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or more I’ve known that if they had somehow lived through the siege of Leningrad, they would have been killed during the Stalinist purges.”
    “You know this, and yet you work for them?”
    “The Stalinists?” He smiled ironically. “In the beginning there was the Cheka. The Cheka begat the OGPU. The OGPU begat the NKVD, which begat the NKGB, which begat the MGB, which begat the KGB. Actually, it’s more complicated than that But you get my point. The KBG is not the organization that arrested and executed my parents.”
    “It is their successor.”
    “To about the same degree that your CIA is the successor to the Tory spies of King George. Things have changed rapidly in Russia since the War.”
    Two arguing women stepped in front of us to wait for the bus. I gestured, and we both got up and walked on down the street We fell in behind a man walking a fast Doberman and let him stride out of earshot.
    “I’m flattered that you’ve gone to such evident trouble over me,” he said, “but I’m also puzzled. You must know that I’m not actually a KGB agent.”
    I managed not to laugh. “Really.”
    “Not in any real sense. Tell me, what have I done that you could take to a court of law?”
    “If I told you, I’d be compromising my sources,” I said. This wasn’t going according to plan. “But do you deny that you were born in Russia, trained by the MGB in a Soviet camp called Rivertown, and illegally inserted into this country with false documents? Do you?”
    “In 1953 I did immigrate here without proper papers. I was a child, though.”
    “It’s still straight out of James Bond. I’m not worried about being able to prove you’re a spy. Coffee?”
    “Sure.” We stepped into a crowded cafe, the one we had mentioned in his office, and found an isolated table in the back.
    I pressed him further. “Look. All I have to do ispick up the phone and call the FBI. They won’t even give you time to pack. You’ll be deported by Thursday.”
    “Perhaps.”
    “We don’t like to do things that way. The FBI’s way. You’d be replaced, and it might take us years to track down your replacement. We’d much rather make an arrangement with you.”
    “Turn me into a counterspy.” He said it with droll gravity. “A Double… Agent” “In essence. Just keep us informed; make monthly reports as to your activities.” He smiled. “They would be short reports. If you’ve done your job at all well, you must know that” He was quiet while the waitress poured our coffee. “I’m not sure what I know that would be of the slightest interest to you. The only spy I know by name is named Jacob.”
    My father, who’s a union negotiator, taught me that sometimes the best way to get someone to make a concession is to remain silent. Let the other man open his mouth and hope that he traps himself. Someone must have taught Foley that, too. For about a minute we looked at each other, sipping coffee.
    Finally he leaned back in his chair and looked up to his right. That either meant he was about to tell the truth or he knew that people who are about to lie tend to look left. He spoke softly.
    “I’ve sometimes wondered how it is in real life. With spies, I mean. Suppose I said all right, I’ll go along with what you want, and then I go straight to my KGB contact and tell him or her what’s happened. So he or she gives me false information to pass on to you. And so maybe I turn around and tell
you
. Or maybe I’m feeding you some prefabricated line. Howcan either you or the KGB contact trust anything I tell you?”
    “We have ways of checking,” I said. “Besides, we can punish you for lying. Throw you in jail or deport you.”
    He nodded. “I still don’t think I’ve done anything you could jail me for. And as for deportation… I suspect the Soviets would treat me well, allow me to continue my research.”
    “And your wife? She would go with you?”
    He hesitated just a moment too long. “Yes. I have no