Fanis the Bodyguard Episode 1 Family trumps money

                Kera had risen through the ranks of art dealing.  Her focus was in Chinese art.  Given that she was of Greek descent, this was a little surprising but she loved one of the few cultures that were older than the Greeks.  She saw some parallels between Confucius and Plato that she found fascinating because it’s highly unlikely Plato had known anything of Confucius’ work as Confucius was a predecessor.  Kera lived in Beijing for a year in order to get a fluency in Mandarin so she could better do her job and then returned to her native New York.  It didn’t take long for her to continue to excel and now she found herself in London. 

The downside to success though is that you have to ostracize your friends as you constantly choose career over socializing.  You also develop a lot of enemies and without friends to back you up; it is very common to feel alone, which makes you feel vulnerable.  Already being hesitant to trust, she looked around at her co-workers in England and decided that she trusted none of them.  This caused her to reach out to a long lost cousin in New York. 

 

                Fanis was a data analytics guy living in New York City.  Growing up he was extremely close with his cousin Kera.  Fanis grew up in the Midwest so when he came to New York City as an 18-year-old, he was overwhelmed.  He’s not sure if he would have made it if Kera didn’t constantly come down to the city from Brooklyn to show him around campus and tell him how to use the subway system.  Her help didn’t end there as after Fanis graduated, he had trouble finding a job.  Kera got him a job and Fanis thrived in it and had now been there for 11 years.  The last 11 years however, Kera and Fanis barely spoke.  Their childhood closeness oddly grew apart when they lived in the same city.  Fanis, being three years older, was overprotective of her and wary of boyfriends, which bothered Kera.  That wasn’t the reason for their growing apart.  It was just a natural course of life but Fanis always felt that he did something wrong.  Normally others opinions didn’t bother him but the two times in his life that he hit rock bottom, Kera was there for him and it was something he never forgot so didn’t want to seem ungrateful.  Given the way the last decade and a half had gone, Fanis was shocked when his phone rang and it was Kera.  Fanis honestly couldn’t remember the last time Kera had ever called him and now that she lives in London, this made even less sense.  He picked up the phone hesitantly saying, “Hello”

                “Hey Fanis, what’s up?”

                “HI Kera, are you okay?”

                “For the most part yea”

                “Okay” Fanis said unconvinced

                “I need a favor”

                “Sure, what’s up?”

                “I need you to quit your job and come work for me.”

                “That’s a pretty big favor.”

                “It is, but I will pay you twice what you make now.”

                “You don’t know what I make now”

                “Name your price.”

                “What am I going to be doing?”

                “Travelling the world with me as my bodyguard.”

                Fanis loved travelling and had seen at least one new country every year for the last ten years.  Kera knew this so the first part excited him, the second part he was hesitant.  “Kera, you know I love you but I’m not exactly martial arts trained and can’t really shoot the wings off a fly.”

                “Which is why I’m going to get you trained.”

                “Can I ask why?”

                “I don’t want to discuss that over the phone.”

                “I can come to London.”

                “Please do so as quickly as you can.”

                Fanis was in London two weeks later as anything sooner was astronomically priced.   Kera picked him up at the airport and Fanis got in.  He said, “So, what couldn’t you tell me on the phone?”

                “I’ve become very well known in the art dealership world.”

                “Congratulations.  It’s nice that all that hard work is paying off.”

                Kera was speaking matter-of-factly and didn’t seem like she was fishing for a complement.  She said noncommittally, “Thank You, but not the point”

                “So what is the point?”

                “Do you know anything about the artifacts world?”

                “People pay a shitload of money for it.  Especially the rarer it is and, based on the book The Goldfinch, it can get pretty sketchy.”

                “Yes, that’s right, which is why I need you.  When large sums of money are at stake, people get greedy and shit happens”

                “Okay, I just said your field is sketchy and you didn’t even bother to deny it.”

                “I just called you to fly to London about a job offer that I couldn’t discuss over the phone.  To insinuate that nothing is sketchy about this would be an insult to your intelligence.”

