The Ring of the Queen (The Lost Tsar Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  Part X

  Car designers are just going to have to come up with an automobile that outlasts the payments.

  -Erma Bombeck

  It was cold. The van was cold in part, because the heat obviously didn’t work. I wondered if the university had money problems, or if the van belonged to Dr. Zemecki. I was pretty sure we were riding in the professor’s vehicle. The impression that I'd formed of President Yuri Kostov told me that he would never allow the prized university to have a vehicle like that. The van coughed and smoked as we pulled away from the curb at the airport. I was hoping that we would make it to the university before it seized up for good.

  “So, does the university let you run around in this piece of shit, or is it yours?” Tania asked.

  I couldn’t believe she said that. She was always saying that Irish people said what was on their minds, but wow. She threw it out there like it was a normal conversation that she was having with someone that she’d known for years, even though they’d just met.

  There was a little playfulness in the good doctor’s eyes. I wondered if he was usually happy, or if he was thinking that Tania was hot. I knew he wasn’t thinking about me, because most boys didn’t. I was blonde, and I’d heard that blondes have more fun, but that has to be a myth. I was plain nonetheless. My grandma used to say that I was a classic beauty, but I was pretty sure that her opinion was biased. Tania, on the other hand, was so full of personality that it constantly ran amuck and I was wondering if Dr. Zemecki had picked up on that. I noticed it over the internet.

  “This would be my piece of shit,” Dr. Zemecki replied, his blue eyes dancing in their sockets.

  He had a full head of dark curly hair, and a dimple in his chin. He wasn’t overly tall, but he was rather stocky, and I mean that in the good way; not that he was fat.

  “You need a better car,” Tania said plainly.

  “I don’t intend to live in Moscow forever,” Dr. Zemecki started. “I like it here and all. It’s the most interesting single place I’ve ever been. It’s just that I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t get too attached to this place. My goal is to wander the world, teaching everywhere I go. It’s a theory I have about how I can go around the world and have money at the same time.”

  “The world does need history professors,” Tania went along. “So, what does your wife think of that theory?”

  I had to elbow Tania in the ribs. She was being too forward, and that was all there was to it. She was all about this guy. I wondered what she really thought would come of it. I was certain that any flings that were to be had in Moscow would be the equivalent of the average one-night stand.

  Tania looked at me as though I’d just snatched a cookie out of her hand. “What?” she asked me.

  “Presumptuous aren’t you?” I whispered.

  “No, that was the whole point of asking,” Tania replied in a whisper. “Then I won’t feel stupid later if we start going out and a wife pops up.”

  “You sound as though you speak from experience,” I said.

  “Let’s just say I learned the hard way not to pick up Celtics players after basketball games.” She turned back to Dr. Zemecki. “Anyway, how about that wife?”

  He was grinning from ear to ear now. “No wife. I do like direct women though. I’ll give you that. Just remember I’m your teacher.”

  “I like teachers,” Tania continued, unabated. “I intend to be one myself someday. Maybe you’ll come to one of my classes. Then we can get a coffee or something. Or we could cut the crap and get it while I’m here.”

  “How about I let you unpack first,” he replied. “But, if you want you can call me Steve. Not when we’re in class.” He winked at Tania.

  Tania smacked me in the leg. “He’s such a hottie,” she whispered.

  I rolled my eyes at her.

  The scenery outside was pretty much what I expected from Russia in the winter time. It was dark and dreary with snow covered everything everywhere you looked. The traffic was worse than I’d anticipated. Most of the cars were either dark and drab or super expensive looking. I’d read a lot of things that said that the gap between rich and poor was extremely wide in Russia. It’s amazing how much it reminds me of home. My entire life I’d listened to the stories about how horrible Russia is to its citizens. It looked pretty normal to me.

  I was watching out the window for anything that might ring a bell from pictures that I’d seen in books or on television. Then I saw it approaching along the river. It was shining in the light of the city. The towers, the brick walls, the golden onion towers of the Palace of Facets. It was the Kremlin. All of a sudden the trip became real in my mind. I had actually gotten on a plane and gone to Russia. It was real. It wasn’t a dream. I almost couldn’t believe it.

