“He stood with a pocketful of diamonds and a heart full of death, watching a Russian sniper shake hands with the First Lady of the United States. ‘Whoever heard of a girl sniper?’ the marksman heard a photographer behind him grumble, craning for a look at the young woman who had just disembarked from the embassy limousine.”

Quinn sets the scene, establishing that her story is one of danger and mystery. She draws a contrast between the marksman’s public surroundings, clearly in proximity to power and current events, and his hidden agenda. He conceals both his wealth and his motives. These remarks also emphasize that gender expectations are an important theme in the text; the reporters are skeptical of the woman they are there to see, just as the marksman is.

“I spoke too curtly. I should have been soft, said Please be there or Won’t you be there? The cautious wordsmithing of a woman stepping lightly around a man who has the upper hand, and might use it to lash out—no poet ever agonized over the crafting of a sentence more carefully.”

Quinn here underlines Mila’s vulnerability and the extent to which Alexei makes her doubt herself. Alexei wants deference, not honesty, which reveals his obsession with his own power. The comparison of an anxious woman to a poet or a wordsmith underlines that surviving sexism is its own art form.

“An advanced marksmanship badge—now that would wipe the smirk off Alexei’s smug face. More important, it would make Slavka believe I was more than just his soft, fond, loving mamochka. Because I had so much more to teach him than shooting, to make a fine man of him.”

Mila’s wording emphasizes how her relationship with Alexei is a struggle for dominance. Her language also emphasizes her gender and her parenting responsibilities: She must be more than an embodiment of femininity because Alexei will not accept parenthood. This sense of herself as a protector, as a woman who does what she must, will be key to Mila’s character arc.