                “I agree, so you need me to be your bodyguard.”

                “Yes, you are going to be the only person with direct access to me.  You will be my liaison with my staff.  You deliver messages to me.  You come to meetings with me all over the world as I try to deal in Chinese art.  As far as you’re concerned, that’s what I do.  Do not ask about suspicious things you may encounter.”

                Fanis smiled, “You never answered why me”

                “You’re my cousin.  You love me.  You were a rich kid so can’t be bought.  You believe that you owe me because I helped you out in your late teens”

                “You were in your mid-teens”

                “What does that have to do with anything?”

                “Nothing, but we’re in our 30s now.”

                “But I know you well enough to know that doesn’t matter to you”

                “You’re right, it doesn’t.  I’ve always looked at you as someone I wanted to protect.  I did it for free when you were in high school so why not get paid for it now?  Especially since I get to travel the world, which I love.  So, yea, I accept.”

                Kera smiled, “Awesome, thank you.”

                “Thank you”

                Kera smiled.  The next few months were a whirlwind.  Fanis quit his job and then private former military trainers worked him to the bone turning him into a killing machine.  It was grueling work but Fanis was done with it and reunited with Kera.  Kera said, “Congratulations on finishing your training”

                “Thanks, glad you stayed alive during it.”

                Kera gave him a condescending look and said, “Yea I got this far without you, a few months wasn’t too difficult.”

                “I should’ve asked you this a while ago but I can leave you right?  Like I can go off and do my own travelling.”

                “Are you asking if you get vacation days?”

                “Yes, I am”

                “If there’s nothing going on, sure.  Let me know in advance and I’ll try not to plan any meetings during those times.”

                Kera introduced Fanis to others on her staff.  Right away he could tell the animosity towards him for being the only one that Kera trusted.  Fanis reveled in it but was professional and gracious with them. Kera went to her office and Fanis sat down at a computer.  Since he worked in accounting in his previous line of work, he was going to help with the accounting in this one as well.  He was shown the system and he picked it up quickly.  One staffer said, “You follow the Mueller probe at all?”

                “That complete farce that only existed to cover up for the atrocities of the DOJ, FBI and Obama?  Yea I’ve heard of it.”

                “Better not let your cousin hear you.”

                “She knows my political affiliations.  Don’t worry, there’s no secrets between us” he said with a large smile afterwards.

                The guy seemed disappointed that this jab didn’t make him uncomfortable.  He said, “It is your attorney general that is a disgrace.”

                “How’s that?”

                “Mueller wrote him a letter saying he misrepresented his report.”

                “Mueller’s report is public.  Not much is redacted.  You can read it yourself and decide.  I thought you Englishmen were more precise with the language than us Americans.  Mueller wasn’t saying that Barr’s report was bad but he wanted the media to react to it more negatively than they did.  That’s not Barr’s fault.  That’s not even a legitimate criticism.  That’s like a little kid throwing a hissy fit.”

                “What do you mean?” as he e-mailed Fanis a Washington Post article, “Read this and learn something.”

                Fanis looked at the e-mail and read the guy’s name as Nigel.  Fanis was horrible with names so  even though he was introduced, he forgot his name.  He said, “Nigel, apparently you didn’t read the end of the article.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “Come to my computer, I’ll show you”

                Fanis pointed to a sentence that said, “When Barr pressed him whether he thought Barr’s letter was inaccurate,  Mueller said he did not, but felt that the media coverage of the letter was misinterpreting the letter”  Fanis glared at him as he read.  He watched as Nigel’s jaw dropped and he shook his head.  Nigel said, “Not inaccurate, that’s a double negative.  Why can’t you Americans just speak English?  That way you wouldn’t mislead people.”

                “Or you could learn how to read.”

                “Bottom line is Mueller was upset.”

                “I don’t care.  I’m upset with Mueller.  I don’t care about his hurt feelings.  He was given a chance to read the synopsis and comment on it and he refused.  It’s not Barr’s fault he didn’t take him up on the offer.”

                “Well, at least justice was served.”

