Paul had made an early exit, going back to work, but Graeme, his partner the lovely Martin and Sasha were sat enjoying a third cafetiere of best Columbian, when the dancer told his new boss of another avenue he was exploring. "I don't know if you saw my shows with Cin and Serge back in 2009. I've been working through a few ideas with the artist we used for our visuals, Dave Meadows. He's got an installation at the Tate in seven weeks. He's been in touch about a integrating a performance as a opening for his holographic sculptures. I'm thinking of choreographing a more modern piece with Cin. She's been working for Sienna Murray at Dance Scene in Edinburgh since last year. I wish I'd gone to their show at the Festival last year. The bits on Youtube looked stunning."
"Yes we both went up for that. Your girl Cin found her feet with Ms. Murray" noted the ballet maestro remembering the tall, willowy soloist. "You were right to encourage that statuesque young lady. She has gone from strength to strength with a more modern style."
"Yeah, I just told her you had to work for something good in your life and you needed be a bit of a selfish bastard to get there. I had no doubts about her inner steel and resolve, her uncle is a drill sergeant and the Army invented how to shit on people from a great height. Last august, I was a bit busy dealing with my own personal problems. Tania always gets her own way in the end. She wanted more from me than I could give. She wanted babies, two before she's forty. I mean christ, I'm not father material, not by a long way." Alex looked around at the few tables with babies and children. He really loved his Stravenkov siblings, but he never wanted kids himself. It had been John and Helen's biggest mistake. Parenthood had started the series of events that had killed them both. Then leaving the care of said baby to two psychopaths, Alex wondered who was worse; Ian who had actually brought him up or his godfather Ash.
"I'm sure you'd have muddled through. Most people do." Martin interjected.
"Well, apart from the fact I had myself snipped at 18, I think adopting kids who need love and support is a better way of going about it. Hell, Maria had the right idea. Live your life to the fullest and then do the parenthood thing. Her example was always Marek anyway." Alex drained his cup, finally he'd had his fill of rocket fuel. "I don't know if you ever met Maria?"
"Only briefly, many years ago in Leningrad as it was then" stated Graeme. She had been teaching then, he had attended a class where she had been a vindictive, cruel perfectionist.
Alex decided to explain their strange relationship, more than mentor or teacher, but not quite like a mother and son, as both individuals had been broken by their life experience. Alex loved her storey and now told a highly edited version. "She connected with me because of the similarities in our lives. I told her all about my descent into hell and she told me all about surviving horror as a child. She was twelve when the Nazis invaded and blitzkrieg flattened her home town of Smolensk; where she was at the Dance Academy, a young orphan bullied and unhappy. She used to sneak out at night to see her older brother, he would also sneak out of his work lodgings, fourteen and already a factory worker. The barrage of bombs reigned down and they were stuck outside frightened but together, both expecting to be beaten in the morning for disobeying dormitory rules, but they stayed hidden and safe in the park. In the morning his dormitory and the Dance Academy were gone and the two siblings joined the throng that were evacuating to Moscow and Leningrad. Their luck had run out as they went to Leningrad.
"They arrived in the city to find the Kirov had already departed to Perm. They had nowhere to go as the front lines closed in. It was everyone for themselves on the streets and her brother left her to her fate. Winter was bitter and the food ran out. Maria learned to survive by selling everything she could, stealing, lying, cheating and finally selling her innocence. She picked Marek's pocket, not for money but for a potato, worth more than roubles or gold. He gave chase and caught her and made her empty out her sack of meagre belongings for his stolen property. Inside were her pride and joy, two pairs of dancing shoes carefully wrapped in newspaper. That saved her from prison or more likely a lynching. Martial law meant thieves and looters were harshly dealt with, no matter their age.
"She was very kind to me, but only set loose targets but not boundaries. I slept little, looked like as starved rat and ran wild. This was the man-child Luci Stravenkov invited into her home. It was only the second real family I'd exoerienced, Edward and Liz were the first, but somehow I stayed with Vladimir and Luci and they are still family. Someday, I may open my own home to a stray but not yet. I have a way to go before being able to give and provide a nurturing environment to a child."
Graeme found himself liking the young man who had melted the ice in Maria Makarova's cold black heart. Her name in the Kirov had been black widow as she had buried two husbands and one lover by her fiftieth birthday. Here, the young dancer was as strong as her, but life had not left him with a hard facade, hers only melting on stage where she danced for her beloved Marek.
…..
Life as a dancer was again all consuming, with practice, rehearsals and publicity. Sasha was slowly integrating with the company, which was his temporary home. He had baked and brought in apple sharlotka on his first day of rehearsals and three days later he was making friends and settling into the routine. He hated the photo shoots but publicity was a necessary evil. The photos for the programmes and the posters had been taken on October, when he had signed his contract; but the negotiations for his participation and the programme of work had been agreed last summer. He had been planning to leave Novosibirsk for a while. He had needed a change and longed for expanding his repertoire into more adventurous works and stagings.
He had heard little from Russia. Dima had remained silent and had not returned Alex's messages, but that was inevitable an result of the fallout from his relationship with Maxim. Now, he was in no mans land again, alone but not looking for a lover. The fling with the TV producer had been advantageous for all the wrong reasons, both parties using sex and neither looking for anything positive. He had been nothing more than a whore again, it was something to go over with Terrance during their next session.
Sasha hated the fact it was forbidden to smoke inside and as a result he was trying to give up. Gum and those patches were a poor substitute for his beloved, bad Russian cigarettes.
