Sergei Kourdakov, a former KGB agent and Soviet naval intelligence officer, defected from the USSR at the age of twenty. A year later we met at my Federal Government office in Washington DC. We were watched and followed. “Even you could be spy,” Sergei whispered. My book, A Rose for Sergei, is the true story of our time together.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Chapter 1 (Part 3)



A Rose for Sergei


Chapter 1
(Part 3)

Fall 1972

It was hard to believe that Sergei was my date for the evening.  When I was a child I was afraid of Russians.  I never forgot the air raid drills we had in elementary school.  My father was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force and my family lived on military bases.  When the air raid siren blasted we practiced hiding under our desks at school, using them for protection from shattered windows, as we prepared for an attack that might one day come from the Soviet Union.  And yet, here I was now, having dinner with…the “enemy.”

In fact the whole scenario did not seem real, meeting like we did.  We were attracted to each other right from the first introduction.  That surprised me, not me being attracted to him, but him being attracted to me.  Next to Sergei, I thought I seemed rather ordinary—petite, five feet tall, slender, blue-green eyes and long, straight sandy blonde hair that flipped up at the ends.  “Cute,” is how most people would describe me.  Although just recently a DC taxi cab driver told me, “A pretty girl like you should not have to pay for anything!”  That taxi ride was definitely one of those scary parts of the city moments.

I jumped as I set my wine glass back down on the table.  Sergei had quietly returned by way of sneaking up behind me and grabbing my shoulders with both of his hands.  His enormous hands seemed to totally engulf my shoulders and upper arms.  He had startled me, and he found that rather funny.  I looked over my left shoulder and I could see him leaning over me with a huge grin on his face.  I had to laugh at myself for being so jumpy.  I turned my head back towards the table.

He bent down lower and whispered in my ear, “No, wait.”






Coming Soon!


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