                “No it wasn’t. Mueller knew it was a hoax from the beginning.  His chief investigator Andy Weissman and Ahmed were briefed months before the counsel from Bruce Ohr, who was the 4^th highest member of the DOJ that the dossier, which the collusion hoax was based on, was biased and written by Trump haters.  He would know too because Ohr’s wife worked for the firm that wrote the dossier.”

                “So why do you think it was open for two years then?”

                “I told you. To cover up for the atrocities of the DOJ, the FBI and Obama by keeping the heat on Trump.  They were playing a game of chicken with Trump.  They were waiting for him to do something so they could get him for obstruction even though it wouldn’t be.  Me, I would have fired him anyway.  Yea, they pretend firing Comey was obstruction but it’s not and neither would it be if he fired Mueller.  Problem is, Trump knew what he was doing so didn’t act.  Now, Mueller is trying to claim that Trump thought about firing him.  Like thoughts can obstruct an investigation.  It’s amazing how stupid the anti-Trump people are.”

                “So he was setting your President up?”

                “Of course he was, but he didn’t take the bait.”

                “If he hates him so much, why didn’t Mueller charge him?”

                “Because there’s no evidence and he couldn’t fabricate evidence because even he’s not stupid.  He would have been laughed out of court if he tried going to trial with it.”

                “Why didn’t Mueller review Barr’s synopsis?”

                “Because Barr already wrote an op-ed piece saying Trump didn’t collude or obstruct.  That gives Democrats and the media ammunition to use against Trump to call him to resign because he’s biased.  Barr tried to mitigate this by quoting Mueller’s report to substantiate what he was saying in his synopsis.”

                “The report is a little suspicious”

                “Mueller only included the bad information not the exculpatory evidence”

                “Like what?”

                “Like Papadopoulos e-mailed the higher ups in the campaign telling them that Russians wanted a meeting in Moscow.  Mueller stops there but doesn’t include the higher up members’ responded, “No you may not.  Nobody is to accept any meetings from Russians or in Russia.’  Kind of important.  Odd Mueller just leaves it out.”

                “You know in England words mean things.  You do realize that you’re accusing Mueller of the worst thing you can ever accuse a prosecutor of; using your personal hatred for someone to cloud your judgment and violate their professionalism to try the case?”

                “That is exactly how I meant my words.”

                “Just checking”

                Nigel turned back to his computer and Fanis took it as a signal their conversation was over.  It wasn’t long till Kera was calling Fanis to go to Leeds with her.  Leeds is also in England so it wasn’t a far trip.  Fanis sat in on the meeting staring at security details of a tall skinny man.  Kera had her own security with her but Fanis is always the one closest to her.  Another member had a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist.  They sit at a table and Fanis sits next to Kera while the other two member of her detail stand on the side of the table eyeing the door.  The man takes out a carefully wrapped item and hands it to Kera.  Kera puts on gloves and carefully unwraps the artifact and Fanis looks at a golden statuette.   Kera looks at it and says, “A guard from the forbidden kingdom” along with a bunch of other facts.  Kera carefully lifted it in her hands and turned it.  She said, “It’s a fake.”

                “That is an outrageous accusation!”

                “But it’s true.  This is a fake, no deal.”

                “You will regret this.  I got this from my connections at the Royal Museum of Art.”

                “If that were true, they’d have it in their museum” Kera said with a smile. 

                “That’s the second time you attacked my integrity”

                “For good reason”

                Fanis could see the art dealer’s security detail getting restless.  To Fanis’ delight, the man seemed to calm down and said, “You will regret all the money you lost turning me away.  I’m giving you a chance to change your mind.”

                “I appreciate it but the answer is still no.  You are a scam artist.”

                “You insolent American bitch!” the Englishman said as he slammed his left arm against the table while his right hand grabbed a gun. 