Thursday rolled around and tomorrow he was picking Alia from the airport. Once again, his partner for the Leningrad Variations and also as assistant for his masterclasses, as a honoured instructor at the Moscow Choreographic Institute, he was sure he had a lot to learn from her about teaching technique.
He was briefly resting during another epic session in the rehearsal room. Working with Regina, a young soloist partnering him in Mayerling as choreographed by Sir Kenneth Macmillan. New steps, new style, new partner; it was thrilling.
Graeme snuck into the rehearsal and was happy to watch for a few minutes before breaking his bad news. "Sorry, Barry darling but I need to borrow Sasha for a bit… in fact it may be better just to concentrate of Regina's solos for the rest of the day. This might take a while."
Alex noted the Director had been a bit cagey with the reasons for the interruption, once he was dressed in warm clothes, the walked to his office. "Is it a problem with my urine sample? 'cause I swear I'm clean. I have not used anything except prescribed medication since I was 16."
"No, no there are two gentlemen to see you on official business."
With that statement Alex's heart sank reminded of similar visits by members of MI6 Special Operations to his home in Chelsea over 10 years ago. He forced himself to remain calm and to wait and see what they wanted. Then he could cut and run, if necessary. He knew all the exits to the building and was certain he could take out the two agents, if necessary.
The men in the room were no one Alex was familiar with but that wasn't a surprise. He only really knew three people working at the Royal and General Bank and two ran the place. Edward introduced the guests "Inspector Simon Jenkins, Interpol Liaison at Scotland Yard and Pavel Rybakov of the Russian Embassy. They said they were here regarding Operation Vico."
Alex knew that by interviewing him here, he was not a suspect. He crossed his arms and looked petulant at being disturbed at work, "What do you need to know?"
"Please sit down Mr. Makarov and Mr. Rawlings. Could I trouble your assistant to get us some tea or coffee." Graeme went to arrange refreshments as two files were put on the table. After a small delay, the door was closed, Graeme had poured out four cups of tea and the Inspector took a sip and seemed quite nervous. "Operation Vico is the latest international operation against child endangerment via pornography and exploitation and the apprehension of those distributing such material. As part of a current investigation in Moscow certain images came to light. Images of you Mr. Makarov, when you were a teenager, about twelve to fifteen. You had very short hair and an earring in your right ear. I can see you still have that ear pierced."
"I know exactly what your talking about and I know who had the images. I did not give them to Maxim. He… used them to coerce me into a sexual relationship. They were taken about six weeks after my fourteen birthday at a boarding school in France. The deputy headmistress drugged me, stripped me and took the photos of me naked, in fact she took photos of all the boys for Dr. Hugo Grief who ran the school. It was part of a black mail plot and if you want more information you need to talk to someone at SIS or MI6. Those images were supposedly secured as evidence."
The Russian spoke up "Please tell me why you did not tell the State Security in Moscow, the American Embassy or British MI6 that evidence had been compromised?"
With a rolling of his eyes, Alex laid down a few home truths. "Right, me volunteering to talk to the authorities. Not likely, if you know anything about me, you know I have an extremely low opinion of you people doing the right thing. I was pretty much shafted after my short period in protective custody in Florida in 2003, so no I can handle pathetic people like Maxim Lukov. I had my reasons for keeping it to myself. This affected my friends, not that I'm close or even in contact with most of the others.
"I was not the only boy affected… the others included the children of an American General, a Russian General, three sons of prominent businessmen and two sons of media moguls. In fact, I really did not give a crap if Maxim had released pictures of me. I have never made a secret that I had a less than stellar life before I was sixteen. As a Russian TV producer, I discounted him being interested in the other boys except my friend Dimitry… Dimitry Ivanov, a Captain in Directorate 3 of the Federal Security Service, but whose Great Uncle was Head of Directorate 1, until he retired in 2000. I went along with Maxim's pathetic and rather laughable attempts at blackmail for my friend Dima. He lost his father while he was at that school, he is still rather fragile about it. I was already planning on leaving Russia and for a few pathetic fucks, it was a small price to pay. I got word out to James' dad and to Paul.. Roscoe and Joe Canterbury in the States. I did not have a way of contacting the others, but Paul or Dieter will have." Alex broke into a sad, rueful half smile. "I've fucked worst bastards to please people, who at the time I thought loved me. Anyway I'm not a credible witness in anyones court, being a teenage whore, drug addict and alcoholic."
Alex was shaking, anger was never a good thing, you let your emotions out and you fucked things up big time. He hated Maxim and his petty games. He'd had his revenge, but the stupid fuck was meant to have destroyed the pictures. "He had destroyed the pictures of Dimitry, that was our bargain. Please tell me he didn't try and use them as leverage with those investigators?"
The Russian softened slightly, "Mr. Lukov's computer contained a number of degrading images. I know Mr. Ivanov has been made aware of their contents."
"Poor Dima…. I… tried to spare him this pain, this humiliation" Alex tried not to weep for his fellow survivor of the school from hell, but several tears escaped. Graeme, ever the gentleman, passed over his monogrammed linen handkerchief.
The inspector pulled out details of two support groups for victims of sexual violence and child pornography and asked, in a soft gentle voice if Alex had a good support network. "I would give away the seven million pounds I inherited from my asshole of an uncle if I could make all the mistakes in my past go away and find some way of stopping me making more of them." Alex got up and left without a backwards glance.
Simon Jenkins asked Graeme Rawlings "He's got friends to rely on, hasn't he?"
"That I can't say for sure. The only friend of his I've met was introduced to me as his former pimp."