Amanda Jones and the Moscow Menace

AMANDA JONES AND THE MOSCOW MENACE



Amanda Jones felt tingles of excitement and anxiety in her spine as her jet came in to land in Moscow’s Domodedovo airport. A history expert, she of course knew the history of the past conflict between her homeland of the United States and the former Soviet Union, but for her the conflict had become personal.

All throughout her final year at boarding school, Amanda had looked forward to her summer holiday before going to start university. Backpacking throughout Europe, visiting all the sights she’d dreamed about since she was a little girl, having adventures, meeting new friends… Amanda had expected to get into one or two scrapes along the way- her natural curiosity attracted her to trouble like a moth to a flame, but the nature of the enemy she’d attracted was beyond what she could ever have imagined.

Nikolai Levkov, one of Moscow’s many billionaires, had taken exception to Amanda’s curiosity. The first time they met, it was completely by accident- an innocent photograph in Monte-Carlo harbour had seen Amanda and her friends tracked down and assaulted, and a chance encounter in Budapest saw Amanda’s natural sleuthing instincts thwarted at every corner by Levkov’s daunting resources and preparedness. Ever since, Amanda had the feel of the Russian oligarch's eyes on the back of her neck, and it made her uneasy. Uneasy enough to fly straight into the lion’s den to confront the man- who she had never even met face-to-face- herself.

Asleep in the seats next to Amanda, with their heads resting against each other, were her travelling companions Hannah and Katrin. Hannah- a fiery redhead from Ireland- had initially been opposed to their Russian sojourn, and it wasn’t hard for Amanda to understand why. She had been forced to admit that she wanted- no, needed to know about Levkov. Whether or not he was keeping tracks on her, and if he was, why. Hannah- ever worried about Amanda and the group’s welfare- was perfectly happy to let it slide, reasoning that as Levkov had not done any lasting damage to the girls, he was content to let them live their lives, but Amanda’s curiosity was an itch she wouldn’t help but scratch. Even in the seven days since she’d encountered Levkov in Budapest, her curiosity had threatened to turn into obsession. Something was happening, Amanda didn’t know what it was, and she couldn’t stand it. And Hannah was not about to let her new friend go into danger alone.

Kat, on the other hand, had been all too happy to follow Amanda to Moscow. Ever since she met her, Amanda had been impressed and amused by the German girl’s bubbly enthusiasm. Whilst she wasn’t as level-headed as Amanda or Hannah, Amanda sensed that there was nothing Kat wouldn’t do for either of them, and that was a sentiment Amanda more than reciprocated. The three girls had already exchanged contact information and promised to keep in touch once they had returned to university. Amanda hoped that they remained friends for the rest of their lives.

“Hey,” Amanda said softly, gently shaking Hannah awake, “Hey, wake up. We’re almost there.”

“Mmm, already?” Hannah asked sleepily. “Damn night flights. Give me a bunk over a plane seat any day!” Amanda giggled at Hannah’s complaint as she reached over and gently shook Kat awake.

“Nein,” Kat mumbled, unhappy at being roused from her slumber.

“Come on, Kat!” Amanda said enthusiastically. “Seatbelts on, tray tables up, Moscow, here we are!”
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The three girls stretched themselves into alertness as they descended the jet’s stairs into the cool Russian air.

“Do you think we can get tickets to the Bolshoi?” Kat asked eagerly as she switched her smartphone back on and immediately began updating her social media pages. Internally, Amanda prepared herself- she had no doubt that all of their social media pages were being monitored by her nemesis.

“They’ve got to be sold out months in advance,” Hannah answered, shivering a little in the cool air but grateful for the lower levels of sunlight not threatening to sear her pale skin.

“And it’s not like there isn’t plenty to do anyway,” Amanda stated cheerfully. “St Basil’s, the Kremlin, Lenin’s tomb, all within walking distance of each other!”

“And across the road from one of the biggest department stores in Europe…” Hannah teased, bringing an eager smile to the lips of her German friend. “Perfect for a group of girls who’ve just had a large windfall, maybe?” Kat giggled as she sent her status update to the internet and put her phone away.

“But first, coffee, ja?” Kat asked. This time, it was Hannah’s turn to smile.