                Fanis’ hand was on his switch blade and as soon as he saw the gun he acted and switched the blade out and stabbed the Englishmen in the reaching hand pinning it to the table.  The man screamed and two guns were focused on Fanis’ head but Kera’s security guards had their guns focused on them.  Fanis got up and puffed his chest out and straightened his posture.  He was at least six inches taller than Kera but his training told him to get big.  Kera stood behind Fanis and grabbed the back of his shirt and motioned herself back to the door.  Fanis walked backwards shielding her from the two men with guns pointed at them.  He eyed Kera’s men too.  After all, if Kera didn’t trust them, why should he?  Fanis pulled out his own gun but he and Kera had reached the door and went through with guns still pointed at them.  They moved to the side and Kera started panting.  Up until now, she was just acting brave.  Fanis put his knife away and hugged Kera who hugged back.  It was interrupted when her security guards came through the door.  They went back to the car and Fanis drove as Kera stared out the windshield still shaken up.  The other guards were in a trailing car.  Fanis said, “Well, I’m glad you are affected by this.  Makes me think that this was rare.”

                “It is but I just started being the one to go to these meeting unaccompanied by an expert.”

                “So usually someone else takes the risk by calling their client a liar?”

                “I didn’t say he was a liar.”

                “Yes you did.  In so many words.  How did you know it was a fake?”

                “I can’t pinpoint it.  You can just tell when you’ve been in this industry as long as I have.”

                “Okay, so you’re not sure you were right?”

                “I’m sure.  He wouldn’t have been giving me that sales pitch about how others wanted it if it was real.  He would have just gone with someone else.”

                “That makes sense.”

                “But if you’re regretting taking the job.  Don’t worry, Trump’s economy is slowing down.  Better to take this offer while you can.”

                “What are you talking about?  The private sector added $ 270,000 jobs in April.  That’s 50% more than what the so called ‘experts’ were predicting.”

                Well, it doesn’t matter, next year a Democratic Socialist will win.”

                “You want America to be like Venezuela?  Where Maduro is running over crowds of people in armored cars.”

                “No, that’s socialism, we will vote for a leader who won’t do that.”

                “I’m sure that’s not what Maduro ran on but there’s no difference between political liberties and economic liberty.  Liberty doesn’t matter when either candidate can kill you without repercussions if you don’t agree with them.  People stop working if they’re not being paid.  Especially when they know they get free money anyway.  Almost feels pointless to work.  That’s why the economy collapses.  It’s only happened everywhere it’s neen tried all over the world.”

                “No, under Democratic socialism, you’d vote out the tyrant.”

                “Look what just happened in Venezuela!  They had an election.  Maduro lost and he refused to step down.  The military backed him and they’re running over protestors with armored cars.  When nobody is working, you have to force them to work with a gun to their heads since you can’t just pay them.  It’s mass poverty and destruction.  Like Stalin said, ‘It doesn’t matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes.”

                “I’m not talking about this with you.  Thank you for helping me out today.”

                “it’s my job but any time.”

                They arrived back to the hotel and Kera said, “I’m going to retire to my room.  I’m going to lock the door, I don’t want anyone to disturb me so you got the rest of the day off.”

                “You okay?”

                “A guy just pulled a gun on me so no I’m not.”  

                “Well, don’t keep accusing him of being a scam artist then.”

                “He was”

                “So? Be more tactful about it.  Or, you know, just get thicker skin.”

                “Whatever, have a good night.”

                “Good night”

                Fanis waited till Kera was locked in her room before he went out to a pub.  While there, the TV was on and they were commenting on a Hill meeting about Medicare of all.  Fanis said, “Man, there’s a lot of American news in England”

                The bartender said, “The whole world cares about America.  The world economy basically revolves around them so we have to be really in tuned to it.”

                “You’d be surprised how many Americans deny that the world runs on our engine.”

                “Well, that’s because they’re spoiled living in America”

                “Yes, it is helpful I must admit.”

                When the newscaster was done with his speech, Fanis reiterated, “What a crock of shit.”

                Someone at the bar said, “What do you mean?  They made some good points for universal healthcare.”

                “Like what?”

                “Your veterans have great healthcare and our doing well.”