  “Wow,” was the only word that came out of my mouth.

  “It’s pretty impressive isn’t it?” Dr. Zemecki asked.

  “I’ve seen it in pictures, but they didn’t do it justice,” I replied.

  Tania got a strange look on her face. I’d gotten to know her online, but now I was learning what to pay attention to when I was looking at her. I didn’t know what that look meant. She didn’t say anything, so I began to wonder if I would ever know.

  “Do we get to visit the Kremlin while we’re here?” Tania asked. "Isn’t that where they crowned the Tsars?”

  “Some Tsars were crowned there, but the majority of them were crowned in St. Petersburg,” he explained.

  “So, do we get to visit?” Tania reiterated.

  “It’s not part of the official program, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have time to take the regular tour,” Dr. Zemecki answered.

  Tania elbowed me. “Whatever, I’m going there.”

  The ride the rest of the way took no time at all. I’d checked into how far it was from the airport to the university, but all that information went out the window when they sent us to another airport.

  “Welcome to Lomonovsky Moscow State University,” Dr. Zemecki said.

  I looked out the window and saw us approaching the main building as we turned onto the road that went to it. I recognized the giant building from the many pictures I’d seen of it. There were pictures all over the internet, and that building was the one that you most commonly saw in pictures. It was an imposing building. It was huge with several distinct sections that almost reminded me of a western European castle. I didn’t know how tall it was, but it was impressive and regal looking in a Russian Soviet business like kind of way.

  “That is one impressive building,” Tania said. “You know, I looked all over the internet for pictures of this place, and all I could find were pictures of that one building. I swear I started to think that it was the only building on campus.”

  “No, it’s the biggest building on campus,” Dr. Zemecki replied. “Your class is there in the section that you’re seeing on your left.”

  “I thought that was a business school and administration building,” Tania said.

  “Amongst other things,” he replied. “During January it becomes the only building for classes. Most students are on break, so we take advantage of having all of the classes in the one building. It makes it easy for all of you foreign students to find your way around.” He was smiling at Tania while he talked.

  “I see,” Tania said. “So, where’s our dorm and what do our rooms look like? I couldn’t find any pictures of dorm rooms on the web. To tell you the truth, it made me a little leery.”

  “They did used to have some scary rooms here,” he replied. “I came here to take a class or two when I was in school a couple of years ago. They redid them though and now they look pretty much like any other dorm room you’ve ever seen.”

  “I bet that’s not true. Every single dorm room I’ve ever seen is full of crap from IKEA,” Tania said.

  “I stand corrected,” Tania said as we walked into our dorm room. “IKEA is
everywhere.”

  “You do know how close we are to Finland here, don’t you?” Dr. Zemecki asked.

  The room was down a depressing Soviet style hallway, apparently in the cellar where there were no windows. The walls of the hallway were cement block in structure and design. The blocks were painted some boring color of beige and there were about a hundred doors on each side that went to dorm rooms.

  Our room, while it had no windows, was brighter than the hallway. The walls were white and the IKEA furniture was oak colored. We had bunk beds. That surprised me. Besides that, it was a normal dorm room. It had desks, storage, and a hotplate running down either side of the room, only leaving enough space along one of them for the bunk beds. There was a TV on the wall and a fridge on the counter next to the microwave. Standard. It was a little strange to have no windows, but I thought I could live with it for three weeks.

  “He has a point,” I noted. “Finland does share a border. Happy IKEA land.”

  “On that note, I will leave you ladies to unpack and settle in. It’s after dinner in the cafeteria, so that’s out. In a little bit the resident aide will come by and show you where the snack machines are. He can also exchange a small amount of currency for you, or you can use a credit card. It takes MasterCard. They just call it Eurocard here. I will see you in the morning. Good night, and welcome to Russia.” With that, Dr. Zemecki left.

  Tania fell down on the lower bunk, narrowly missing smacking her head on the top one. “My God, he is so hot!”

  “I got that,” I replied.

  “Sorry, I don’t always act that way, but once in a while. Damn!”

  Damn indeed. I was in Russia.

  The Ring of the Queen