What Happened in Strasbourg

Chapter thirty four: My new life

It turned out there were many things I wanted to learn, things I would've known perfectly by now if my life hadn't been thrown so far off course by the attack in Strasbourg. In a few weeks' time I was able to go out riding Sosna in the forest everyday, and I was starting to relearn the Russian alphabet too. I could even have a short, slow conversation in the language, as long as Irina was there guiding me along. It was coming back to me, but not fast enough for my liking.

Every time I practiced, it took so much energy out of me just to not cry or get frustrated. I couldn't get over the fact that I was meant to know Russian. Just like I was meant to know Irina and Vera as well as they knew me. Just like how I was meant to have steady hands and neat writing. I wished I could just snap my fingers and have those past eight years align perfectly with my present.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," I said to Irina after I'd finished one of my harder Russian lessons. "After you release the report, after the truth gets out about how my parents died, everybody will want to know about me. They're going to want me to represent my dad and Mir-Tek like it's some sort of royal family and I'm the heir to the throne. But I can't do that. I don't want to be a CEO when I grow up. I can't even introduce myself in Russian without getting something wrong. I just don't know how I'm supposed to be Liza again, so everyone can know she's really alive... I can only really remember being Gracie."

"You do not need to worry," Irina said with a sad smile. "You have made it far already. And you haven't been here for many days yet. You will have time to learn everything you need."

She gently took the Russian workbook out of my hands. "There is no need to rush or plan the future. There is no need to represent Mir-Tek or Vitaly either. That job will go to me when time comes."

"Thank you," I said.

"Now," Irina said. "Let's forget about the future for a while and see what Vera has made for dinner."

. . .

About a month after I arrived in Siberia, I was out riding along the road through the forest with Ginger following at Sosna's heels. I'd doused myself from head to toe in strong bug spray. Still, I heard the whine of mosquitos that chased after both the animals. After a while I stopped on the mossy bank of a brook, to let Sosna and Ginger have a drink. I climbed from the saddle, waded into the rushing stream and felt the water, ice cold on my feet.

I might've been imagining it, but it felt like ever since I'd come to live with Irina at the Dacha many of my symptoms were fading. Even though I had the occasional seizure, the numbness in my hands and legs was mild, and sometimes gone completely. It was like my body had realized that I knew I'd been poisoned and had stopped bothering to remind me.

I had only been by the creek five minutes, when the soft sounds of the forest were distubed by a humming noise overhead. I looked up through the treetops and saw a small prop plane passing low overhead. Any air traffic in a place this remote was rare so I knew immediately it had to be Svetlana, landing at the airstrip. She would finally be joining us.

By the time I finished putting Sosna back in her stall and made it back home, I saw her and Irina sitting out front. Zima and Vesna, once again, scampered back and forth between them. I was able to greet Svetlana in Russian before I started tripping over my words and Irina had to step in as our translator.

"I heard what happened to you at the airport," Svetlana said. "I am very thankful you and Irina both made it here safe. I was very worried for you."

"I'm happy you got here safe too," I said. "I was worried that Acheron might chase the yacht with drones or something like that."

"No," Svetlana said. "I was lucky."

Zima rubbed up against my legs like a cat and then jumped into my arms.

"I missed you too, Zima!" I laughed as the fox licked at my chin.

"She and Vesna were lonely without Irina," Svetlana said. "They were always cranky because I was the only person there to look after them."

Svetlana turned to Irina, her face suddenly serious, and spoke to her in Russian -- saying words I hadn't learned yet. Irina replied, and then said to me, "Liza, I do not think I have brought this up much since we arrived here. But though you may feel like your questions have been answered, the world's questions are not. Svetlana asked me whether we had released the report onto Acheron's surface web yet. You know I am slow to do many things. I am nervous about much since my brother died. But you are safe from Acheron now, and there is nothing else for us to do. Do you agree with this?"

I thought of everything that could happen. I thought of all the people who would know about me. I didn't want the spotlight on Irina and me to turn Acheron's attention to attacking us again. But Irina was right when said there was nothing else for us to do now. I nodded my head and smiled. "Yeah. I'm ready."

She walked towards the door and looked back at me. "I think it is time that we release report, and hope that Acheron will collapse in on itself before Evgeny Dimteriev and Mir-Tek learn the truth. If they do, I have no doubt, they will plan revenge. And the CEO of Mir-Tek using chemical weapons attack against Acheron is not what we need now to change the world's mind on what happened in Strasbourg."