After Peabody takes Salt into custody, she escapes the New York Police during a crazy car chase where she repeatedly shoots a police officer with a Taser, forcing him to ram other law-enforcement vehicles. When Salt finally escapes, she takes a ferry, rendezvousing with Orlov and a group of Russian agents on a barge. When she embraces Orlov, saying she had "almost run to him in Washington," it seems the verdict is no longer out — Salt is a Russian spy.
When Salt, whom Orlov calls Chenkov, asks if they have her husband, it is obvious she knew they had taken her husband to ensure she would carry out the assassination of the Russian President. Leading us to believe although she is a murderer, perhaps she did it for love? When a Russian mercenary shoots Mike in front of Salt, as an ultimate test of loyalty, we see her surprise, and the strength of will it takes to not reveal her devastation to Orlov. After passing Orlov's cruel test, she was welcomed into the group, reuniting with her former classmates from the Russian KA-12 program.
After Orlov tells Salt the next step and where to make contact, Salt kills Orlov with a broken vodka bottle and all of his comrades, making it clear her loyalties no longer lay with mother Russia. With this act, it becomes clear, despite being trained and planted by Russian intelligence, Salt's loyalty was to her husband above all else. It's clear she would not have assassinated the Russian President if they hadn't held Mike hostage.
