FBI INTERVIEW PART 5 FBI BUILDING WASHINGTON D.C. - FEBRUARY 26, 1988

Agent: So, Mrs. Beeman, how does The Bureau appeal to you?

Renee: Pay is low, but I'm serving my country.

Agent: I bet you are! - pause - That's all I'm saying about that! Okay, I won't be long. We in The Bureau, we do two things. First, we investigate. It's in the name. - pause - You weren't around during the Hoover years, that was when The Bureau was The Bureau, not someone's political football.

Renee: I thought that The FBI had never been political - cold and humourless, yes - but political!?

- silence -

Agent: Is there anything you'd like to say?

Renee: Sir, it was you who called me in. Me, I have work to do at Personnel. I'm not yet up to speed. The upset two months ago… I can now see how it has shaken the whole building.

Agent: Well, you, you say you're serving your country. - pause - I'll leave it at that, because Attorney General Meese and Director Sessions have given this investigation its marching orders. They want it closed. Me, I don't like it… but I image you do.

- silence, both wondering who would get out of their chairs to leave first -

Renee: Can I ask a question?

Agent: Ask away. Me, after this, I'm going home for the weekend. - pause - I imagine you want to, too. What with your anniversary coming up - on Monday.

Renee: You have a good memory!

Agent: I wish you and Agent Beeman well, I hope it goes ahead.

Renee: Thanks. Me and Stan, we obviously have issues to work through.

Agent: I'm not a marriage counselor, Mrs. Beeman. Me, I'm on my third marriage. The Bureau has that effect on you…..

THE ADIRONDACK ROUTE - DECEMBER 1987

One last decision for Boris and Natasha. How to cross the 45th Parallel. They already conceded that they'd have to abandon Henry. But the border - by car, by rail or by air? Swim Lake Champlain? 'Boat' was probably the worst decision. If by car, there was no sense in traveling anything other than Interstate 85, cross to Blackpool on the Quebec side. Or skip over to Rouses Point on Highway 11 and cross near Fort Montgomery, NY.

The real reason why one should not cross by car? It was easy to overthink it.

After everything which had gone on with Elizabeth - defying The Centre for the first time in her career, admitting that Philip had been right - she had no energy now to overthink their escape. Her adrenaline and focus was on the immediate…

Paige suggested that they simply find a secluded spot and then hike into Canada, take it from there. But they were ill equipped for December weather in the north Adirondacks. Paige's suggestion that they cross from New Hampshire was quickly shot down - Paige had thought of that as a way to say goodbye to Henry.

Elizabeth conceded that at this point, Philip was the clearest thinker. Damn him. Elizabeth thought he might be waning in that department, though, when he said he was going to check by payphone with the call centre back in Washington. When Elizabeth balked at the risk, he said, "we need to know what's ahead. We need to know what they know….."

Elizabeth said, "we don't know if The Centre is still with us. If they're not, then the even the Call Centre would be unreliable. We've just committed treason, Philip."

After the call, he jumped into the driver's side, said, "well, I'll be hornswaggled. The Call Centre, it's not - yet - compromised. But we're directed to Port Henry…"

Paige said, "Port 'Henry'!? Is that some sort of code?

Philip answered, "I think that was the only thing not in code. This time, Port Henry is just Port Henry." He put his left elbow on the seat-back to turn to face the two women, "hold on to your hats, Claudia has been recalled. Don't bother sending her a Christmas card if we can get Burov's message to Moscow. We now have to get to the Residentura in Montreal….."

Paige asked, "are they going to execute Claudia?"

Elizabeth said, "don't worry about her. She survived Stalingrad during the Great Patriotic War. For her, this coup attempt is a mere scuffle….."

Philip said, "if it works out, we'll meet our new handler at the Amtrak station there."

Elizabeth: Are you sure the Call Centre is not compromised?