“Took the words right out of my mouth!” The Irish girl enthused as the trio headed off toward the nearest coffee shop.
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It wasn’t long before the girls found themselves speeding into the city centre on one of Moscow’s many trams, coffees and phones in hand.

“I wish I’d had a bit more time to learn Cyrillic before I came here,” Hannah complained as one unfamiliar word after another sped by her head. “First Greece, now Russia…” Amanda listened to her friends’ worries over the language barrier with amusement, but her attention was soon diverted by her smartphone chiming to alert her of a new email. Nervously, the intrepid American girl stared at the new message.

“Welcome to Moscow,” the message began. “I had asked myself why three defenseless young women who had been lucky to escape with their lives would stupidly put themselves in harm’s way again, but then it struck me that maybe they’re just in Moscow to enjoy the sights and sounds of the most prosperous and beautiful city in the world. That is the case, is it not? Or should I tell Dmitriy and the rest of my guards to expect another visit from Amanda Jones and her funny little gang? N.L.” Internally, Amanda bristled. Levkov was treating her like a little child- no, even less than that, like an insect.

Amanda took immense pride from the fact that in the past, she’d been able to overcome any obstacle put in her way, whether it had been in her studies or her sleuthing, she always seemed to come out on top. However, she wasn’t a child any more, she was an adult, and suddenly the world seemed infinitely bigger than it had when she was at St Hilda’s, and Amanda found herself feeling just like the insect she was being treated as. As the letters on her phone’s screen began to lose focus, Amanda found herself daydreaming about a Philosophy class she’d attended years ago.

“Maturity isn’t defined by how hard we try to win,” the professor’s words resonated in Amanda’s ears. “But rather, by how willing we are to admit defeat. Wisdom is knowing when to sacrifice your pride for a greater good.” Amanda didn’t think herself as particularly wise, but those words struck a chord inside her young mind. She’d come to Moscow vainly hoping to find a way to strike a blow against her nemesis’s criminal enterprise, but it was time to stop believing that she could take on the world single-handedly. It was time to grow up.

It was time to admit defeat.

“Our paths won’t cross,” Amanda typed into her phone, her face frozen in a stoic gaze. “We’re here to sightsee only.” Mere seconds after she’d sent the message, she received a reply.

“Clever girl,” the message read. “If you pass the Kremlin give my regards to V.P.” Almost instantly, the feeling of disappointment at her defeat dissipated as the smile returned to Amanda’s face.

“So,” she said, instantly grabbing her friends’ attentions, “where to first?”

“The Bolshoi?” Kat asked with vain hope.

“Gotta be the Kremlin,” Hannah said, grinning knowingly at Amanda’s sudden enthusiasm. “I wanna know if Putin’s really as short as he seems on the telly.”

“Kremlin it is!” Amanda grinned, putting her phone away and sitting back in the tram car, the tension in her body melting away into nothingness, even as Hannah leaned over to whisper in her ear.

“Know when to fold ‘em?” The Irish girl asked, barely disguising her pride for her friend.

“Some things just aren’t worth it,” Amanda said, giving Hannah’s hand a brief, tight squeeze.

Five minutes later, the three girls were stood in Red Square, eagerly taking photos of themselves amongst all the historical buildings. As the hours passed into late afternoon, the girls were still in the centre of the city, having spent hundreds of rubles on guided tours (though Amanda learned very little she didn’t already know!) and shopping in the huge GUM department store.

“Can’t believe it’s our last night tonight,” Hannah said as she stretched out in her seat and savoured the smell of her fresh coffee.

“Until next summer, anyway!” Kat enthused, eliciting her companion’s agreement.

“Definitely,” Amanda stated firmly. “We must make a pact, right here, right now, that next summer- even if it’s just for one day- we meet up, just the three of us.” Amanda held her hand out in the centre of the table, palm down, prompting Hannah and Kat to quickly follow suit.

“I’ve always wanted to visit America,” Kat said excitedly.

“I’ve always wanted to afford to be able to visit America,” Hannah snorted, sipping her coffee.

“Really, it’s not a problem for me to come over to Europe again,” Amanda said. “There’s bound to be a few countries we missed this year, right? Anyway, we’ve got a whole year to worry about what we do then. More important is: what do we do tonight?” The three girls thought deeply about what they wanted to do, before Kat broke the silence.

