Alex sat in the kitchen with Sokolov that night. Both of them were awkwardly silent.
"I should take you back to London tomorrow morning," Sokolov finally said.
"No, I want to stay," Alex protested.
"Camryn and I are doing dangerous work here."
"I know. I want to be here to help. I want to be with Camryn for as long as I can before she leaves me for good."
Sokolov sighed. "Alex, it's not that I don't like you."
"Really?" Alex huffed sarcastically. "You seem to hate me."
"Look, Camryn hasn't been the same since I left. I've been keeping an eye on her to make sure she was okay. I almost abandoned this assignment when my brother was killed. But then you came along. You made her happy again."
"Then why don't you want me around her?"
"It was something Camryn wanted me to do."
"What?"
"It's a long story."
"We've got time," Alex said challengingly.
Sokolov sighed. "Camryn was keeping an eye on the Chechens and nuclear weapons in the area. It was her job. She was watching satellite feeds and found me. She spent endless days and nights researching. She wanted to find me. She wanted to know why I was alive while she thought I was dead. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one watching her. Someone else found out that Camryn knew too much about Chechen nuclear activity. A man named Adrian Vygotsky sent someone to kidnap Camryn."
"Adrian Vygotsky? The nuclear scientist?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
"I was sent to kidnap him so that the Chechens couldn't get their hands on nuclear weapons."
"Well, anyway, Adrian brought Camryn to Chechnya to be killed, but I got to her first."
"But she sent me a message that she was in Moscow."
Sokolov shook his head. "She never told me about that."
Alex was confused.
"Camryn knew you'd be coming to find her. She forced me to call you and threaten you. When you ended up coming anyway, Camryn told me to act like I didn't like you. Alex, she loves you and she wants to protect you."
"How did you know I was coming?"
"Camryn had contacted someone named Smithers. By the time she called him, you had already left for Moscow. It was Yassen who brought you, right?"
"How did you know?"
"Camryn has her ways of getting information. Yassen tried to set you up. He's working with the Chechens to create nuclear weapons. Adrian Vygotsky was waiting in the apartment for you. He was supposed to kill you. Camryn came by before you did and killed him. Camryn was the one who knocked you out and brought you here."
Alex stared wide-eyed at Sokolov.
Sokolov shook his head. "It's hard to believe how Camryn can kill so easily. She seems to feel no remorse when she kills."
"She does," Alex said. "She just tries to hide it. She does what she has to. It's her job."
"That's true."
"So, since Adrian Vygotsky is dead, is the Chechen problem over?"
"Unfortunately, no. Yassen Gregorovich is still alive. As long as he's still alive, the operation will continue. Unfortunately for us, Yassen is an extremely hard man to track down and find. He's also a very hard man to kill. He's indestructible. It's like he's not even human."
"I know what you mean."
"Yassen will find another scientist to take Adrian's place. The project will move on. We need to destroy the lab you found, and we need to kill Yassen."
"You said that Camryn never told you about sending me a message from Moscow. What's up with that?"
Sokolov shrugged. "I think that may have been part of Yassen's set up."
"And another question: who is Darya Sokolova?" Alex already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from Sokolov.
"How do you know about Darya?"
"I read all of Camryn's notes."
"I adopted Darya three years ago when I came to Chechnya. She was an orphan."
Alex nodded. "I'm going to go to bed."
"Alright. Good night."
"Yeah."
Alex left the kitchen and headed back to his room. He paused outside Camryn's room. He opened the door slowly. Camryn was curled up under the covers of her bed asleep. Alex closed the door and went into his room. He wanted to ask her so many questions, but that would have to wait until morning.
Alex lay down on the bed and pulled the covers over his shoulders. He closed his eyes and began to relive that afternoon lying in bed with Camryn. That was the best fifteen minutes of his life. Feeling warm all over, Alex fell asleep.
The next day, Alex sat in his room playing Mario Kart on his Nintendo DS. He really had nothing to do. Camryn was helping her dad with a new lead. A knock came on the door.
"Come in," Alex called, putting the game away.
The door opened and a young girl stepped in. She had long, pitch-black hair. She had delicate, pale skin and big, olive-colored eyes.
"Hello," she greeted with a smile. "My name is Darya. I've heard Camryn talk about you and I wanted to meet you."
"Oh, well, I'm Alex. I'm really not that interesting of a person."
"That's not what Camryn says."
"Really?"
"Yeah. She says you're really cool."
"Since Camryn has probably told you all about me, tell me about you."
"Well, I'm fifteen. I was adopted three years ago. My parents were killed by the KGB. They were rebels against the Russian government. Other than that, I'm just your ordinary kid."
That's strange, Alex thought. Sokolov was working against the Chechens. Did Darya know that her adoptive father was working for the CIA?
Alex took a good look at Darya. She did seem like an ordinary kid. But there was something about her. She was more than ordinary.
"Alex, can I ask you something about Camryn?"
"Sure. I'll try my best to answer."
"Well, I've only known her for about a month, but she seems so mysterious. She always acts like she's hiding something."
She's hiding everything, Alex thought.
"Do you ever get the feeling that Camryn is hiding something?" Darya asked.
Alex shrugged, sitting down on the bed. "Not really. She tells me everything."
Darya frowned, disappointed.
"Don't feel bad, Darya. It takes a long time for Camryn to learn to trust someone. It took a long time for me to gain her trust."
"Even though I am adopted, I am her sister. She doesn't even talk to me that much."
"That's how Camryn is. She's really quiet."
"I feel like there's something strange about her."
Well, there's something strange about you too, Alex thought. "She's been through a lot."
"Do you know why my father came to Russia from America?"
"No," Alex said. "I wish I knew though."
"Camryn thought Father was dead. If he loves her so much, why did he leave her?"
"He might have been in danger."
"What kind of danger? It's not like he's a spy or anything."
"He might have been in danger for other reasons. What reasons exactly? I'm not sure."
"I thought America was safe."
Alex chuckled, remembering his experience in Los Angeles. "Not really. Sometimes, it's the most dangerous place in the world."
"Alex, do you think Camryn hates me?"
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, her father left her and adopted me. If my father left me to adopt another child, I'd be upset."
"I don't think she hates you. It's been three years since she last saw her father. She also thought that he'd been dead all these years. Just give her some time."
Darya sighed. "Okay. Thanks."
"Sure, no problem."
Darya turned and left the room. Camryn poked her head inside.
"Hey, you," she greeted.
Alex's face lit up with a smile. "Hey."
"Are you busy?"
Alex shook his head. "Never too busy for you."
Camryn stepped in and closed the door behind her. She sat herself on Alex's lap and kissed him. Alex wanted to touch her again, but he decided to wait a while.
"Darya was here just now," Alex said. "We were talking about you."
"What did she say?"
"She thinks you hate her. She's suspicious."
"Really?"
"She said that she thinks you're hiding something. I think you should talk to her and get to know her a little. After all, she's technically your sister."
"I don't want anything to do with her," Camryn said softly.
"Cam, give the kid a chance."
"I don't trust her."
"You hardly know her."
"And you do?" Camryn challenged.
Alex sighed. "Just talk to her, Cam."
"Did Darya tell you about her brother?"
"She has a brother?"
"Yeah. His name was Ivan Sokolov. He's the one who murdered my mother."