Globusz^® Publishing 

The CIA’s RV rolled into Tbilisi, and Leslie parked the vehicle on a quiet side street a few blocks from the Embassy. There was no need to compromise its identity by going anywhere near the Embassy. Frank, who was following the RV with the Mercedes, parked directly behind them.

Frank got out of the car to help Hoskins, Brad, and David transfer their gear from the RV to the Mercedes before they drove over to the American Embassy.

After they got checked in at the Embassy, Hoskins had Brad and David sit down in separate quiet offices to take the time to recollect and write down all of the details of the events that they had observed over the past few days. After they finished, Hoskins led them back out to the Embassy garage where a Marine was waiting by the black Mercedes.

“Okay you two, the Corporal is going to drop you off at your David’s sister’s place. It is imperative that you are back here before noon on Wednesday, and don’t be late,” Hoskins said sternly. “Keep the cell phone with you at all times, and if you’re going somewhere for any extended period of time, I want you to check in with the Embassy when you leave and when you get back, understood?”

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.

“David, you’d better give me your sister’s address in case I have to send a runner to find you.”

“It’s only three blocks from here, it’s the Shervnadze apartment building on the corner of Shatoy and Derbent streets, that’s right on the north corner of Freedom square, its Apartment number 210.”

As Hoskins wrote down the information, David continued, “Freedom Square used to be called Lenin Square, it links the old and new sections of the city, I’ll take you on a tour,” He said excitedly to Brad.

“The Ambassador has reserved rooms for you two if your sister can’t put you up for the night, so feel free to use the accommodations here. Do you have my cell number?” Hoskins asked, “Here, write it down, 6105551265, I expect you to call me if anything out of the ordinary happens between now and Wednesday, if you get my voicemail, leave me a number where I could call you back.”

“We got it, Jack, we wouldn’t do anything to cause you or the agency any embarrassment,” Brad said.

“I’m counting on that,” Hoskins said.

“What time will you be going back to Virginia, Jack,” Brad asked.

“Frank and I are going to wrap up some paperwork and get cleaned up and hopefully fly out of here sometime later this afternoon.”

“Have a nice flight back,” David said.

“Thanks, now you two better get out of here before I change my mind and take you on that plane with us.”

In his stolen car a few blocks away from the Embassy, Abdula had written down everything he just heard from the previous conversation. He took off the earphone he was using to eavesdrop and took a long relaxed drag on a cigarette as he pondered his next move. He checked the gun that he also stole from the old couple that he murdered on the yacht in Baku, to make sure that it was loaded. He put the gun inside his coat and got out of the car to open the trunk. He took the small wooden box containing the bomb that he stole from Tariq Amin’s garage out of the trunk and put it on the backseat of the car. He got in the backseat so he could work on the bomb, and closed and locked the car doors behind him. Abdula pried off the lid of the box and pulled the bomb out and gently laid it on the seat. He began by opening up the unlocked chamber door on the bomb and exposing its inner core. He then put on some rubber gloves and covered his nose and mouth with a handkerchief that he tied around his head. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small thin canister and gently loosened the lid slightly before he set the can inside the bomb and fastened it down with some straps. He closed and latched the door and looked at a small instruction booklet that came with the bomb. He pushed the ‘ON’ button on the keypad and the small LED display lit up and asked for a password. He entered the default password from the instruction booklet, but it failed. He cursed to himself and figured that Amin must have changed the password. Abdula pulled a small telephone directory from his pocket and he cursed again when he found that the pages were still wet from his unexpected swim in the Caspian Sea. He was thankful that the page he needed was still intact and legible, and he dialed a number on his stolen cell phone.

A man answered the call in Karachi, Pakistan.

“Ali, this is Abdula Nassir, how are you doing.”

“Abdula, yes, what can I do for you?”

“I need a favor, I’m working on a project with Tariq Amin and the default password doesn’t work on the small time bomb that you sold him, he must have changed it, could you give me a password to override it?”

“Abdula, I’m guessing that this is not a secured telephone line, and I honestly don't know what you’re talking about, I’m going to hang up now.”

Abdula screamed into the phone, “Ali, please wait, I’m having a really bad week, and if you hang up on me, I promise that I will hunt you down like a dog. I’m in Georgia now and I could be in Pakistan in three days, and I will blow up everything that you own and hold dear. You know my reputation, and you also know that I’m not a patient man.”

The line is quiet for a few seconds before Ali said, “54423, it spells J-I-H-A-D on a telephone keypad.”

Abdula entered the numbers on the keypad and the display read ‘ENTER DETONATION TIME’.

Abdula exhaled and said, “Thank you, Ali,’ before hanging up the phone.

