Joe and Dave go to Kamchatka Bar, Moscow.

It was a quiet bar in the heart of Moscow in the middle of summer. Well it was still Russia so summer is more a scent of a warming planet rather than a season. The artists and musicians were having quiet drinks and the time was a little after noon Pacific. Joe measured all time against pacific time. It may have been past 7 in Moscow but in his mind’s eye he could picture the sparkling ocean waters as he first glimpsed them rising that crest in Del Mar. Easy he thought to himself… you come off the highway, make that left, go up the ridge and suddenly the view just opens up. There’s something about the ugliness of the highways, the feeling of being trapped in traffic and then the view… Where the fuck are you Dave?

Dave was running late. He could almost feel Joe’s irritation in his mind. Good he thought. Let him stew a bit in that silly bar that he had suggested deliberately. The total expected tab was 8 USD and the beers were 3 bucks each. It wasn’t supposed to be a long meet… they just had to grab a couple of beers, shoot the shit and scoot on out of there. They couldn’t speak Russian; but they could speak English with different accents. No one would mistake them to be Americans. It was better that way. For all its friendliness, Americans still stood out in Moscow. And for all its supposed dislike of Europe, Russia was once European during the time of the Tzars.

“Why the fuck did you want to meet?” Joe asked when Dave finally seated himself across from him.
“Piss off mate, take that irritation outside” Dave replied calmly.
Silence. They were used to silence between them. It would stretch out for miles. Sometimes it seemed they spoke only to break the silence.

“AOC froze her eggs”, Joe said suddenly while Dave was drinking.
Dave reacted exactly as expected… almost spitting out the beer. Predictable.
What?
What?
Now why would you tell me that Joe?
Cause you were late. Clock ticking…
Dave couldn’t give him the middle finger, not in Moscow, so he did the next best thing. He asked Joe about his family. How’s your family he asked, back in Sydney?
There is nothing wrong with freezing eggs, Joe replied, as if Dave didn’t exist.
Parker okay, Dave asked. What about Jules?
Women…am I right? Joe asked softly, almost to himself. They spend their lives using contraceptives, killing their biology and their chemistry, killing the attraction, the pheromones, the chemicals…
You lost me there pal, Dave replied. What the fuck are you going on about?
Then the men have to take testosterone cause they lost the attraction. I mean look around you in this bar you found for us. We could be sitting in a bar with hot Russian women who don’t take contraceptives and the temperature would be insane. Instead…this beer doesn’t even taste good.
Paridaes are the feisty acrobat passerines of the bird world, Dave replied, feeling a bit somnambulant.
What?
What?

Rod Rosenstein killed it, Joe said quietly, almost to himself after taking a chug.
Who is Rod Rosenstein, Dave asked politely. He knew they weren’t there to talk about some guy he didn’t know. Yet they had to pass the time somehow.
He was the Deputy AG of the US in the first Trump saga. Comey had been fired for asking too many questions and counter was sniffing around. So Rod did the next best thing, he hired Mueller. By hiring Mueller in criminal the signal was not to pursue the counter.
What the fuck you going on about mate?
He killed it. Choked it. Asphyxiated it. Strangled it. Do you understand? He is a choker.
Mate…I think you need to get laid. And soon. You want me to send this upstairs?
Joe didn’t say anything. The silence deepened again.
You don’t understand? Are you seriously telling me you don’t understand? Joe whispered.
Enlighten me, Dave replied equally loudly.
People like what they like, Joe said to himself. “Breath play” they call it.
Dave didn’t say anything more. Rod breath played the investigation by hiring Mueller. Mueller in turn dropped the counterintelligence inquiry and pursued the criminal inquiry.
Hey guess what, Dave said suddenly. Iran hasn’t choked yet.
Joe looked at him. You mean Hormuz hasn’t choked us all yet?
Dave said… what connects Rod to Hormuz?
What?
What?

I don’t like where this is going, Dave said.
I don’t like where the New Zealand is going. How does it matter pal? We’re stuck in Moscow.

Joe: So May 2017. Comey gets fired. Dave: Yes.
Joe: FBI looks at Trump's explanations, Russia, the existing investigation, the whole mess and opens a full counterintelligence investigation of the sitting President.
Dave: That's what the newly declassified opening communication says. May 16, 2017. The stated purpose was essentially to determine whether Trump was directed by, controlled by, or coordinating activities with Russia in a way that threatened national security, and whether obstruction had occurred.
Joe: That's not “we're checking his taxes.”
Dave: No.
Joe: That's not “perhaps someone improperly billed a campaign dinner.”
Dave: No.
Joe: That's “is the President compromised?”

Dave says nothing. Joe notices.

Dave: People hear security clearance and imagine a laminated card that lets you through the secret door at the Pentagon.
Joe: There is a secret door. Dave: There are several secret doors. Most lead to conference rooms with terrible coffee.

Joe looks disappointed.

Dave: A clearance isn't a medal. It is a continuing judgment that giving you access poses an acceptable risk. Joe: Acceptable risk.
Dave: Nobody is zero risk. Everyone has pressure points. Money. Sex. Ego. Family. Addiction. Ideology. Resentment. Vanity. Loneliness. Status. Debt. Grief. Ambition.
Joe: Strippers. Dave: Sometimes strippers.
Joe: Finally we reach the serious material.
Dave: A stripper is not inherently a counterintelligence vulnerability.
Dave: The problem isn't that you went to the strip club. The problem is that you went to the strip club, lied about going to the strip club, borrowed twenty thousand dollars from a guy named Sergei at the strip club, and Sergei has photographs and videotape of what you did to the stripper or her child.
Joe: Her child? This is Russia not the Epstein saga. Oh and this is why you should always use cash.

Dave stares. You’re saying you used cards? Like American Express Black Diamond in Equalizer? You remember the scene?

Joe: Denzel beating up some fraternity types. Boo woppity woo.
Dave: Your clearance is suspended.
Joe: I don't have a clearance.
Dave: Exactly how I like you.

Silence again.

Knife-thin.
Joe: Here's the part that gets strange. The first Trump administration is the object of the investigation.
Dave: Yes.
Joe: Second Trump administration returns.
Dave: Yes.
Joe: Declassifies the old investigation.
Dave: Yes.
Joe: Comey's under indictment.
Dave: Yes.
Joe: And suddenly we're reading the paperwork of the people who investigated the guy who now controls the executive branch that controls the people releasing the paperwork. Like a recursive loop. I love recursive loops. They show total immunity, untouchability. Like Trinity replaying that scene in Resurrections again and again simply to get better.

They’re about done with the beer.
You want another Dave asks.
You buying?
I don’t have a Venezuela account at the US Treasury.
Really….you want to open that can of worms too…I think we are only allowed one can per conversation.
Touche. This can of tuna stinks.
Heisenberg.
You’re right, I made a cat joke.
I wonder if freezing eggs grants the kids longer lifespans.
I wonder why freezing doesn’t kill the eggs… some sort of miracle. Like who designed eggs knowing that they could be frozen?
The same person who thought of abortion.
Man you’re one sick puppy.
Touche.

And they both leave Kamchatka. Perhaps for the last time.