And I even forgot to pretend that I was surprised by their acquaintance.

They spoke very kindly, just like in the movies, but at the same time I saw that something very strange was happening: Natasha wanted me to go with her, no matter what, but Tom did not want it either.

I felt how tense they were, and how they both slowly, imperceptibly, tried to block me from each other and push me to the door. I understood this and did not know what to do. They were both at the same distance from the entrance, and I was in the middle.

Suddenly, Tom, speaking another gallant phrase, made a lightning jump, as in a ballet, and blocked me from Natasha.

At the same moment in her hands in some strange way turned out to be a gun aimed at us. Tom also had a pistol in his hand, but he didn’t manage to pick it up.

I screamed.

- Guns to the floor! - shouted Natasha. I did not recognize her voice. - Quickly! How did you appear on time, Thomas Garrievich! Or maybe Igor Anatolyevich? ... Did you know, Jackie, that your husband is not only an American, but also a Soviet agent?

“I don’t understand what you are talking about, Natalya Ilinichna,” said Tom, not letting go of the pistol. - I saw an armored car in the yard, and I did not like it ...

- Guns on the floor, I said! Jackie will come with me. Away from her! Quickly!

Tom pushed me to the side with force, and simultaneously raised his gun.

What and how it was next, I do not understand. There were deaf clicks - and, although I did not see who shot, I somehow knew that it was Tom, and he was about to die, and this horror suddenly burst out of me and became dense, like a shock wave from an explosion, when we were hiding in mine...

***

The next second, I realized that I was screaming, tearing my throat, and Tom was unharmed, and there were five or six bullets hanging in the air next to him. It was as if the air had become dense, and they were stuck there.

I was so surprised that I stopped screaming. And Tom, too, looked, opening his mouth, at these bullets. And Natasha.

Then he sharply raised his gun. Natasha shot again, and again I didn’t understand how, but her bullets were stuck in the air, and Tom got into her hand, and she screamed, and the gun fell to the floor.

Here I was torn open inside something hard, sharp, like steel. It escaped from me and rested against this reptile, which had just caressed me, and now wanted to kill my husband.

Natasha suddenly bent over as if she had been broken in half, collapsed and writhed on the floor, and I watched and drove deeper and deeper into it, sharp and hard. Then she saw her dull eyes, remembered how they looked at me ... and flashed inside - "enough."

For a while she still writhed there. Then she got up with difficulty, like an old woman, and crawled to the exit, looking back at us. I have never seen such horror in any eyes ...

Tom continued to look at me, opening his mouth.

Then he came to his senses, slammed the door and ran to the window. I also ran up and saw some people drive Natasha into the car and drive off.

Tom stared after them for some time. Then he turned to me.

- Did you do this? - he asked.

And I suddenly burst into tears.

***

I'm still roaring.

He then asked me:

- Who are you, Jackie? What are you? How do you do that?

If I could answer ... But I just cried and repeated like a parrot:

- It's true? It's true?

- Really?

- Are you a Russian spy?

Tom sighed and said:

- Yes, Jackie.

I burst into tears twice as strong.

- You deceived me again! How can I believe you now? You brought me here for the Russians to conduct their experiments on me, huh? ..

“No, Jackie, that's not true, I swear!” We came here just for your safety. My leadership does not even know the whole truth about you. Why, I don't know her myself. I didn’t tell you just that ... In general, it was better for you.

- Why did you ask me about unusual sensations? - I suddenly remembered. And I also remembered about the cup. - What do you know about me? BUT? Speak! ..

- That's the thing, Jackie, that we really do not know anything.

- Who are we"?

- We all. And the FBI, and especially the KGB.

He sighed again and began to tell:

“I didn't fool you, Jackie.” Just ... something was silent. We knew you might have unusual abilities. How did we know that? ... Believe me, now it doesn't matter much. Rumors, gossip ... We still do not know who your mother is, Jackie. In the hospital archive, she is recorded as Dorothy Gale *, but this is a clear banter. After birth, she disappeared. You can imagine, Jackie, - the FBI could not find any, absolutely no trace of her. At all. There was an option to put pressure on your father. Marvin, of course, knew something ...

____________________

* The heroine of "The Wizard of Oz" Frank Baum. - Approx. auth.

- Did you know?

- The fact is, Jackie, that after our escape, he disappeared. And neither the FBI nor the KGB are involved in this. Since they cannot find him, he is most likely already dead. There is some third force in this game, Jackie. And you can kill me if I know what it is.

He paused. Then he continued:

- Everything was as I told you. And the fact that you really are a girl was really a surprise for us. That's just Marvin, it seems, it was not for you to give this crap because you were a sadist and put experiments on you. I think the real purpose of the drug is to stifle your abilities in you. And I think he did it for your own good. And turning into a boy was probably a side effect. When we stole you from him - we ourselves did not know. I don’t think it will make you want to go home ... What is it, Jackie?

Again this word - home. And again goosebumps all over the body, and a strange pinching feeling ...

- Nothing. Keep going

- Is everything all right? ... There is one thing that I really hid from you.

- What?

Tom paused again.

“When you were with us, we did an analysis of your DNA.”

- So what?

“You're not a man, Jackie.” Or not really a man.

For a while I could not speak. Then she asked:

- Like this?

- So. Your DNA is noticeably different from Homo Sapiens DNA.

- And who am I?

- I have no idea. None of our scientists have ever seen this. Perhaps your mother was from another planet. This is a completely arbitrary assumption - I just came up with what seems the most plausible. Although in reality it is absolutely implausible. But the fact that you know how much more improbable. I don't even know what laws of physics you use ...

He sat on the sofa. After hesitating, I sat down next to him.

“I think how smoothly we escaped from the FBI was also not without your participation.” And the way you quickly learned Russian. And how cleverly you grasp everything you want to learn. Your learnability is hundreds of times higher than average. It seems that you somehow know how to adapt reality to your desires. To the extent that they, your desires, can literally "push" it. Of course, I didn't know that when I pulled you out of the FBI.

- You brought me here to pass the Russian?

“Of course not, Jackie!” I just realized that in the USA you are destined to live in a secret laboratory in any case ...

- I do not trust you! Why did you bring Natasha here? Why did you ask her to seduce me? You did know that she was from the KGB, or whatever he was there!

Tom has changed a bit in his face. Then he said:

- It seems that there are absolutely no secrets between us ... Yes, I immediately realized that she appeared for a reason with you ... but she is not from the KGB, Jackie. That's for sure. And not from the FBI. I do not know for whom she works and where she gotten about you. And I really do not like it. The invisible enemy is the worst.

“But why did you call her to our house? ..”

- To control the situation. When you ... well, all the times when you were together, I was here too. It's trite, but I was sitting in the closet. With a gun.

- And saw everything? - I choked.

- Honestly ... Read more →