The Baba Yaga Read Online Free PDF Page B

like the Bureau, where women were thin on the ground, you either made friends with each other or else segregated yourself entirely. Even someone as private by nature (and profession) as Walker didn’t care for total exclusion from female company. Larsen provided companionship, and was someone who understood, without having to explain. And here they were again, in the ladies’, where they had shared many a quiet confidence in the past.
    Larsen was struggling, Walker could see, watching her friend closely as she packed away her kit.
    “Well,” said Larsen. “Now I know why you weren’t keen on being scanned for infection. I don’t think it would have done any harm, for the record, but there’s no way for knowing for sure. You’re fit and healthy, and there’s no point in doing anything to change that.”
    “And the...” Walker’s tongue tripped over the word. “The baby?”
    “We’d have to do some tests to be sure of that.” Larsen looked at Walker sharply. “Is that something I need to arrange?”
    “I don’t know yet.”
    “Hmm.” Larsen fiddled with the clasp on her bag. “Have you talked to Mark?”
    “Yes, I’ve talked to Mark.”
    “And?”
    “And he’s clear this is my decision and my responsibility.”
    Larsen was staring down again into her bag, apparently fascinated by what it contained. “I can arrange whatever you need,” she said in a neutral voice. “Very private. Carry on as you were. Nobody will find out.”
    “Somebody will find out.”
    “Perhaps, but it will be just a little mark in someone’s little book. There alongside the alcoholics and the pill-poppers. No real harm done. I can tell you that for sure.” She shot Walker a quick look, under her eyelids. A confidence for a confidence, Walker thought, and a sign that Larsen could be trusted. “Discretion is all that’s required—that and a speedy return to work. Particularly now.”
    “And if I choose another option?”
    Larsen looked up from the bag. “Then I’d advise you to start considering how your skills might be transferable to the private sector.”
    “Nothing else? You don’t you want to tell me it would be a terrible, dreadful, life-destroying mistake?”
    Larsen fiddled with the clasp on her bag. Open andshut. Open and shut. “Do you want me to tell you that?”
    “I want you to tell me what you think.”
    “Do you need to hear that? You’re not a fool, Delia. You surely know already what the consequences will be. They won’t let you stay. Even under ordinary circumstances, this would probably mean the end of your career. As for now...”
    She didn’t need to go further. Carnage on Braun’s World. Andrei gone. Adelaide Grant on the warpath and controlling the narrative. “I know,” Walker said. “I know.”
    “May I ask where this sudden desire for motherhood has sprung from?”
    “I don’t know. Circumstance. Age. I’m as surprised as you are. But there it is.”
    “Hmm.” Larsen closed her bag, decisively. “Mark may be a bloody idiot, but he’s right about one thing. Ultimately, it’s your decision.” She held up her hands, as if each one was a weight upon a scale. “Two alternatives. Utterly incompatible. I know my choice—but I’m not you.” She lowered her left hand. “As I say, though—it might be a good idea to start looking for other sources of income.” She nodded at Walker’s belly. “Because soon everybody will be finding out.”
     
     
    W HICH HAPPENED SOONER than Walker had anticipated. Late morning, she slipped out for some air, taking a long walk along the central waterway where other officials—junior and with less to trouble them—were gathering to enjoy the sunshine and lunch. It was a scene she had observed many times, and had, in the past, enjoyed watching, reminding her, as it did, that she was at the heart of things, and that all was well. Not all was well now, but being amongst the impromptu picnickers did ease her mind for a while. This great