a Simonov was the newly appointed agency head
was to push Moskvich sales among the Czechs. He thought, half humorously,
half sourly, to himself, even under the Party we have competition and
pressure for higher sales. What was it that some American economist had
called them? a system of State-Capitalism.

At the Moskvich offices he found himself in command of a staff that
consisted of three fellow Russians, and a dozen or so Czech assistants.
His immediate subordinate was a Catherina Panova, whose dossier revealed
her to be a party member, though evidently not a particularly active one,
at least not since she'd been assigned here in Prague.

She was somewhere in her mid-twenties, a graduate of the University of
Moscow, and although she'd been in the Czech capital only a matter of six
months or so, had already adapted to the more fashionable dress that the
style-conscious women of this former Western capital went in for. Besides
that, Catherina Panova managed to be one of the downright prettiest girls
Ilya Simonov had ever seen.

His career had largely kept him from serious involvement in the past.
Certainly the dedicated women you usually found in Party ranks seldom were
of the type that inspired you to romance but he wondered now, looking at
this new assistant of his, if he hadn't let too much of his youth go by
without more investigation into the usually favorite pastime of youth.

He wondered also, but only briefly, if he should reveal his actual
identity to her. She was, after all, a party member. But then he checked
himself. Kliment Blagonravov had stressed the necessity of complete
secrecy. Not even the local offices of the ministry were to be acquainted
with his presence.

He let Catherina introduce him around, familiarize him with the local
methods of going about their business affairs and the problems they were
running into.

She ran a hand back over her forehead, placing a wisp of errant hair, and
said, "I suppose, as an expert from Moscow, you'll be installing a whole
set of new methods."

It was far from his intention to spend much time at office work. He said,
"Not at all. There is no hurry. For a time, we'll continues your present
policies, just to get the feel of the situation. Then perhaps in a few
months, we'll come up with some ideas."

She obviously liked his use of "we" rather than "I." Evidently, the staff
had been a bit nervous upon his appointment as new manager. He already
felt, vaguely,