“We could always go and check out-“ The German girl began, before being interrupted.

“-The Bolshoi,” Amanda and Hannah finished Kat’s sentence for her, causing the three girls to collapse in a fit of giggles. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt to go along for a look,” Amanda stated, causing Kat to excitedly bounce up and down in her chair.

“Yay!” The bubbly German girl yelled, drawing confused looks from several passers-by. “This is gonna be so cool! I’ve loved the Bolshoi since I was a little girl, I never thought I’d get to actually go there!”

“Don’t get your hopes up too high,” Hannah said, trying to temper her friend’s eagerness. “We’ll probably not even be able to get in.”

“Just as long as I get a Facebook check in, that’s enough for me!” Kat beamed, theatrically waving her smartphone in the air.
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Later that evening, the three women, dressed in the finest clothes they’d bought that day, headed down Theatre Square towards the famous Bolshoi Theatre. Whilst she’d never had much of an interest in the theatre or performing arts in general, Amanda found herself succumbing to Kat’s infectious enthusiasm as they neared the grand building. Whilst Kat was busy taking photographs of the grand building and assaulting Hannah’s ears with facts and tales about it, Amanda’s mind began to wander as her natural love of anthropology and curiosity of the world took over. Her Russian speaking & listening skills weren’t great by any stretch of the imagination, but she knew enough to pick up snippets of conversations, and she was fascinated by how similar Russian life seemed to American life, despite decades of animosity between the two nations.

However, it wasn’t long before Amanda’s keen ears happened across a conversation that put her senses onto high alert. The words plemyannitsa- meaning ‘niece’ and otsutstvuyushchiy- meaning ‘missing’, overheard from a passer-by, flipped a switch inside Amanda’s brain, a change that didn’t go unnoticed by her friends.

“Hey,” Kat said, waving her hand in front of Amanda’s face to snap her out of her trance, “hey, Amanda, are you okay?”

“Oh no,” Hannah groaned, immediately recognising the look on her friend’s face. “What have you spotted now?”

“It’s probably nothing,” Amanda said, trying futilely to reassure her friends. “I just- thought I heard something.” As she spoke, Amanda took out her smartphone and immediately opened up the English-Russian translation app she’d downloaded prior to her arrival in Moscow

“What did you hear?” Hannah asked, worried that their glamorous night out was about to turn into yet another misadventure.

“I knew it,” Amanda said as her phone returned to her a translation of the conversation she’d just heard. “That woman who just passed us, her niece was a dancer for a company who performed at the Bolshoi. Emphasis on ‘was’. She’s been missing for at least the last few days.”

“What happened to her?” Kat asked, suddenly excited by the prospect of another Amanda-led investigation.

“She probably went on a day trip with some friends and didn’t bother checking in,” Hannah stated firmly. “Didn’t you say this woman was the girl’s aunt? How many people do you know check in with their aunt every day?” Hannah sighed as Amanda furiously entered commands into her phone. “You’re Googling to see if there have been any other disappearances, aren’t you?”

“Yep,” Amanda confirmed with a determined smile. “And there have. Three more over the course of the last 2 months. All young dancers who'd recently performed at the Bolshoi, all went missing under mysterious circumstances and haven’t been seen since.”

“And this is our responsibility why, exactly?” Hannah asked, desperate for her friend to drop the topic. “What if it’s Levkov?”

“If it was him I get the feeling we’d already know about it,” Amanda said before flashing a knowing smile at her companions. “Fancy sneaking backstage?”

“Isn’t that ‘breaking and entering’?” Hannah asked the eager American girl. “I’m pretty sure even in Russia that’s considered illegal.”

“It isn’t a break-in if we don’t break anything,” Amanda said with a grin as she led the trio around the side of the famous theatre. She had to keep herself from shaking as her heart began pumping high levels of adrenaline through her body. After admitting defeat to Levkov she had begun to wonder if it was time to call an end to her sleuthing career and concentrate full-time on her studies, but just as she had prepared to move on, the universe had conspired to throw Amanda a nice, juicy mystery to sink her teeth into- and there was no way she would be able to pass up such an enticing case.
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“Excuse me?” Kat said to the towering security guard at the side entrance of the theatre. “Excuse me? Can we get back in, please?”

“Who the hell are you?” The gruff guard asked.

