles. All of the angels were cramped from the long flight. They had had a layover in Ukraine, but they were aching and the waiting was getting mind-numbingly boring.
"Passengers, please fasten your seatbelts. We are about to descend."
"Finally," Kelly was none too pleased about their 13 hour flight.
"We better get our winter gear on," Sabrina said dubiously.
By the time they were done, all three angelscould have passed for Eskimos. They wore thick coats with fur-rimmed collars, and sturdy, waterproof boots.
Minutes later, they stepped out into the snow. It was coming down so fast now, that it was hard to make out the taxi cabs waiting for them.
They each got into their separate cabs, because they were not supposed to be arriving together. They started driving away from the airport, and there they were; each alone in Russia.