Early Friday morning
 

Opening her eyes caused the room to immediately start spinning.  Amanda closed them again, groaning as her head pounded. Taking a few deep breaths, she again attempted to open her eyes, slowly this time.  It didn’t help a bit.  The room began to swim and at the same time, her stomach began to churn. She struggled to sit up; hoping that being upright would make her feel better.  It didn’t.  Her stomach continued to pitch.
 

Struggling in an attempt to lift her body off the bed her muscles dissented. Frantic, that she would vomit before she made it to the bathroom, she forced herself up, despite her wobbly legs.  Once in the bathroom, dry heaves began to plague her body, as her head continued to pound and chills raced through her body.  As quickly as the chills began, suddenly she was sweating.
 

Leaning back against the porcelain bathtub she pulled her knees to her chest and rubbed her throbbing temple. Woozy and exhausted the coolness from the porcelain felt refreshing.  Taking a couple of deep breaths she glanced around the unfamiliar bathroom.
 

“Where am I?” Amanda groaned, trying to piece together what was going on.  She noticed simple white towels on the towel bar.  Looking up at the vanity she noticed a tiny bar of soap and other toiletries.  “OK, I’m in a hotel…but where?”
 

She closed her eyes once more.  Wishing this whole experience was nothing more than a bad dream.  However, when she opened her eyes again, she was still sitting on a strange bathroom floor feeling like hell.
 

“I must have eaten something bad,” she mumbled to herself, struggling to get to her feet.  She turned on the faucet and filled a glass with water.  She began to sip at it realizing it might not stay down, but it felt so good on her dry parched lips and her cotton mouth.
 

The water soothed her throat, so she refilled the glass and put it against her forehead, taking the edge off the throbbing.  Leaning against the wall, she willed her weak trembling legs to take her back to the bed.
 

When Amanda reached it, she glanced around the small hotel room.  It was a typical hotel room, a double bed, dresser and desk, a small television. The furnishings were nice, not worn, but it didn’t provide any clue as to where she was and what she was doing here - alone.  Where was Lee?  Was she on an assignment?  Why couldn’t she remember anything?
 

Despite her exhaustion, Amanda needed to know where she was.  Testing her wobbly legs once again, she stood up and struggled to reach the window, pulling back the curtain. The view from the third floor revealed a cityscape below.  The various signs on the block were clearly not in English.  It took her brain a few moments to decipher it was Russian she was reading.  Once she had sorted that out, she realized her location.
 

“Oh my gosh, I’m in Kiev!” she gasped gazing out the window at the Soviet city.  Staring outside she rubbed her throbbing temple thinking back to what brought her here.  The pain was too much for her to think clearly.
 

“Maybe a hot shower and some coffee would help,” Amanda thought out loud and then staggered back to the bathroom, using the walls to brace her weak body.
 

The shower did indeed make Amanda feel a little better.  Her stomach was beginning to growl and her head wasn’t pounding as much.  Unfortunately, her mind was still foggy as to why she was in Kiev and where was her partner, Lee Stetson?  Searching the room she found her wristwatch on the night stand, she noticed it was 9AM Kiev time.  Only her blue Samsonite suitcase was in the room.  Obviously, Lee wasn’t traveling with her.
 

“That means it’s two in the morning, no it would be one in the morning back in DC,” she reasoned then rebuked herself.  Her mind was still in a fog unable to convert the time back home. “It doesn’t matter, Amanda, either way it’s too early to call Billy Melrose.”
 

She sat back down on the bed for a few minutes trying to come up with a plan given her unknown circumstances. She picked up the receiver of the phone.
 

“I’ll call Lee…” she began to dial his number then hung up. “No, he’s sleeping.  If I wake him, he’ll worry.  Things will be clearer after I eat some breakfast.  It’s the most important meal of the day.  I’ll feel better after I eat.  Then I’ll call Lee,” she decided.  Glancing around the room, she located her purse, and headed into the city of Kiev.
 

The cool fresh morning air helped clear the lasting vestige of her headache. Sluggishly she walked down the block to a sidewalk café.  Sitting down at a small table she ordered coffee and Oladi, or Russian pancakes.  The coffee was bitter, but helped settle her stomach and the pancakes were quite filling.  The pangs in her stomach finally began to subside.
 

When she finished her breakfast she began a leisurely walk back to the hotel, but her Agency skills kicked in.  Amanda sensed that she was being followed.  Instead of returning to her hotel, she continued to walk around the city of Kiev pretending to be a tourist, but knowing deep down that she had to be on an assignment… if only she could remember what it was.
 

