38
NIKOLAI
Chloe’s smile is so radiant I feel like I’ve stepped out of an underground bunker onto a sunlit beach. “Hi,” she says, slightly breathless as she sits back against a stack of pillows and places the computer on her lap. “How’s it going? How’s your nuclear bidding thing?”
I smile back at her, pleasure spreading through me like molten honey. “It’s good, zaychik, thank you.”
And it is. Valery’s operation has gone off without a hitch, and the Energy Commission is already swarming around the Atomprom plant, seeking to contain the fallout from the reactor that exploded overnight. The radiation leakage is minimal, as expected, but the damage to Atomprom’s reputation is significant—which sets us up well for my lunch meeting with the Commission head today.
More importantly, for the p
