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Back at Gilishvili’s New House Club, David was singing and playing guitar to the Beatles song “Back In The USSR’, accompanied by the local band. After the song ended, David addressed the audience from the stage.
“I want to dedicate this next song to my sister and all of my good friends here in Tbilisi that I have missed dearly.”
David and the band started playing the slow rock version of “Georgia On My Mind’ with David singing the lead vocals.
Brad listened intently remembering that David played the same song last Thursday at the club in Langley. He looked at the smile on David’s face and the full emotion resonating from his voice and he knew that his friend was singing out of pure love, not longing, for the land of his birth.
The club owner came over and sat down at the table with Brad and Tamara.
“Alex, this is David’s friend Brad from the United States.”
“Hello, Brad, welcome to Georgia,” said Alex Gilishvili.
“Thank you, sir, this is a very nice club you have here.”
“Thank you, is it as good as the club’s in America?”
“You have good food, good music, a very nice crowd, I could honestly say that I've never been in a club that was better.”
“That’s nice to hear, thank you. Tamara, your little brother was always a really good singer and guitar player, I honestly didn’t think he could get any better, but he actually improved in America.”
“Yes, whatever he does, David tries to be the best at it.”
“That’s for sure,” Brad said, “He’s one of the best engineers in our company, and if he wanted to, he could probably play guitar and sing for a living.”
“Someday, if not David, some other Georgian will make it big in the world,” Gilishvili said.
“Believe me when I say that as far as I’m concerned, David and Tamara already have,” Brad said as he smiled and winked at Tamara.
The three raised their glasses to a toast as David and the band played on.
After a slow and irritating ride back from the airport, the Embassy mini-bus pulled onto the side street right next to Leslie’s RV. Hoskins and Frank didn’t waste any time as they moved from one vehicle to the other.
Leslie came out of the RV and handed the keys to Frank and said, “Here we go again.”
“Admit it, Leslie, you probably missed us already.”
“Believe me when I say that you two have brought me more excitement in one week than I had here the past year.”
Hoskins was still talking to Deputy Chief of Mission John Evans outside the RV and he wrote down some details for him and whispered in case they were still bugged.
“Mr. Evans, we’ll be parked somewhere in the vicinity of the Shervnadze apartment building on the northwest corner of Freedom Square, as soon as Agent Henry Carr wakes up, I’ll need you to send him out to our location.”
“Yes, sir,” Evans said, “And as you instructed, the Embassy is locked down and under full alert, no unauthorized personnel are to enter the building until you tell me otherwise.”
“Thank you, Mr. Evans, you are a model of efficiency, we’ll be coming back to the Embassy as soon as we pick up our two men.”
As the mini-bus headed back to the Embassy, Hoskins and Frank got into the CIA RV and were surprised that someone was sitting next to Leslie at the console.
“You must be Leslie’s replacement, I’m Jack Hoskins and this is Frank Prescott,” Hoskins said to the petite redhead who stood up and extended her hand.
“Nice to meet both of you, I’m Veronica Schwartz.”
“Since this will soon to be your rig,” Frank said, “You’re more than welcome to do the driving, Veronica.”
“Please, call me Ronnie, and if you don’t mind, I still have a little jet lag.”
“Not at all,” Frank said.
“Well, you’d better buckle yourself in, young lady,” Hoskins said, “I have a feeling that your first day on the job is going to be an unforgettable one.”
“It already is,” Veronica said as she tossed something to Frank, “It’s old but effective.”
“I’m both embarrassed and afraid to ask where you found this,” Frank said as he looked at the transponder bug that Abdula put under the RV.
“My mother always told me not to drive with anyone until I find out where they’ve been,” Veronica said, “I found it under the RV, and someone knows where you’ve been, and it’s not my mother.”
“I guess this is proof that they were definitely on to us,” Frank said.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Hoskins said, “If they were on to us, why would they let us use the predator to take out that yacht, why would they let us tell Henry where the compound was, and live to tell about it?”
“Let’s face it, we know who did this,” Frank said, “Abdula Nassir could give a damn about the yacht, the cesium, or Amin’s military compound, all he cared about was the money.”
“Money that we now have,” Hoskins said as he picked up the briefcase full of money and slammed it down on the table smashing the bug transponder.
“Let’s pick up Brad and David and then we’ll go back to the Embassy and wait for Abdula to make his move,” Hoskins said.
Frank got behind the wheel and the RV quickly made its way down the street in the direction of Freedom Square. Hoskins unsuccessfully tried to reach Brad and David on the phone again, while Veronica took a seat at the console with Leslie as they programmed the Predator to follow them into the heart of the city of Tbilisi.
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