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    Yes to Gossamer   
      
    All That I Love   
   by Lashala   
   Lashala@hotmail.com   
      
   Part 3   
   See part 0 for header information.   
      
      
   "Alexei, the KGB is no more. They're not a problem now, but what *is*..."   
      
   I wave him off with a snarl. "Solve your own mob conflicts yourself, Boris. I'm   
   not getting into your competitions for turf. I came here for one thing and one   
   thing only. Tell me about Vladimir!"   
      
   Boris really looks shaken now. "Why are you asking this? What have you heard?"   
      
   "Enough. He was involved with my parents, Boris. I'm asking you to tell me what   
   happened?"   
      
   "How can you be sure you're talking about the right man, Alexei? There were   
   many officers in charge back then."   
      
   I lean in. "Because my father *told* me it was him!"   
      
   That shakes him. Enough he turns to the kitchen door yelling, "Dimitry, bring   
   cheese and crackers! And more vodka!" He turns back to me and his eyes blaze   
   with a new light. "Now... Let us talk. How do you *know* this?"   
      
   After Dimitry settles us with a plate of crackers and fresh cheese, another   
   full bottle (which I snap the top off first) then vanishes again, I tell Boris   
   the whole story and he finally believes me. Leans back in the chair with a   
   snarl. "I should have known. Vladimir hated losing a battle. *Any* battle. Even   
   one of the heart."   
      
   I lower my glass slowly, hearing something I know I don't want to. "*What* did   
   you just say?"   
      
   "Vladimir was military through and through, Alexei. Decorated by Khrushchev   
   himself. He hated to lose. On the field of battle *or* in the bedroom. Your   
   mother was perhaps the only conquest he failed."   
      
   The room shifts a bit and I know it's not all the booze. I take a larger sip   
   and it levels back out. "Go on, Boris."   
      
   He eases a cracker into his mouth; chews, swallows and dabs his lips with a   
   napkin. "I knew Maria would grow to be a beautiful woman. After the war as our   
   village recouped, families drew closer. We all suffered; our country, our men,   
   our people. The young drew to each other like moths to flame. I never told you,   
   and I didn't know if she did, but her parents died in the war and my family   
   took her in. I always thought of her as another sister. I watched over her,   
   Alexei...sometimes to her irritation."   
      
   I smile at that; remember a tale or two about 'Uncle' Boris.   
      
   "We were all in the 'Young Soviets' by then including Vladimir. He took an   
   interest to her. He was arrogant and rakish even then. I knew he was all wrong   
   for her and that your father was the right thing. I introduced them and let   
   nature take its course. That Sergei was smitten immediately made it   
   easier."   
      
   Now *I'm* the one looking shocked. "*You* set my parents up?!"   
      
   "I wouldn't say it like *that*. You make it sound like I was matching up good   
   horse flesh. They were my *friends*, Alexei. I thought they should know each   
   other. *They* fell in love on their own. Simple as that. I just...nudged them a   
   little." He eases back in the seat and worries the napkin a bit. "I'm afraid   
   Vladimir didn't find that pleasant."   
      
   "Are *you* telling me everything happened out of *jealousy?!*   
      
   "That's what your father suspected, isn't it?"   
      
   I stare back; let my eyes say it all. "Are *you* telling me that?"   
      
   "I can't say that for sure," Boris shakes his head. "But I knew the moment he   
   made KGB he would change. We were all friends back then, Alexei. Young,   
   impressionable...perhaps naive. While your father went off to be a good Soviet   
   laborer, *we* were selected by the KGB. One of us rose quickly. Perhaps *too*   
   quickly considering who *else* was trying to recruit us.   
      
   Boris doesn't have to go any further. I know. The Consortium wasn't just   
   dealing on one side of the planet but all over. You name it, they were there.   
   Building labs, testing out alien technology. Waiting. No matter what kind of   
   company you're building, you need peons. U.S dollars on the Black Market back   
   then were as a good as 'black gold'. It made you *very* powerful and with power   
   you can buy anything.   
      
   Even your enemy's best people right out from under them.   
      
   The Consortium paid good money for what it got. And owned. I know. I'm *still*   
   trying to get the 'property of' sign off *my* back!   
      
   "Vladimir Constantinovich was a friend, Alexei, yet I knew once he got a taste   
   of power from the Politburo he would turn into a demon. Don't believe for a   
   moment that the madness died with Stalin. Khrushchev didn't let it, merely   
   advanced it along a more scientific realm. Nikita Sergeyevich had his own ideas   
   and pushed the military to higher levels too soon. Vladimir got lost in it as   
   well. I feared he would, hoped I would be wrong. Sadly, he got swept up. He   
   felt his political stance and new titles would assure him of Maria's interest   
   since so many ogled him. That was the ploy of the frightened. Your mother was   
   hardly a fearful woman. It had the opposite effect. She wanted nothing to do   
   with him. It didn't sit well."   
      
   I feel a chill move down my back; a cold I fear I may share more with my Fox   
   than I care to. I don't want to ask, have no choice. "Boris? Are Sergei and   
   Maria Krycek my *genetic* parents?"   
      
   "Yes."   
      
   He's never lied to me.   
      
   I fold in on myself some; feel the tears of relief flow up and swipe at my face   
   as he goes on. "You shouldn't have even doubted. Vladimir was many things but   
   not a rapist. He wanted Maria's love honestly, wanted *Sergei* to call it   
   quits. I can only guess when he didn't get it he decided to hurt them another   
   way. He *was* involved in many facets of the government as well as the   
   military, Alexei. One was 'immigration matters'. He *was* the one that   
   suggested we send your parents to the United States. Whether it was jealousy or   
   not, I can't say but I remember the past."   
      
   "He told you he did it?"   
      
   Boris shakes his head. "No, but I had my...sources at the time. They knew Maria   
   and Sergei were dear to me. When the travel papers were arranged, a 'friend' in   
   the office sent word. By the time I received it all the way in Kiev where I was   
   on an assignment, it was too late to warn them of my concerns. They were   
   already gone."   
      
   "Did he know what was going to happen?"   
      
   "I'm sure he did. Perhaps not in detail, but yes."   
      
   I look at him carefully now. *Very* carefully. "Did *you?*"   
      
   Boris holds the cheese knife poised and for a moment I tense already   
   calculating what I need to do. Then he lowers it into the block of cheese and   
   lifts the slice to another cracker. "No. I didn't. I wasn't involved in that.   
   My commissions as an officer, as a KGB operative, were of a lower level and I   
   was never *that* high in the Consortium's ring at any time. I didn't know who   
   it was he sent; only that he had sent someone. It wasn't until later I realized   
   what had happened, only too late. I was worried, of course, but your parents   
   weren't potato farmers. I knew they'd do fine."   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)