“We just need to get back in,” Kat explained, using her best acting skills. “We just came out for some air but we really need to get changed for the performance!”

“Who. The hell. Are you?” The guard repeated, unimpressed by Kat’s theatrics.

“Duh, we’re understudy dancers for the show?” Kat lied in her most diva-ish voice. The guard simply rolled his eyes as her deceit.

“No you’re not,” the guard laughed in Kat’s face. “This is the AUSTRIAN national ballet performing here tonight. You’re obviously German. Now piss off.” Kat felt her bottom lip begin to tremble at the humiliation, but kept a stern face in front of the guard. Amanda, however, picked up on Kat’s wobble and quickly devised a plan. Pulling out her phone, she entered a series of commands into it and adopted her best Vienna accent.

“Hallo?” Amanda said emotionally into her phone. “Hans? Die Wache wird verhindert, dass wir! Ja, das haben wir ihm gesagt, wer wir waren, hat er uns nicht glauben!" Amanda wiped a crocodile tear from her eye as she continued talking. Picking up on the emotion in her friend’s voice, Kat began to softly blub as well.

"Ich weiß, Sie sagten, wir würden entlassen werden, wenn wir eine andere Aufführung verpasst,” Amanda wailed into her phone as Kat began to sob. Hannah quickly caught on to her friends’ act and buried her face in Amanda’s shoulder. “Bitte, bitte geben Sie uns noch eine Chance!” Amanda & Kat were almost hysterical, causing the tall, masculine security guard to feel extremely uncomfortable.

“Umm, uh,” the guard spluttered, unsure of how to handle the scene in front of him. “I’ll, um, I’ll call up, uh… See if the director is…” The guard paused as he stared into Kat’s tear-filled eyes before sighing a heavy sigh and opening the door behind him. “I never did this for you, right?” Kat immediately flung herself at the guard and wrapped him in a tight hug, shocking the burly man.

“Danke, danke!” Kat exclaimed as she, Amanda and Hannah eagerly headed into the backstage area, breathing a sigh of relief as the guard closed the door behind them.

“You two should be secret agents,” Hannah said exasperatedly as the two other girls dried their eyes. “You do realise he’ll probably get fired for this?”

“He’s the only person who’ll ever know we were back here,” Amanda stated confidently as she opened up her translation app and began navigating her way around the labyrinthine backstage area.

“What are we looking for?” Kat asked as Amanda led them through the corridors.

“Whatever caused the girls to go missing, it happened in this theatre,” Amanda answered. “They all went missing the night of a performance, so whoever’s responsible has to work here and have everything they need to kidnap someone in here, maybe in a dressing room or a janitor’s closet.”

“So we’re just going to give him three more girls to get rid of?” Hannah exclaimed.

“The girls only ever went missing one at a time,” Amanda explained reassuringly. “Whoever it is doing this, I’m willing to bet they’re too cowardly to take on three at once.” Just then, the girls were startled as a group of four ballerinas rounded the corner in front of them. Ducking out of sight into a nearby restroom, Amanda took stock of the situation.

“We’re going to draw a lot of attention if we wander around backstage dressed in street clothes,” she mused to herself, causing Kat to beam with excitement.

“Maybe we should disguise ourselves in costumes?” The German girl suggested, much to the dismay of her companions. “Oh come on, who hasn’t wanted to do that at least once?”

“Me, for starters,” Hannah said stoically. Kat looked hopefully toward Amanda, who stoically shook her head.

“Whoever it is doing this is targeting dancers,” Amanda explained, forcing a smile onto Hannah’s lips. “We’re better off staying in our civvies.”

“What if,” Kat began, “one of us dressed up as a dancer, and said that I-she was giving the other two a backstage tour?” Amanda simply chuckled and rolled her eyes at her friend’s eagerness.

“Tell you what,” Amanda said, “if we find the costume store we’ll have a look in there.” Kat beamed a wide grin and gave Amanda a quick hug before the trio exited the restroom after making sure that the coast was clear. Immediately as they entered the corridor, Kat pulled out her smartphone and began entering commands into it.

“Getting that check-in you were so desperate for?” Hannah asked the German girl, who simply nodded excitedly in response.

“A-ha!” Amanda exclaimed. “Podsobka- storeroom.”