Philip: We only have bad options here, Elizabeth. Me, every bone in my body says to get into Canada ASAP. The Call Centre wants us to wait until tomorrow… to pick up Amtrak train at Port Henry. I asked the girl at the Call Centre if she'd send a message to The Centre for me - she refused…. it's unclear if the Call Centre is still with The Party.

PORT HENRY - DECEMBER 1987

The Port Henry Amtrak station was basically a parking lot. There was a delapitated, old & small waiting building, which would not serve any purpose, none at all - perhaps only in the dead of winter. The three of them, they were going to have to get into their final disguises there in the car, the disguises to match their Canadian passports.

Philip turned to his disguised daughter, handed her her passport. "Remember," he said, "Canadians don't pronounce the second-T in 'Toronto'. He said that the vehicle, they were probably going to abandon it right there so wipe it down on exit.

The night before, they'd thrown everything remaining about their American lives into a shallow pit just off an Interstate Rest Stop. They'd even called Henry at St. Edwards. He thought that his dad had been drinking. Paige couldn't speak to her brother, not at all. But Paige did note that her mom had told him that she'd loved him.

'I love you'. In Paige's two decades in the looney bin, those were three words she had never heard, not from either of her parents. There was an explosion of gall building in Paige, which she only acknowledged hearing her mother address Henry like that. 'Me,' Paige thought, 'the last three years I've done everything you asked. I've seen your face covered by someone else's brains. I've seen you kill people. I found out you're a whore, and you're trying to make me one, too. You could at least say you love me. Oh sure, you say it to him.'

What was it that stopped Paige's obsessive thoughts about her mother? Those thoughts while she was in that silly wig, sitting in the backseat of a cold car in a graveled Amtrak parking lot in Port Henry, NY?

What stopped those thoughts?

She saw Renee Beeman's 4x4 sidle into the parking lot, the only other car there.

In the car? Renee Beeman, and with the Lord as her witness…..

…. her brother, Henry.

Both Elizabeth as well as Philip first wondered if Renee Beeman had been armed. Only then did they deal with the shock of seeing her with Henry.

Renee had pulled up beside them and they both rolled down their windows. Renee told them that, 'Claudia is gone'. That she, Renee, had had the third degree at the FBI building in Washington, but now seemed to be in the clear. That Stan was acting all strange. That after dropping Henry off with his hockey pals at Ticonderoga, New York, just to the south (where she'd picked him up)…. that she'd be back to Falls Church before Stan had noticed she was gone.

She'd even disconnected her odometer.

Henry, was silent for most of the 'meet'. Seeing him, though, did not mean that the Jennings could take him. They'd already buried his passport, and when the northbound Amtrak eventually arrived, they had to scramble.

As it was, Henry cussed out his family, particularly Paige. "Choosing the looney bin, hey bitch," was what he had said - earning a rebuke from his mother.

He'd then shouted at Elizabeth, "has Paige told you what a whore you are!" which earned a rebuke, this time from Renee.

Philip then looked straight at Renee. He asked, "was it wise to bring him in to this? I mean, is he safe? Can you guarantee his safety? I mean, from even you?"

Renee assured Philip that she and Henry had always had an understanding. She said, "parents don't know everything about their children, Mischa." She added, "When he gets older, there'll be another Jennings working for Mokosh, our adopted mother."

Holy smoke, Philip thought. It's Renee, she's the new handler - now running the Call Centre, taking orders from The Centre! Elizabeth wondered, is she with Gorbachev and reform, or with General Kovtun? All that that meant, was that it was all the more imperative for them to get to Montreal, and failing that - to Moscow.

No matter, they then heard the Amtrak train whistle - it was slowly approaching from the south. As they abandoned their car, Paige ran to the passenger-side of Renee's 4x4 - Henry did not roll down his window, he just stared at her. After mouthing to him that she loved him, she ran to join her parents already at the platform.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1988

The Beeman's anniversary dinner arrived. Renee had made a special dinner, all by herself. She'd wanted to surprise Stan - quite surprised as it was that he was still coming home.

