Alone by Francine Pascal

at face value.”
    â€œListen to me, you do not understand,” Tatiana told her. “Before I was born, my mother—do you know this word, refuseniks? ”
    Gaia was aware that the average teenager would probably think the refuseniks were a garage band from Portland, but she knew the real deal: Back when Russia was still the Soviet Union, they’d refused their citizens the right to move out of the country—and made their lives hell while doing it.
    â€œYes, I know that word,” she said.
    â€œMy mother worked to help these people escape. Very hard, this job. Very dangerous. The state at the time was oppressive, and you want to talk about double-crossing snakes? They were everywhere. Someone would turn you in for a week’s supply of bread and a bottle of vodka.”
    â€œYeah, but that doesn’t mean—”
    â€œAnd do you know about the Russian Mafia?” Tatiana went on.
    Gaia sighed. Maybe Tatiana was beginning to grow on her, but did that mean Gaia had to put up with this little civics lesson?
    â€œThese are horribly dangerous men,” Tatiana told her. “They make your godfather, Marlon Brando, look like a pussycat. My mother stood up to them in Moscow and barely escaped with her life. It is one of the reasons we are here now.”
    â€œThe other reason being my dad,” Gaia pointed out.
    â€œPerhaps. Or perhaps he is just making the move much easier for my mother. Either way, even here she must be very careful.” She sighed. “That was the reason she gave me for the gun. But I still always wondered.”
    â€œI found letters between them,” Gaia said. “They seem pretty convincing, but I have evidence that they have to be lies.”
    â€œWell, I found a postcard that your father sent to my mother. He obviously trusts her. Are you saying that your father’s a fool?”
    â€œI would never say something like that about my father. But he doesn’t have the evidence I have. I’m operating off a tip I got straight from a CIA agent,” Gaia finally admitted.
    â€œInteresting,” Tatiana said. “And this ‘evidence’ is. . . ?”
    â€œWell.” Gaia paused. “Well, I don’t know exactly. But George seemed very sure.”
    â€œUh-huh.”
    â€œListen, George has already proved himself to be trustworthy. He used to be my guardian before he. . . oh.”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œWell, he sort of had this wife who turned out to be a double agent, too.”
    â€œSo he’s not a particularly good judge of character,” Tatiana said.
    â€œLook, I trust George,” Gaia said flatly, though she couldn’t deny that Tatiana was making some excellent points. “If he says he has evidence, then he just does.”
    â€œâ€Well, I would be very interested in meeting this agent for myself,” Tatiana said, sitting back and give Gaia a determined glare. “If he is saying my mother is making love to a man only to destroy him, I would like him to say it to my face. I must see this evidence for myself. From the horse’s hoof, as you say.”
    â€œMouth.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThe horse’s mouth. You want to hear it from the horse’s mouth.”
    â€œYes. I want to hear this talking horse tell me what proof there is of this accusation.”
    Gaia stood, shaking her legs to get the pins and needles out of them. She shook her head. “You are so not meeting this guy. Trust me, he knows what he’s talking about.”
    That clinched it. “You are wrong. I am so so meeting-this guy,” Tatiana informed her.
    Gaia was about to object again when something caught her eye out the window. “What the. . .”
    â€œWhat is it?”
    â€œThere’s some guy out there messing with a lady,” Gaia said. As if in response, a bloodcurdling shriek blasted from the street below, followed by a wail of complete and total helpless