“This seemed a little easy,” Kat said disappointedly.

“Don’t tempt fate!” Hannah chastised as the three girls slowly crept into the darkened room. After checking that the room was empty, Amanda switched on the light, and was almost deafened by Kat’s immediate squeal.

“Ahhhhhhhh!!” Kat yelled as she suddenly found herself surrounded by hundreds of ballet costumes, all neatly packed in plastic protectors and hanging on coatracks.

“Keep it quiet!” Hannah said, clamping a hand over the excitable German girl’s mouth. “We’re not supposed to be in here, remember?”

“It doesn’t look like we’re gonna find what we need in here,” Amanda said with disappointment in her voice. “Oh well, there’s bound to be other places we can look. The performance is about to start so we shouldn’t run into anyone for the next half hour or so.” After checking to see that she was correct in her assumption that the area was deserted, Amanda exited the storeroom, but had only got a few feet down the corridor when she sensed that something was amiss.

“Where’s Kat?” Amanda wondered aloud.

“Where d’you think?” Hannah replied, rolling her eyes. Sure enough, when the two girls re-entered the storeroom, Kat was there, dressed in full costume, admiring herself in a mirror. Hannah sighed loudly, attracting the German girl’s attention.

“Oh come on,” Kat pleaded, “when am I ever going to get another opportunity like this?” Amanda simply grinned and Kat’s exuberance.

“Give me your clothes and let’s get going,” the American student giggled, putting Kat’s street clothes (that fortunately, didn’t take up too much room) in her rucksack and watching, almost bewildered, as Kat elegantly danced out of the storeroom.

“Diese ist der umkleideraum,” Kat said, punctuating every word with emphatic, theatrical hand gestures as she pretended to lead Amanda and Hannah through the backstage area.

“You only need to do that in case we run into anyone,” Hannah reminded her excitable friend. “What was in that coffee you drank earlier!?”

“Und diese ist-“ Kat began smugly, before being hushed by Amanda.

“Here,” Amanda said confidently. “Shkaf dvornika- janitor’s closet.”

“A place this big is bound to have more than one closet,” Hannah reminded the eager young sleuth.

“If you’d agreed to us splitting up, we might have found them more quickly,” Amanda retorted as she quickly set about picking the lock on the cupboard’s door.

“Only you could pick out a formal dress which has an in-built utility belt,” Hannah chuckled as she and Kat crouched down beside Amanda, watching the girl in action. Within 20 seconds, the door was unlocked, and Amanda slowly turned the knob, hesitantly stepping into the darkened room. Almost instantly, she sensed that something was amiss.

“How many utility rooms do you know that have black briefcases on the shelves?” Amanda asked, grabbing one of the cases and setting about the lock.

“Okay, now I’m pretty sure that THIS is breaking and entering,” Hannah cautioned.

“And I’m pretty sure,” Amanda began, opening the case and showing its contents- hundreds of thousands of US dollars in tightly-packed wads- to the other two girls, “that THIS is theft. Or blackmail, or extortion… Either way, I’m willing to bet this money doesn’t currently belong to its rightful owner.” After snapping a few photographs of the money with her phone, Amanda carefully replaced the briefcase and was about the leave the room when she was startled by the cupboard’s light suddenly snapping on.

“Oh je, oh je,” came a deep Russian female voice from the doorway. “Es sieht aus wie eine der Tänzerinnen und ihre Freunde hat entschieden, dass sie ihr Geld zurück!”

“Wir alle wissen , was passiert mit Mädchen, die länger dauern als ihren gerechten Anteil, nicht wahr?" Another, lighter-voice Russian woman said, leaning in the cupboard’s doorway to prevent any escape. Amanda took a deep breath as her heart began to race. The last time she'd stood her ground against a group of Russian threatening her, it had not ended well for any of them, but this time it was different. This time, Amanda & co had the numbers advantage, and even if the women- who were clearly dancers, judging by their build and their clothes- were both well over six feet tall, Amanda was confident in her earlier hunch that they would be too afraid to take on superior numbers.

“Give the money back to its rightful owners,” Amanda demanded, standing up straight and staring the two women in the face.