That morning when they had got up, Renee had found the kitchen cleaned-up from the night before, Stan had done it immaculately before he'd turned in. Those days they were not cuddling at night - Stan was sticking to his own side of the bed, even when deeply asleep. Before December, even deep in slumber, he'd end up with his arm around her waist - snoring briskly! Now, she was uncertain that he even slept at night.

Renee had completed both their bag lunches…. gone also were the few lunch 'dates' they'd had in the FBI building. For some reason, Stan was now finding excuses - saying that the Fraud Division was taking too much of his time.

Even before her time at Personnel with the FBI, they'd often leave the house together - with a morning kiss before driving off in their respective directions. Even now going in the same direction, they found excuses to take both vehicles.

The morning kiss, that was gone as well. Perhaps that was because even on Leap Day, 1988, the FBI forensics people were still peeling wires and plasterboard from the ever shrinking frame of the Jennings old house. They were using backhoes to unearth the mysteries that ground-penetrating radar had discovered. Stan had quipped that the Jennings place would be behind crime scene tape well into the summer…. that the Falls Church Development office had already disallowed an eventual rebuild on the lot.

Renee had thought that the candles on the table were a nice touch. That they would open Stan up a bit, from his fugue about the events of two months ago, or the betrayal of the last six years at the hands of his best friend.

Just then, Renee heard Stan's car outside. She went to the window, which afforded a perfect view of him as he got out, as he closed his door and stood with his back to his house, surveying the wreckage across the street.

She also had a perfect view of Henry, when he got out from the passenger side, himself standing tall with his back turned as he looked at his former home. Stan came around the car, put his arm around Henry - who collapsed into tears in Stan's arms.

Yessirree Bob, this was going to be an eventful 4 year anniversary for she and Stan.

It was that night that Stan informed Renee that he had quit the FBI, and that by the end of March, he'd be head of security at a New Hampshire community college. When Renee had asked about herself with her new job, Stan calmly said, "you're not coming. You can have the house."

When Stan had gone upstairs to get some things, Renee asked Henry, "what about you?"

Henry said, "Stan's going mental Renee. He suspects you, but knows nothing about me. He wanted me to wear a wire for this visit, but I refused. I promise, though, I'll stay low until I'm out of St Edwards and in university somewhere. I'll apply at George Washington, just to be local. I know you'll get back in contact with me then….."

THE CALL CENTER - MARCH 1988

Renee had called from a payphone after a long day at Personnel. So far, there'd been nothing. Claudia had given Renee her 'field promotion' last December, and there had not been much to do since. Periodically, Renee would just sit with her, seeing what Joan did and how she did it.

Joan would always ask about her predecessor. "I'd been pressed into service, before the end of training. No one told me why." Renee said that she had no idea.

Until that day in late April 1988, just as the Washington weather was turning to Spring. In a round-about way, Joan had advised Renee that two 'assets' would meet her late that afternoon, on the same park-bench that Renee and Claudia had met on that fateful day, last December. (The Centre never did say what happened to Claudia, but with Gorbachev holding on to power, Renee thought, 'it could not have been pleasant'.)

Arriving, Renee saw two young people, a boy and a girl - perhaps 19, maybe 20 - sitting there looking around like lost souls. 'Looking so goddamned obvious', Renee thought.

After an exchange of codes, the girl said in perfect American English, "you must be Cynthia."

A name that Renee confirmed. "Yes, we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the coming weeks and months."

The boy said, "we're eager to get started."

'Cynthia' said, "well, hold your horses, son. You have to get established first."

The two of them looked confused, he asked, "why would we 'hold horses'?"

"Precisely," 'Cynthia' said. "There's a bank downtown with accounts and a safety deposit box already set up. Here are the keys. One out in Falls Church, too. There's a safe house, but that's a last resort. They're yours. Enough to get established but not draw attention. I can help, but it's better if you do it on your own. If you contact The Call Centre, it's always by payphone. I'll be 24 hours away."

"But when do we get started?" the young woman asked.

"When you know what 'hold your horses' means."

THE END