                “Wrong, that’s a lie.  Most of the homeless are veterans and there was just a scandal with Obama that their care was being rationed.  Many veterans died because they were on waiting list.  Now, you can get emergency care.  Under this system, you have to wait months to see a specialist.”

                “Trust me, I know.  That’s what we have here and people die on waiting lists because they can’t see a doctor.  They have to bring in immigrants who don’t know that they’re being screwed with shitty pay.  What about the fact that there’s more efficiency because nobody wastes money on administrative costs?”

                “Yes you do, but it’s through your taxes.  They just hide the administrative costs whereas the private plan, it’s in the open.  It’s worse though.  In a price system, you can charge higher prices if there’s too much demand.  The customer wants good quality because he’s paying for it out of his own pocket.  The doctor wants to provide good quality for personal pride and so there’s repeat patients and maybe their patient will refer others to him or her.  When the government is in charge, price goes up because the patient is paying someone else’s money.  The doctor has no incentive to do the best job he can because he’s getting his money anyway.  There’s no reward for doing a better job so why be motivated?”

                “You should be self-motivated.”

                “Should yea but most are not.”

                “That is true. 

                “Right now, America has a 120,000 shortage of doctors.  Now your socialists want to give them a 40% pay cut.  So, now you have less and less doctors, which means you have to ration since you can’t use prices.  Prices are conservative.  A doctor’s time is a scarce resource.  Like all scarce resources, it need to be distributed.  We can only deal with the huge demand by charging people or you can force them to wait on a list.  There’s no third option.  Rationing is inevitable and I’d like to nip it in the bud.“

                Fanis continued to drink but his companion left.  After a couple pints, he paid his tab and got up.  While walking out, a guy who made no effort to hide being suspicious with a black suit and black tie with sunglasses approached him.  Fanis almost laughed and he said, “Aren’t you a walking sterotype?”

                “I have a proposition for you.”

                “I’m sure you do”

                “Stay away from Kera.  She’s a cold woman.”

                “Yes, I know.  She’s my cousin; I’ve known her pretty much her life.”

                “That may make what I’m about to tell you difficult.”

                “So just save your breath and don’t tell me.  I would never turn against her anyway.”

                The man in the suit handed Fanis an I-pad.  Fanis scrolled through various news articles with suspicious activity of Kera.  Fanis said, “If you had anything, you’d charge her.  You got nothing”

                “That’s where you can help”

                “Absolutely not”

                “You know this is the most surveilled city in the world.  Someone will show her a picture of you meeting with me”

                “Yea, which you set up by trying to get me to come out in public instead of offering me a quiet place to speak.  There were plenty in the bar.”

                “If Kera sees a picture of you meeting with me, she may overreact.”

                “That’s my problem isn’t it?”

                “Not if we’re on the same side.  I can protect you.”

                “Yea well I don’t want your protection.”

                “If you’re going to suffer the punishment for a crime anyway, what’s the harm in doing it?”

                “My own moral code for one.  The second, there hasn’t even been a hint of her believing it.  You haven’t ever shown her the picture.  I mean, there’s no proof at all that she’d react that way.  Even if she did, I still wouldn’t help you.  I’m loyal to her no matter how cold she is to me.  This is hypothetical so what makes you think you’re making any point at all?”

                “What do you say to the media reports?”

                “Fake news”

                “Oh so you’re a Trump supporter”

                “Yup”

                “There’s no evidence that the media was biased.”

                Fanis laughed.  “I’m sure they told you that.  You’re just dumb enough to believe it.  I mean with the mainstream media, pretty much every story that used ‘anonymous sources’ was found to be completely fabricated.”

                “How do you figure?”

                Both McClatchy and Buzzfeed retracted their articles based on “anonymous sources” that the President directed Michael Cohen to lie to investigators.  Mueller’s report says, “President did not direct him to provide false testimony.”

                “Well Cohen lied a lot.”

                “And yet, he’s all over the papers that you just defended as if he’s a reliable source.  June 2018, Buzzfeed talked about Cohen meeting with Russian weightlifter Dmitry Klokov who is friends with Putin.”

                “And….