“Ooh, an American, how scary,” the first woman mocked as she stood face-to-face with the defiant Amanda. “I don’t know how they do things in the land of Mickey Mouse and cheeseburgers, but here, if you want to get ahead in the industry-“

“-Or you don’t want to ‘fall’ too far behind-” the second woman interrupted with an evil grin on her lips.

“-Then you need to make sure the right people are properly… Thanked,” the first woman finished.

“Come to think of it, Irina,” the second woman said, “Blondie here hasn’t thanked us yet, has she?”

“I do believe she hasn’t, Yelena,” Irina said, unceremoniously shoving Amanda to one side and looming threateningly over Kat. “I should throw you in the dumpster with the other garbage for this insult. Lucky for you I’m going to let you buy your way out.”

“I-I don’t have any money…” Kat stammered, terrified at the sight of the two women, who were both a clear six inches taller than she was.

“Dumpster it is, then,” Irina said, a menacing smile creeping over her lips. Kat felt her knees begin to shake as the women closed in on her, but almost in a flash, a familiar dark-haired figure stepped in front of her, protecting her from the two amazons.

“Kat’s with me,” Amanda stated firmly, embarrassed and angry at having been so callously shoved aside. “You’re not touching her.” Monaco all over again… Amanda thought to herself as the two women immediately turned their attention to her. Amanda wasn’t a fighter by any stretch of the imagination- in fact, she abhorred all kinds of violence- but she couldn’t sit back and allow Kat to be harmed, or worse. It was all Amanda could do to suppress a sigh of relief when she felt Hannah stand beside her.

“And with me,” Hannah concurred. “It’s 3 on 2. I’d say you’ve lost this one before you’ve even started.” Irina just grinned and gave a sideways glance to her partner in crime, who nodded understandingly.

The only thing Amanda was aware of was a sudden movement on the right-hand side, before her head exploded in a ball of pain and she felt her now-limp form crash into a surprised and unprepared Hannah, taking them both to the ground. Even though Yelena hadn't been wearing any shoes, the roundhouse kick she'd delivered to Amanda's temple had enough impact to knock her senseless. The dazed American girl peered through a veil of pain and disorientation at her smug attackers before a darkness crept over her eyeballs and she slipped into the hostile embrace of unconsciousness.

“Damn it!” Hannah yelled as she crashed to the floor, winded both by the fall and Amanda landing awkwardly on top of her. Kat looked on in shock as her two protectors were incapacitated in the blink of an eye. Fearing for her safety, and with no other way out of the cupboard, Kat charged into the two tall women, hoping vainly to find a means of escape, but it was to no avail.

“Where are you going, Blondie?” Yelena asked as she and Irina grabbed a hold of Kat’s costume and roughly hoisted the squealing German girl into the air, her feet swinging petulantly beneath her. Just as terror threatened to consume Kat, she glanced down at her two dazed companions, and a wide smile of relief flowed across her face.

“Email sent,” Kat said, smiling her own smug grin in Irina’s confused face.

“What email?” Yelena asked. Irina followed Kat’s gaze, and her smug grin instantly evaporated from her face. There on the floor, a few inches away from Amanda’s outstretched hand, was her smartphone, displaying pictures of the money, the cupboard and, most worryingly of all, herself and Yelena, snapped in a split-second as they entered the cupboard. Underneath the images was a Russian email address and several American ones, and the words ‘email sent’ in bright, flashing letters.

“Shit!” Irina yelled, angrily dumping Kat on top of her friends before grabbing the bag of money, stooping down to steal Amanda’s rucksack and running as fast as they could.

“Hannah, Amanda, come on!” Kat urged, shaking the two women by the shoulder.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Hannah moaned as she gingerly stood up, taking several deep breaths to clear her head. Amanda, however, was still out cold from Yelena’s kick.

“I’ll get her,” Hannah said, hauling the unconscious girl onto her shoulders in an improvised fireman’s carry. “You can’t go out there dressed like that!”

“They’ve got my clothes!” Kat complained as Hannah sighed in frustration. “I really liked that dress too…”

“We need to get out of here, fast,” Hannah said, her slender frame struggling under Amanda’s weight. “We’ll just have to find some way of getting you back to the hostel without anyone seeing you dressed like that. Can you understand any of the signs?”

