Red Operation

I: A Day At Jane's

So, some clarifying before the story starts:

This story will be told in three different parts: the first one consists of five chapters focusing on Stephen so we know why and how he decided to move out of Jackson; then, five chapters focusing on Mikhail, so we know how he got assigned to Washington DC; and finally the rest of the story with focus split between them both.

It will be entirely written in the third person, so don't worry about POVs;

Similar to Fighting For Love, another story of mine, It follows a date progression, so if a certain chapter does not start with a date, that's because it's on the same day as the previous one was.

With that said, enjoy!

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One: A Day At Jane's

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STEPHEN LARSEN

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

1968

April 27th.

The sun rose in Jackson, Mississippi, yet another day. As the city woke up and business opened, the streets started to be impregnated with the smell of coffee, causing the great majority of the city to feel the need to drink one and nowhere was this need as present as it was at Jane's, one of the most important diners in the city, where the staff was getting prepared for another busy day at work. The cook had already prepared the dough for the pancakes, the pies were already cooling on the window and fresh eggs and milk had already come from the nearby ranches, even the coffee had arrived at Gulfport straight from Colombia and carried to Jackson within the past 24 hours.

Glenn, Jane's son, was the one who actually ruled the place and not his old and retired mother. In fact, the only thing which proved that Jane's was still Jane's was its name, for everything had changed drastically after Glenn took over: the businesses conducted there were far more aggressive: he was ruthless with the staff and the word of the place had, since he took over, been racism: no colored people were allowed in the diner, except those who worked there - and even then, they were not allowed to so much as show their faces to the customers.

He was also very exigent with the waitresses, who all had to be skinny, tall, in possession of a considerably large, or as he liked to say, "palpable" front and back and, not surprisingly, White. Single, too, preferably.

"Folks in this city don't want to see fat, married, and stressed waitresses, they have that at home already. I want people to sit here and appreciate the view as well as the food, because the longer they stay, the more they pay!" He once explained.

Over at the kitchen, things got a little more diverse: the cook, Jerry, had been the same since Jane's time and, albeit Black, he was the best one in town and there was nothing Glenn could do about it. Once he decided to fire the man and replaced him with a more "appropriate" chef, who was barely legal and could not even fry an egg, his sales dropped by over 40% in just over a week. That was the first - and, if up to him, only - time he ever went to a Black person's house and he had to practically get on his knees for Jerry to accept his proposition. Ever since then, he never entered the kitchen again, for he knew he would want to fire every Black person he saw in front of him, which would definitely cause his business to go bankrupt.

The entire staff was already there to start the day: waitresses; janitors and, of course, Jerry. All but two, whose absence was questioned by Glenn.

"Has anyone seen Sabrina?

He asked angrily to the other girls, stomping his feet as he walked around his office on the upper floor as if doing so would magically summon the missing waitress. They looked at each other.