He pressed the ‘OFF’ button on the keypad, gently set the bomb back down inside the wooden box, put the top back on it, and laid it on the floor of the backseat. He got back into the front seat of the car and looked at the sheet of paper where he wrote down the address for David Gorridge’s sister’s apartment.

The U.S. Embassy’s black Mercedes pulled around Freedom Square and stopped on the corner to let David and Brad get out. They walked into the apartment building where David greeted a nice old lady who was very surprised to see him.

“I used to run lots of errands for her,” David said as he and Brad walked up the steps to the second floor of the apartment building and knocked on the door marked 210.

“I hope Tamara hasn’t left for school yet, I can’t wait to see the look on her face,” David said.

The door opened and the beautiful woman in her mid thirties opened the door and was shocked to see who was there.

“David! My little brother what are you doing here? I missed you so much.” Tamara Gorridge said as she hugged him.

“It’s really great to see you too, Sis.”

“You should have called me, I have to leave for school in ten minutes, but if I knew you were coming, I could have taken the day off, picked you up at the airport, and had breakfast ready for you.”

“I’m sorry, Sis, but our visit was kind of unexpected,” David said as Tamara looked over at Brad, “Oh, and this is my good friend Brad Spencer from America.”

“Hello, Brad, David has told me all about you, and what a good friend you are, please come in and tell me how you two got here.”

As they sat down in the living room, David said, “It’s a long story, but remember when you called me the other day and told me about Shengelia’s farm and the radioactive cans?”

“Yes, and I’m still very worried about that,” Tamara said with a look of concern on her face.

“Well, you don’t have to worry anymore, Sis, we were sent here with a group of agricultural inspectors and we confiscated the cans before they could do any harm.”

“Thank God,” Tamara said breathing a sigh of relief.

“And within the week, the national government will be releasing information about the radioactive cans and offering rewards for anyone finding or turning in these hazardous materials,” David said.

“The entire world owes you a debt of thanks, Tamara, you were very wise to call David when you saw the containers on the farm,” Brad said.

Tamara reached out for David and Brad’s hands and said, “What a great day this is, not only have you brought me such good news, but my little brother too. This is so wonderful, why don’t you stay here and make yourselves at home, and I will go into school and arrange to take the afternoon off.”

“You don’t have to bother, Sis, Brad and I are really beat, we’ll probably still be asleep when you get home from work.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, you go into work and we’ll be ready to go out and celebrate when you get home this afternoon,” David said, “Is your fiancée’ coming over tonight? I was looking forward to meeting him.”

“No, unfortunately, Levan is in Vienna for a seminar, but I’m sure that he’ll be very disappointed that he missed you.”

“That’s too bad, you’ll have to remind him that I will be dropping in like this, without notice, to make sure that he’s taking good care of my sister.”

Brad laughed and asked Tamara, “What kind of seminar is Levan attending?”

“He’s at a school principal’s forum, Levan is the assistant principal at School Number One where I teach, the School is right across the square next to the Parliament Building.”

“That’s great, it sounds like you two are really into your jobs,” Brad said.

“Yes, Levan and I have dedicated our lives to the betterment of the children of Georgia.”

“Tamara’s always been good with kids,” David said, “I should know, she practically had to raise me herself.”

“My little brother David, I’m so proud of you, going to America and becoming a successful engineer.”

“I owe it all to my big sister, you taught me how to study and helped put me through the State University engineering school, if you didn’t keep me on a straight and narrow path, God knows what would have happened to me.”

“Your parents must be very proud of both of you,” Brad said.

“We hope they are, they worked very hard to provide for us, and unfortunately, they passed on too early in life,” Tamara said as she got up to show Brad a picture of their parents that was on a corner table.

“I’m sorry,” Brad said as he looked at the picture of the man and woman who probably worked like dogs during the hard years that Georgia was under communist rule.

“It’s okay, Brad, I never really talked about them.”

Tamara showed Brad another picture of their parents, this time an eight-year old David was in the picture with Tamara in her late teens.

“I wish they could be here to see their successful son return home,” Tamara said.

David got up and hugged her, “They’d really be proud of their daughter who took up where they left off and helped me learn that if you work hard, good things will happen for you.”

Tamara looked at her watch and said, “I’d better hurry or I’m going to be late for school, make yourself comfortable in the spare bedroom or on the sofa and I’ll see you two later.”

“Thanks, Sis,” David said as he kissed his sister before she hurried out the door.

Tamara Gorridge smiled broadly as she walked from her apartment building across Freedom Square toward her school and was completely unaware that her apartment building was under the watchful eye of Abdula Nassir. From his car that was parked across the street, he watched as the living room light went out and the curtains were drawn tightly. He soon began to feel drowsy himself and he figured that sleeping was also on the minds of the two young CIA agents. He slouched down in the car seat, covered his face with his hat, and dozed off.