“No, only Amanda can read Russian,” Kat replied. Sighing, Hannah sat Amanda down in the corridor and tried rousing her, but to no avail. Giving up, Hannah & Kat hoisted the girl onto their shoulders and attempted to retrace their steps. After five minutes, however, they had to admit that they were hopelessly lost.

“I’m sure I had a nightmare like this once,” Kat complained as she slogged through the corridor. “Trapped in the one place I’ve wanted to visit all my life.”

“We’re not trapped,” Hannah reassured her friend. “Just… a little lost, that’s all.” All of a sudden, the girls were interrupted by the sound of loud, classical music flowing through the corridors.

“The show!” Kat exclaimed. “It must have started! If we head toward it, we’ll be heading toward the stage!”

“…Or, if we head AWAY from it, we’ll be heading toward an exit,” Hannah said.

“Dressed like this?” Kat complained, motioning to her ostentatious tutu.

“You’re the one who put it on, stop complaining!” Hannah chastised, before grimacing at her tone of voice. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know, I know,” Kat conceded. Internally, she was kicking herself for ending up in such a ridiculous scenario. Amanda wouldn’t have blindly climbed into the nearest pretty costume that caught her eye, and Kat felt that she’d almost let her new friend down by being so impulsive.

“We’ll probably pass another storeroom on the way out,” Hannah said, trying to cheer Kat up. “They’ll probably have something a bit easier to hide in there.”

Within mere minutes, the girls found themselves stumbling out of an exit, making excuses to the bewildered security guard as they headed out onto the main street, Kat vainly trying to disguise the dress she had 'borrowed' from one of the theatre's storerooms under Hannah's borrowed jacket. It was only once they rounded the corner to the front of the theatre that the smiles returned to their faces.

“Hey, Amanda, wake up,” Hannah said, shaking her American friend as the cool evening air gently stirred her.

“Unnhhhh…” Amanda moaned, “wh-what happened?”

“Your plan worked, as usual,” Hannah replied, helping the unsteady girl find her feet. “Take a look.”

Amanda blinked the stars and swirls from her eyes, and attempted to blink away the flashing lights she was seeing. As she became more lucid, she saw that the lights weren’t in her eyes, but were attached to two police cars parked outside the theatre. Cars into which a handcuffed Irina and Yelena were being loaded, defeated scowls on their faces.

“Amanda Jones, Hannah Duffy and Katrin Weber for the win!” Kat yelled triumphantly, giving Amanda a tight hug from behind, a hug Hannah eagerly joined in with as the two towering dancers were driven away.
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“So this is it then, the last night,” Hannah said with melancholy in her voice as she laid her tired head down on her bunk’s pillow. “I guess it wouldn’t have been the same without one last ‘caper’.”

“Don’t say ‘last’,” Amanda said as Kat fussed with her hair. “Just… ‘last of the first’.” Hannah chuckled at Amanda’s eternal optimism.

“Hopefully next time there’ll be fewer gangsters, thugs and bruises,” Hannah joked.

“I can definitely agree with that last one!” Amanda rubbed her sore head as Kat brushed her hair out to disguise the ugly blemish on her temple.

“There,” Kat said, proud of her handiwork. “Much better than that bird’s nest you had before!” Amanda admired her new style in the mirror. It was similar to the one she’d had before, with a centre parting, but seemed a lot more grown-up. Amanda was sure it’d suit her excellently as she let her hair grow out.

“Perfect,” the American girl said, giving her German friend a tight hug. “Gosh, this has been the best summer break I’ve ever had!”

“Mine too!” Kat beamed. “I mean, I’m with Hannah about gangsters and thugs, but I’d happily do it all again if it meant I could have you both as my friends.”
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There were tears in all three girls’ eyes as they stood in the concourse of Domodedovo airport. Amanda and Hannah would be sharing a flight to Dublin, but for Kat, this was where her summer of sleuthing would end.

“I’m going to miss you both so much!” Kat sobbed as she hugged Amanda and Hannah tightly

“I’m gonna miss you too,” Amanda sniffed as she affectionately squeezed the German girl.

“What am I meant to do for excitement now?” Hannah jokingly complained as she pulled herself as far into the group hug as she could.