                “Turns out they don’t know each other.  Cohen confused the weight lifter with an official of the same name.”

                “So maybe he colluded with that guy”

                “Meeting with Russians isn’t illegal by the way.”

                “Well, I don’t know about you’re American news but here in England, our news outlets have impeccable credibility.”

                “Really? Because the Guardian, which is an English paper, had to retract a story about Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort visiting Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian consulate three times.  They were later informed they were victims of a disinformation campaign.”

                “Okay, so they were tricked”

                “I don’t believe that.  But even if they did, it shows how gullible they are and how disinterested they are in vetting any negative information about Trump

“Any others?” the man said sarcastically

“Yes, McClatchy and Buzzfeed had to take back all the articles they had about Cohen going to Prague.  Despite the Washington Post sending people there to check all the hotels and comb the city, nobody recognized the picture of Michael Cohen.  They are still standing by their statement because the CIA claimed they had his phone ping in Czech Republic but nobody has confirmed that.  They’re just liars.

                “So you don’t trust the media?”

                “Nope, one more for you.  CNN said Cohen said that Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting.  Mueller said Cohen “Recalled being in Trump’s office on June 6 or 7^th when Trump Jr. told his father that meeting to obtain adverse information about Clinton was going forward.  Cohen did not recall Trump Jr. stating that the meeting was connected to Russia.  Keep in mind, Cohen betrayed Trump and worked closely with Mueller and all these stories still had to be retracted.  They are hacks and not interested in real journalism anymore.”

“Well, speaking about turning your back, would you turn your back on your cousin?”

“No”

“What about for 10,000 pounds?”

“No, but thanks for asking.”

“$50,000 pounds”

                “Damn, you keep rising fast but it’s always going to be ‘no’”

                “Why?”

                “She’s my cousin.  Family is more important than money.”

                “Here’s my card if you change your mind”  he said as he handed Fanis a card.  Fanis ripped it up and threw the card in a street trash bin and walked away.  He went back to the hotel and went to his room to sleep it off. 

                Fanis woke up before Kera but when she did she met him in the continental breakfast in the lobby of the hotel where she made herself coffee.  Kera said, “Good morning”

                “Good morning”

                “How was your night last night?”

                “Very intriguing”

                “Oh yea, how’s that?”

                “Someone offered me 50,000 pounds to betray you.  I assume he meant to kill you.” Kera’s body tensed and she stared at the wall..  Fanis continued, “I know it’s not my business but are you really worth that much dead?”

                “I guess so.” She said ominously then continued after a short pause, “Now you know I didn’t hire you from paranoia”

                “Yea, if it was legit, you have a point,”

                Kera turned toward Fanis and said, “What do you mean if it’s legit?”

                “Well, he comes after I have a couple pints.  You sent me off.  It’s possible you sent that guy to see what I would say.  I mean you didn’t even ask me what I answered him.”

                “If you said yes, I’d be dead”

                “I’ll give you that.”

                “Isn’t it weird that you’re the only one I trust with my life but you don’t trust me?”

                “No, it’s not weird.  I trust nobody, you know that.”

                “Well, I didn’t send him.  For whatever that’s worth”

                “In the end, it doesn’t matter if it’s a test or not.  I’ll pass every time.  Your instinct is right but if it wasn’t a test, you’re in trouble because I’m really going to be overprotective now.  Just like when you were in high school.”

                “People are actually trying to hurt me this time.  Besides, you weren’t even that overprotective.  You just told me you didn’t approve of my smoking or guys, you never threatened anyone.”

                Fanis’ eyes darted around and then conceded the point.  Kera said, “You always wanted us to be close again.  Now you got your wish.  I admit the circumstances suck but be careful what you wish for I guess.”

                “Yea, I still don’t have any regrets so I’m good with my wish being granted.  Just be careful.  I’ll look out for you but if you’re not vigilant, it just makes it that much harder.”

                “I will.  Thank you for saying no”

                “Any time”

                Kera and Fanis had breakfast together and talked about menial things.  They went back to London later that day.  This was probably going to be the start of a very interesting adventure.