“Number 310 on my tally is going to be you,” I promised Kostia in a whisper as we moved off through the thronged Baltimore reception room. “Because I’m going to shoot you in the back as soon as we are sent to Stalingrad after coming home from this circus.” “Lady Midnight, I’m always the one at your back.” We traded quick smiles. We weren’t uncomfortable with each other, but we were aware; we were making conversation rather than slipping in and out of comfortable silence, and I heard myself saying brightly, “Are you coming to Hyde Park? If Alexei inveigled his way along, surely you can.”