To the onlookers in the airport, the sight of the three girls embracing each other so tightly would have been a strange one, but none of them knew the experiences the trio had shared over the course of the summer months. Mysterious strangers in Paris, Spooky castles in the Czech Republic and gentlemen’s clubs in Turkey- amongst many others- had all contributed into making the summer the most intense experience of their young lives and drew the three young women into a bond closer than most families. Now the bond had to be broken, and a little piece of each girl wished that the summer never had to end.

Amanda and Hannah held each other’s hand as they waved Kat off to her flight home to Berlin. Their own flight wouldn’t be for another two hours, and both girls hoped to stretch out that time as long as possible. Amanda was able to entertain the two of them with the photos she’d saved to her tablet computer, but all too quickly, the time came to board their flight.
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“God, this is gonna be tougher than I thought,” Hannah complained as she hugged Amanda tightly in the arrivals lounge of Dublin International airport.

“I know, I know,” Amanda whispered, biting her tongue in a vain effort to keep her tears from freely flowing.

“Are you absolutely sure you won’t come back to my home for a drink?” Hannah persuaded. “I only live an hour down the road, my parents will be here soon, they’ll be happy to run you back to the airport.”

“My flight to Boston’s in two hours,” Amanda said with a moan. “You know what check-in’s like when you fly to the States.”

“I’m gonna miss you most of all,” Hannah whispered, not wanting to let go of her new best friend. Amanda silently rested her head on her friend’s shoulder, wanting to savour the moment for as long as she could. Even at her young age, she prided herself on being independent, succeeding on her own hard work and not having to rely on her rich father. Amanda always felt that she didn’t need anyone in her life. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t entitled to want someone in her life…

After meeting Hannah’s parents and having one final tearful farewell with her new friend for life, Amanda made her way to the departure lounge where she slumped down in one of the airport’s comfortable chairs. It had been a six hour flight from Moscow, and it’d be another seven to Boston, an endurance test the emotionally drained girl barely felt up to. Amanda reached into her bag for her tablet computer for some entertainment when her attention was drawn to another passenger, pacing up and down the departure lounge, talking loudly on her telephone.

Everything about the woman struck Amanda as exotic. The language she was speaking was foreign- Amanda was 99% sure it was Italian- but her accent seemed to be a weird hodgepodge of Italian, English, Irish and American. Her skin was dark and her hair was jet-black, yet her facial features implied that her heritage was mostly European. And her clothes… The woman seemed to care little about what others thought about her. A dark grey pinafore dress covered a black long-sleeved t-shirt, and green and black stripy tights on top of gold-coloured high heels seemed to yell ‘eccentric’ with every step the girl took. Amanda tried to be covert, catching glimpses of the strange woman without her noticing, but once her call was done, the dark-skinned woman made a beeline for Amanda, purposefully parking her behind in the empty seat next to her.

“Caught you looking,” the dark-haired girl said to Amanda with a smile. “Why do you look so glum?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Amanda said evasively. “It’s just- I’m just missing my friends, that’s all.”

“Let me guess- you were over here visiting them, now you’re heading back home?” The mysterious woman asked.

“Yeah,” Amanda answered. Normally Amanda would have kicked herself for being so open with a total stranger, but there was something about the woman that made Amanda trust her with her most intimate feelings. “I’m also about to start my first year at university, so THAT’s another daunting prospect coming up.”

“Don’t tell me- Harvard, right?” The stranger said, her grin growing wider.

“How did you guess?” Amanda enquired, worried that the woman might already know too much about her…

“Well you’re flying into Boston,” the stranger replied. “You’re obviously a smart girl, and you’re on the same flight as someone else about to start studying- well, postgrad study, anyway- at Harvard.” The woman pointed at herself, making Amanda giggle a little at her extroversion.

“Hi, I’m Amanda Jones,” Amanda said, extending a hand which her new friend gratefully accepted.

“Hi, I’m Ciara Nightingale,” the woman introduced herself. “I can tell, Amanda Jones, that you and I are going to get along just fine!” Amanda grinned, her first real smile since saying goodbye to Kat and Hannah. She might not have needed anyone in her life, but she definitely wanted a best friend, and she wanted that best friend to be Ciara. As Amanda boarded the plane, Ciara happily telling her about her PhD studies in Egyptology, Amanda mused that just as the universe had given her one final investigation to sink her teeth into in Moscow, it had given her a companion with whom to share her journey through university.

Yep, It was pretty good being Amanda Jones.