Her first stop on her walking tour was the ‘Maiden Nezalezhnosti’ at the center square in Kiev.  She marveled at the Independence Column, the fountains, waterfall and historic buildings surrounding the area.  As she walked about the busy area, she observed her tail was still nearby.
 

Continuing her tourist cover, she strolled down Khreshchatyk Street.  Amanda was impressed by the remarkable architecture and tall apartment buildings with intricately carved stone balconies.  It was evidently an expensive part of Kiev, busy with shops, cafes and lots of traffic.  She enjoyed window shopping occasionally glancing down the street.  The same two men that were at the café and the ‘Maiden’ were just down the block.  When she stopped to look in a shop window, they too would stop and window shop.  Now she knew for sure she wasn’t being paranoid, she was definitely being followed.
 

The slow pace that Amanda kept was making it easy for her men following her.  Noticing the traffic was heavy, she decided to hail a taxi and see if she could lose them. The late morning traffic in Kiev might be the ally she needed.  The taxi drove past the Caves Monastery, St. Andrew’s Church, and St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral. When they reached Saint Sophia’s Cathedral, traffic was nearly at a standstill.  She decided to get out and admire the beautiful old cathedral. If she was still being followed, she could drift easily into the crowd and disappear.
 

Wandering around the Cathedral she read the informational signs noting that it had been built over nine centuries.  Its Byzantine and Ukrainian Baroque architecture was breathtaking. Its thirteen golden domes glistened in the sunlight and were remarkably beautiful against the blue sky and the summer day.  Stepping inside, she sat down in the back of the old church for a few minutes to rest and to discreetly observe the people inside.
 

“I could spend a day exploring this beautiful cathedral,” Amanda remarked to no one in particular, satisfied that her tail was long gone.  The bells from the cathedral signaled it was noon.  If she returned to her hotel now, she could call Lee certain he would welcome an early wake up call. Feeling her strength return, she got up and walked back to her hotel.
 

Mindful that her hotel might be under surveillance, she slipped in the back entrance.  Not wanting to tire herself out by walking up the stairs, she waited until a group was in the lobby and slipped among them and rode the elevator up to third floor.  Upon reaching it, she continued down the hallway to her room.
 

Tired from her excursion, all she wanted to do was flop on her bed and relax for a few minutes before she called Lee. The stress from the morning had taken a toll on her worn out body.  When she unlocked the door and stepped inside, she groaned audibly.  In the few hours that she’d been gone, her room had been ransacked.
 

Quickly, she began to grab her belongings, shoving everything hastily into her suitcase and carry-on bag. She needed to get out of the hotel.  Her cover had apparently been blown…  If only she could remember what she was supposed to be doing here in Kiev?  Once her packing was complete, she went down the stairs and slipped out of the hotel aware of her surroundings and wondering if she was being watched.
 

Grabbing another taxi, she requested to be driven to the train station.  It only took a few minutes to arrive.  Amanda paid the driver and walked into the building. Her Agency training told her she needed to blend into the crowd.  With the many tourists on holiday, it didn’t take long to mix in among them.  Noticing a bank of pay phones, Amanda made her way over and sat down, fatigue beginning to consume her body.  She dialed Lee’s number and waited for the line to ring.
 

“Come on Lee, answer the phone!” she urged her husband, knowing it was much earlier there.  The phone rang until the answering machine picked up.
 

“Lee, it’s me, Amanda.  If you’re there, pick up.  Please, Lee, pick up the phone.  I’m in trouble and I need your help,” she pleaded, but Lee Stetson didn’t pick up.
 

Amanda hung up the phone, and took a deep breath.  “Focus, Amanda,” she admonished herself.  “Call the Agency, they’ll get in touch with Billy and everything will be fine.”
 

She began to dial Billy’s private phone line, when she observed the two men from earlier in the morning nearby.  “Oh my gosh!” she whispered, slinking down at the phone booth, praying they wouldn’t detect her.  “I need to get out of here.”
 

Immediately hanging up the phone, she went to the closest ticket window.  She glanced up at the board, noticing that there were trains to both Minsk and Odesa leaving shortly.
 

“I’d like a ticket to…” Amanda paused for a moment before making her choice.  Deep down inside she was drawn to Odesa.  “Odesa, please.”
 

“You better hurry,” the clerk warned her.  “The train is about to depart.”
 

“Thank you,” Amanda replied as she hurried through the train station.  She heard the announcement that the next train was about to leave. No matter what, she was going to be on that train.  She pushed through the throng of people who had just exited the train.
 

Minutes later the train platform that had been so crowded was now empty.  The only thing left was a blue suitcase resting against the wall without its owner…
 
 

End Part 4
 
 

Back to:  Robin's Stories
 

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