“we must build a better bridge Nicolau…”

Robert leaned back into his soft leather chair….tilted backwards towards the window shielding a remarkably scenic view of Moscow, evening, bustling, oil burning….

the hotel ukrania spares no expense to its semi-permanent guests

I took a long drag upon a fantastically powerful cigar, i would wager Castro’s finest… stretched my legs forward from the plush couch, underneath an ornate glass topped table and dreamed like a czar….
the only accoutrement would be Françoise Hardy as my personal, uninterrupted guest…. note to self, that could be arranged

Moscow and heir Robert had made me intoxicated in so many ways….

“Your trip to Paris was fruitful?”
Robert assertively leaned forward in his large chair…

I snapped to…
“Yes, i wasnt there for very long. I did have a very fruitful discussion with our multi-national friend. He was very hurried and didnt have many of details but the plans seem in place. Ours to win he said. Good terms. No conspiracies, no regrets, the sun never sets…”

“Poetic if not charming. You Brazilians can kill with kindness..”
Robert grunted

My eyes darted but I continued having my way….
“I went to Lyon next. Thought of football, so i brought you this.”
Going towards my bag, a green and white scarf and other assorted matching team things.

“Michel says hello.” was my punctuation to careful thought…

Robert took the gifts, dawned the green and white scarf, and finished his vodka straight in one swallow, and poured another…
“Now what the hell am I supposed to do with this Nicolau! This will not do at any CSKA match!”

we both laughed a samba.

My senses returned for a moment…
“Well my trip to USA got all the results we needed.”

Robert and his vodka bottle clinging against his gold rimmed spirits glass… nodded briefly as if already knowing the results….
he did write the game theory after all, and was a top piece, respect and caution are due, no matter how comfortable things get…
i reminded myself by faking a scratch across my chest to assure my pistol was still quickly reachable…I’m positive Robert has the same armament, or, private army in a nearby suite listening attentively..
ive always captivated my audiences..

“Nicolau…. the better bridge. We need to build a better bridge to America.”

I leaned back a moment, surprised.
This was to be a victory celebration between two friends…
not a joint chiefs of staff and strategy meeting..
the traffic from the streets below became louder for a moment, symphonic, then… coda… rest
my heart rate followed close suit…

Robert intensified…
“My friends have compiled data, given the contingency that we will go to war with each other. So far as everything stays according to plan, and NATO behaves as it should…”

“..NATO?”
i interrupted, quickly realizing there was irony in that iron curtain

“Let me finish Nico, let me finish….can i finish?”
the situation defused

“We have friends there too. They were expensive but they are there and credible. America and the Soviets will enter into a conflict that… will result in a magnificent amount of money being accrued, made, spent, loaned.”
he shifted..
“Business is the real solider here. Make no mistake about it. The Soviets are what they are and no amount of mutual destruction will ever change that god given distinction. That makes me so proud Nico… so proud!”

he drank…
i listened but wasnt quite there.

“The better bridge Nico. The Yankee context, born to be wild, dont tread on me, let freedom ring from a cast iron bell hammered with….. well, these things are carefully considered. Fear as friend, and business as their supreme truth. We’ve already won that Cold War. We won it when we separated Yankees out of cities, and demonized others… now, to assure ultimate victory, turn their ideal into their prison.”

i assumed it was rhetorical statement…i had lost the plot

Robert caught the apathy..
“Nico, your joie de vivre makes you the perfect operative, and why i would never work in the field.”

i laughed, fittingly

“The John Wayne, the Ronald Reagan of the United States…. we can buy them you know.”

suddenly the fox had got the scent…

“Who funded their films? Who’s been in business in the United States for decades? Who in their government calls for less and less law and restriction on private citizens? Who paid Joe McCarthy? Who pays the bills Nico?”

“Well, I know that and you know that. Kennedy knew that too…”

“Ah, so….”

We both took a moment
Robert swiveled his chair and faced the window…

“The American’s wrote a check their ass will not cash and we will be there in collections when the time comes.”

I was compelled to stand for a moment
“Robert, the Americans and their new private television….”

“Телеграфное агентство Советского Союза”
And suddenly Robert was another beast…

“We’ve done the work, fear as friend, so that is our victory, without fail. Now, to continue that victory requires the most, special, infiltration possible.”

“Business.. we go into business”
i had grabbed the plot.

Robert smiled calmly having done his work for the evening,
but took the brush to canvass for one final stroke…

“Thankfully, we have friends who arent red, traceable red anyway, who arent Soviets, arent even from Europe whom we’ve funded, who will do exactly that. Target the anti-establishment and make them us. Target their non-science agenda, target and fund them, fund the conspiracy theorists, give them ownership and legitimacy, deeply fund the small government ideal, give them absolute ownership over their private mediums. Their liberal agenda will spend money to fight this and we may have an odd defector, but they will lose as our data supports.”

“Absolute victory means a lawless United States or, a private society. No questions, ownership is absolute and IS THE LAW. We buy the Dow Jones. Buy oil, buy medicine. Keep it until someone, or, something wrestles it away. If we win the military conflict, we absorb it. If business is wrestled from our control, there is a huge cost to do so. It becomes attrition.”
Robert joined his hands together…

“Because Nico, everyone knows ownership means absolute legitimacy, it means legislation, law. Its convenient and a much less bloody war, more humane even. But we’ve won it already. Now time ticks, ours to win, good terms. No conspiracies, no regrets, the sun never sets…”

Some time later, Robert and I approached a teenage boy on a skateboard, who to us, looked homeless in Orange County California, United States.. struck up a quick conversation, handed him a pre-rolled marijuana cigarette, a TransWorld skateboard magazine, and walked quickly away before we were spotted by anyone else…
Next stop, San Diego..

“The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”