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You are young."
    "You're the one who needs to earn our trust," Joe said. "Frank and I were trying to help Ziggy and Petra. We don't know you from Peter the Great."
    "Why are you, a Soviet KGB agent, working with an American Network agent?" Frank asked calmly.
    "How did you know I was KGB?" Aleksandr asked tersely.
    Frank smiled. "I didn't. Until now."
    Aleksandr frowned. "Mr. Gray warned me to beware of you. He says you are cunning."
    "It figures that the KGB could be working with the Network, although I don't know why," Frank replied.
    "Nor shall you. Not yet," Aleksandr said. He shifted his weight. "What do you know about Sergei Zigonev, Pyotr and Petra's father?"
    "That he is a KGB administrator who specializes in communications," Joe answered. He remained squared off in front of Aleksandr, his muscles tense, ready to move quickly if Aleksandr tried anything.
    "Yes. Pyotr would have told you that much."
    "What else should we know about him?" Frank asked.
    "Sergei Zigonev is involved in delicate negotiations with American and British authorities to establish a communications link between our countries." Joe looked confused. "An open telephone line, if you will," Aleksandr explained. "So we can call each other and ask about the weather."
    "For what purpose?" Frank asked.
    "That is classified," Aleksandr said, his brown eyes looking past Joe to Frank. "Glasnost has transformed my country, and we are reaching out to the rest of the world."
    "So what's the problem?" Joe blurted. "You took Ziggy and almost killed me, all because you wanted to reach out and touch the rest of the world with a telephone call?"
    "This is the problem." As Aleksandr began to explain, there was a tiredness in his voice, but his sharp features had relaxed. "We have learned that not everyone is happy with the new relationship between the USSR and the West," he said. "These people would like to see the negotiations break down and the tensions between our countries rise again."
    Frank pushed off from the dresser and stood next to Joe. "And the best way to do that is to kidnap a national hero. Especially a teenage national hero."
    "You are correct. Pyotr is admired and adored by our leaders and by all of his countrymen," Aleksandr explained. "He is a symbol of our hope for the future, and he is an example for others. If anything were to happen to him here on British soil, in a foreign country, after he has been befriended by two Americans - "
    "Then the negotiations will be called off and the old cold war started all over again," Frank concluded.
    "It is probable," Aleksandr said.
    "What is the name of the organization that wants to harm Pyotr?" Frank asked.
    "We know of no name," Aleksandr replied.
    "Only of their intent. Our information is sketchy at best."
    "That still doesn't explain where Ziggy is," Joe said, resuming his hard stare.
    "If you wish to see Ziggy, I am instructed to take you to him."
    Joe's anger flared up. "Why didn't you say so in the first place?" Joe pushed past Aleksandr, opened the door, and started down the hallway.
    Joe was waiting outside when Frank and Aleksandr left the building. The afternoon sun, at its zenith, was a bright yellow, beating back the few clouds that hung over the Brasenose dormitory.
    "Why didn't you try to help us last night with the two men in the alley?" Joe asked sharply as they walked down the sidewalk that ran alongside the building and led to the parking lot. Joe stayed on the outside, with Aleksandr in the middle and Frank closest to the dormitory.
    "We were about to do just that when we noticed that you had the situation under control. We left to follow the two men, but they had disappeared."
    "Did you find them?" Joe asked.
    "No," Aleksandr replied.
    "Who was the third man with you?" Frank asked.
    Gray dust floated down in front of Frank's face, and he blinked his eyes, wiping at the dust. He looked up. One of the stone gargoyles perched on top of the four-story Brasenose dormitory teetered back and