The agent had been kind but unable to tell more than she already knew. The subject in question – he’d peered into the file – Dr. Michael Nariovsky-Trent had entered Kaliningrad in the Soviet Republic on July 20. His passport showed no entry into any other country since. He’d handed Sophie a copy of the completed workup, and she’d started to leave the office when the agent’s words had halted her.
“Kaliningrad is extremely close to the warzone,” he’d ventured. “And Dr. Nariovsky-Trent holds Orlisian citizenship, does he not?” The agent, of course, would have known full well that Michael had dual citizenship. “With the Soviet Republic currently occupying Orlisia, Dr. Nariovsky-Trent’s proximity to the conflict is concerning.”
“All the more reason for me to find him,” she’d replied.
The agent had taken off his glasses and held her gaze for a long moment.
“Ms. Swenda, there’s not a person in international relations today who doesn’t know who you are. Your coalition represents the best hope the world has of saving the people trapped in that camp.” He paused. “But you can’t save everyone. You’ve got to know that.”
She’d stood for a moment more, feeling the cool, professional demeanor she presented to the world trembling under the pressure of the intensely personal fear beneath.
“I know. But I have to find him.”
Sophie had been an infant at the time of the former USSR’s rapid evolution in the mid-1980s. The first government of the new era had originally pursued political reforms that had rocked the stability of the faltering superpower. With the separation of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, however, the Politburo had changed direction and undertaken a series of steady economic reforms, similar to those taken by China. The renewed approach had held the country together.
As the new market economy had grown, so too had regional stability. Greater emphasis on food production had meant the USSR was no longer reliant on imports. With the immediate crisis of financial collapse defused, the superpower had turned its focus back to the three nations – now one – that had escaped its rule.
Comprising the three breakaway states on the Baltic Sea, the new republic of Orlisia had lasted longer than international affairs pundits had predicted. Although linked by ethnic ties of the past, the people of Orlisia had united for one reason – to maintain their independence. The USSR had immediately put the young country’s resolve to the test.
The superpower had invaded Orlisia in 1992, crushing the nation’s military force and taking control of the ports on the western coast. But where the Soviets had had might, Orlisia had had endurance. Global outcry against the invasion had been furious, something the USSR did not need as it reinvented itself as a peaceful nation on the world stage. After four years of international pressure, intense cold, and supply-chain disruption, the Soviet military had withdrawn.
In the years that followed, the USSR had eased its totalitarian policies and become the Soviet Republic. It had embarked on a period of peaceful expansion, absorbing the Warsaw Pact nations and a few countries from Asia and North Africa. Dwarfing the US in size and power, the massive republic had brought peace and stability to parts of the globe that had known little of either.
It never forgot Orlisia, though. And seventeen years later, it would return to repossess what had been lost.
-
Sophie sat aboard the New York-bound train, looking at Michael’s passport picture.
Even in a black and white photocopy, Michael was beautiful. Throughout their most bitter battles of the last decade, during their long separations and furious arguments, he’d always been beautiful to her. She didn’t think she’d ever told him that, and now might never get the chance.