Tuesday afternoon, September 18, 1984 – Moscow
The utility van stopped across the street and down a few doors from Panin’s house. The telephone workman climbed the pole and started to work on the junction box. Alexander Liteyny was short and stocky; very muscular with thick black hair and bushy eyebrows. He was dedicated to his work, which he found fascinating. He liked spying on others and reporting back to his bosses at the KGB about their comings and goings. He knew that what he reported could either make or break lives and he went about his work with enthusiasm. It gave him a feeling of absolute power over the common man. He seemed to need this as a replacement for having grown only to a height of five feet- five inches tall. This type of work gave him power over men much larger than he. He liked that. He also made up for his shortness of stature by constantly working out. He was an Olympic contender when in school, but was not able to make it to the finals as he always lost to men much bigger than he. It was just as well, as far as he was concerned because this job gave him much more satisfaction than being an Olympian. He leaned back against his harness and appeared to be adjusting and studying the circuitry in the junction box, but at the same time was diligently watching the Panin home.
Panin arrived about 15 minutes after Liteyny had set up. He parked his car directly in front of his house, not paying any attention to the utility van down the street. Panin went in and called to his mother. “Mama, I’m home! Where are you?”
Panin’s mother dropped her knitting with a start. She called out to her son as she dashed from the small living room into the hall. “Victor, what is wrong? Why are you home so early in the week?”
“I have a surprise for you mama. I have been planning this for a long time and I was given the afternoon off so I could complete the surprise!”
Catrina Panin could see the delight on her son’s face and her anxiety immediately passed. “Victor, what in the name of all that is good are you talking about?”
“Mama, you know how many times you have talked about visiting your sister in Irkutsk and how many times I have tried to get you to go? Well, I have been doing so well that my supervisor managed to get a special trip back for me to surprise you with the train ticket. Isn’t that wonderful, Mama?”
“Oh yes, Victor. But why come home at the beginning of the week just to tell me? Couldn’t it wait until you came home at the end of the week?”
“Oh no, Mama. The ticket had to be purchased today and the train leaves this afternoon. That is why my supervisor is helping me. I need to help you pack and get you on the train in the next two hours.”
She looked at her son with love and tears started to fill her eyes. “Victor, my son, you have been talking about this for a long time, but I am worried about you and how you will take care of yourself.”
“Mama, you know that Vicky and I will be married some day, perhaps in the next year. You will be brought back for the wedding with your sister. I will make sure of that. I have been planning this for a while and I want you to go. You know how you need to be with your sister. She loves you as much as I do and I have been writing to her to make the plans. She is excited and is expecting you. You don’t want to disappoint her do you?”
“Victor, you make me so proud and I am excited too; my goodness, how will I get packed so quickly?”
“I will help you Mama. We must hurry though, I must have you to the station a half-hour before departure and it will take us a half-hour to get there. We must move quickly!”
Panin pulled the old suitcases out of the attic while his mother collected what few items of clothing she owned to take on the trip with her.
“I have purchased a one-way ticket for you Mama. You can stay with your sister for the next six months. By that time, I will have enough money saved to send you the return tickets for you and Aunt Rebecca to come to the wedding. In the meantime, enjoy your long awaited reunion. I know Aunt Rebecca will be so glad to see you. Don’t worry about me. I have Vicky and I have enough work to keep me busy. I just want you to enjoy yourself.”
“You are such a good son and Vicky is a lovely girl. I hope someday you will bless me with nice looking grandchildren to brag to Rebecca about.”
“Please mama, don’t be in such a hurry for us to have children. I will know when the time is right. For now, I just want my Mama to be happy.”
“Bless you, my son. You are so dear to my heart. God has truly been good to me by giving me such a fine son.” Tears of joy trickled down her cheeks.
“Now Mama, we don’t have time for mushy sentiments. We must hurry. I don’t want you to miss the train.” They hurried with the packing and then went out to Panin’s car for the trip to the train station. The worker on the pole made a call on his phone from the junction box and climbed down the pole to wait in the van to see what else would happen. Liteyny was a very patient man. He often had to stake out a suspect like this for days and he had a gut feeling more was about to happen at this house.
Morgan pulled up to Panin’s house a half-hour later and saw that Panin was not there. He decided to wait for a while to see if Panin would return. In a little over 45 minutes, Panin pulled to the curb behind Morgan. Morgan got out of his car and walked back to meet Panin.
“Hi Victor, want to invite me inside to tell me what you are doing back here?” “Yes, of course, Mr. Montrose (Morgan’s cover name). I can see that you are upset. There is an explanation.”
They went inside Panin’s house with Alexander Liteyny watching from the back window of his van across the street. This is getting interesting. I’ll watch and see what happens before making another call. It looks like the inspector may have been right about this Panin being an a