The Diamond Eye

Eleanor reflects on her instant desire to heed Mila’s warning. She is struck by the way her new friend seemed aware of something she herself could not sense. She declares, “I don’t know what your diamond eye saw, Lyudmila, but do not miss” (378).

The chapter opens from the sniper’s point of view. He is plotting a murder-suicide, a plan that depends on Alexei bringing Mila to him before he shoots the president. He looks up, stunned to see Mila herself, knife in hand.

The narrative shifts to Mila’s point of view. She notices instantly that the sniper’s weapon is a Soviet one, indicating he wishes to frame her. They wrestle, and she stabs him in the leg. They each realize the president is gone, no longer reachable by rifle shot. Mila is unexpectedly determined to continue the chase. Alexei finds Mila and is stunned to learn of the real plot, as he was merely hoping for embarrassing photographs and a scandal. As Alexei insists on his innocence, Mila makes for the embassy car containing the delegation gifts. She orders Alexei to follow the other assassin, knowing the car contains the set of Colt pistols. She hopes to use them to neutralize the threat herself.

The American sniper believes Mila to be unarmed, so he is stunned to notice the car following him. He ruefully admits he “underestimated her from the start” but decides to continue the standoff (386).

The narrative shifts back to Mila as she loads one of the Colt pistols and explains to Alexei that the other sniper is leading her into Rock Creek Park, a place she immediately noticed would be perfect for a sniper’s duel. Mila tells Alexei to go back to the White House and then enters the woods. She reflects that while she may look like any other woman, she is quickly resuming the habits and mindset that made her famous: “[T]he glossy propaganda poster-woman disappears […] breathing through her skin was Lady Midnight, Lady Death” (388). Mila follows a bridge she remembers, ducking just in time to avoid a shot. She realizes the sniper is above her on the rocks, the same place she once saw and thought would be “the perfect place for a stakeout” (388).

Mila is curious about her adversary yet focused on her task. She uses matches in her pocket to counter the other sniper’s night vision. As she hears him move away from her, she begins making her way toward her intended hiding place. She makes a pile of leaves and driftwood and then puts her coat over it, placing the diamonds from Jonson on the wooden limbs, just as she and Kostia once did with their scarecrow. She climbs a tree to conceal herself and wait for her moment.

The narrative shifts briefly to the other sniper’s perspective, indicating his fatigue and that he is moving toward Mila’s ruse. It then shifts back to Mila, who is looking for a moment to test her unfamiliar weapon. She uses the cover of approaching thunder to fire some shots. She watches the sniper make for the scarecrow dressed in diamonds, and she mentally prepares to fire on him. The narrative briefly shifts back to the other sniper, who shoots toward the gleaming jewels in vengeful satisfaction. He realizes too late what has happened, as Mila’s “shot took him clean through the right eye” (395).

Mila, exhausted, briefly contemplates her dead adversary but soon decides it is time to return to the White House and, eventually, to return home to Slavka. She leaves the park and is surprised to see Alexei. When she tells him the sniper is dead, he uses the other pistol from the Colt set to shoot at her. She ducks just in time but is hit in the ear. Ruefully, Mila reflects that his plan makes sense: He is bitter about her fame, and now “he didn’t have to share the glory with [her], and he was free of his bitch wife” (398). Mila, exhausted, rallies when she remembers her promises to Slavka. She begins to taunt Alexei to draw him out, reminding him that she is famous and skilled in ways he is not. Finally, she says, “How does it feel, knowing that the Pavlichenko reported in the history books won’t be you? It’ll be your child bride instead. It’ll be me” (401). Alexei leaps out and Mila fires, killing him.

Mila arrives back at the hotel, adopting a casual tone and suggesting someone go find the car that Alexei abandoned. When she reaches her room, she remembers she has no room key and suddenly feels the exhaustion of the evening’s events, but Kostia opens the door, embracing her. She knows immediately that this means he is returning to Russia with her. He comforts her and tucks her into bed, waiting for the details of her adventure. Mila reflects that she will let Soviet officialdom handle the bodies, but she will pass a warning to Eleanor personally.

Mila, coming back to herself, finally asks Kostia where he has been. He explains he has finished a long-term typing project: a new copy of Mila’s beloved dissertation. As Kostia sleeps, Mila goes through her pockets, finding the sniper’s diamonds—and an unfamiliar signet ring: the lost property of Theodore Roosevelt. Mila decides that the found item is a reminder to take more risks. She tells the still-dozing Kostia that they will marry when they return to Moscow. 

Eleanor watches her husband sleep and reflects on the suspenseful evening that ended in harried phone calls between the Soviet embassy and the White House. She hopes that someday her own work, and Mila’s, will be featured in accounts of her husband’s presidency.

Her world tour finally over, Mila exits the airplane at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. Kostia is at her side, wearing Theodore Roosevelt’s signet ring. Mila catches sight of her mother and immediately runs when she sees her son. As she narrates, she recalls “weeping unashamedly into his hair. Mila Pavlichenko was finally home” (411).

The narrative shifts to 1957, as Mila reunites with Eleanor at a women’s conference in Moscow. They embrace and attend official events together before returning to Mila’s comfortable apartment. Eleanor asks if Mila has regrets about how her war ended. Mila admits that she would not have survived Stalingrad. Instead, she trained young snipers, many of them women. Due to her wartime injuries, Mila has retired from the military and now works as a historical researcher, although she remains active with veteran’s groups.

Eleanor briefly recognizes Kostia, noting that he is not Alexei. Mila says little about either man, out of long habit. Alexei’s death was reported as a consequence of sudden illness. Mila, speaking guardedly, wonders what became of Jonson and his friends. Eleanor assures her that the threat was neutralized soon after her departure. With their teacups, they silently toast one another and Franklin Roosevelt, who died in 1945. Mila’s narration reflects, “I’d saved him from death on Halloween night of 1942, and he’d lived long enough to fulfill his promise that American soldiers would come to aid my countrymen” (415). Mila promises to introduce Eleanor to both Vika and Lena; after returning from her American tour, Mila discovered that Lena had not died in Sevastopol after all.

When Eleanor comments on Mila’s choice of a midday vodka toast, Mila reflects that many of her scars are still with her. She has nightmares, depends on alcohol as a coping mechanism, and startles easily. While the Party wishes her to write her memoirs, Mila knows she will omit many details, including references to Alexei and Kostia. Mila used the sniper’s diamonds to protect Kostia from political reprisal after his father became politically suspect for speaking against Stalin, and Kostia avoids most public attention. Mila decides to name another man as her sniper partner in her memoir to prevent Kostia from acquiring any notoriety.

Mila reflects that Party audiences will want “a heroine to root for with a history clean and simple as the full moon—and [she] was that young woman, but [she] was more” (418). Her Washington duel will remain a secret. She and Eleanor prepare for their evening at the opera.