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said, and broke the connection abruptly, smiling. The NSA would give a fortune to have this conversation on tape, she thought. But the embassy people had checked just yesterday. No taps. |
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Now she turned to the computer. The telephone number of a public booth on Pennsylvania Avenue, three blocks from the White House, appeared on the screen. She looked at her watch. Marina had kept Camilla waiting for slightly more than ten minutes, and she would be angry. |
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Marina dialed the number, and after three rings Camilla answered, not angry, but excited. |
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"It's me, Evangeline," she said inelegantly. "I have something for you." Her voice was filled with satisfaction. "Something delicious." |
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Perhaps this was a day for miracles, Marina thought. Well, something delicious might be very useful today. |
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"I am listening," she said. |
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"Special means expensive, as I recall." |
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"Yes. I've seen a house in Alexandria I want. I need two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the down payment." |
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Marina Suslova sucked in her breath, taken aback. Americans often sold their country for money, but most came cheap. They seldom asked for money in quarter-million-dollar sums. Evangeline's most valuable items had heretofore been purchased for far smaller amounts. |
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"That is a very great deal of money," Marina said carefully. "And it will take some doing to raise it." |
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"What I have is worth it, twice over." |
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Perhaps, Marina thought. There was no way of knowing until a deal was made. American traitors in the past had acted on principle, for ideals, ideology. The spur was now money, impure and simple; a truly capitalistic motive. However, Marina suspected that Camilla would have spied for money, and only for money, long before treason for cash became the fash- |
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