Prague

George loves to travel. He has a goal to see a new country every year and since 2009, he has done it. it is now 2017. For the first time since he had this goal, someone wasn't inviting him to a place he's never been. At 34, he realizes that it's going to be harder and harder now that his friends are having families, something that he never wanted. It is April 30, his nephew's birthday. He calls him up to wish him happy birthday and then as he's talking has an idea. He says, thinking the answer will be no, "Do you want to Prague with me in July?"

George knows that his nephew is in college so it would have to be during the summer months. His nephew says, "I can't afford that."

"Yea, but I can"

"No, you're not really going to take me to Prague, no way, no, I can't let you do that."

"Why?"

"I don't really have a reason. I gotta ask my Aunt who I said I'd work with but I don't think it'll be a problem"

"Excellent"

in July, George and his nephew went to Prague. Unfortunately for them, the biggest tourist attraction, the astronoical clock tower was under construction. They had an AirBNB about a 10 minute walk from the tourist area, which they both liked because the food around there was cheaper and better than the tourist area. They went to a random bar that they found and starting talking. They overheard a conversation at another table. It was an American and two Russians speaking. George's nephew said, "Oh, look other Americans, hi I'm Morris, where are you from?"

George thought something was suspicious about these people but he thought that was just his introverted nature. Morris broke the ice, so now he'd have to continue with the conversation. He came over to hear the American go, "I'm Michael Cohen"

George thought it strange that he gave his last name. Usually people don't do that but he shrugged it off and said, "White House council Michael Cohen?"

"No, I don't work for the White House. Cohen is a popular last name"

"And Michael is a common first name so there you go."

"Yea"

The Russian said, "White House council Michael Cohen is being investigated by Bob Mueller right now."

Morris said, "How do you know that?"

"I have my sources"

George and Morris were familiar with rumors that Trump colluded with the Russians to win the election. He was getting suspicious so wanted to subtly hint to Morris to leave but he wasn't good at being subtle. He said, "Well, I'm sorry to bother you, we'll let you have your meeting. It was just interesting to hear an American accent."

Morris didn't take the hint, "No, I'm curious, do you mind if we join you.? What did Cohen do?"

George knew Morris was a Democratic Socialist so just wanted juicy information against Trump. George was going to go for option two, offend them. He said, "Does this have anything to do with FBI lawyer Lisa Page and lead investigator Peter Strzok's text messages being leaked to the press about how they hated Trump and that they were going to make sure he didn't win the election?"

Surprisingly, the Russian wasn't offended. He said, "Ahh, you know your news. Please sit, let's discuss what's about to happen."

George and Morris sat. the date is July 28, The Russian said, "In three days the FBI is going to open investigation called Crossfire Hurricane to investigate Donald Trump's campaign. Bob Mueller is going to have a special council to investigate. It is all based on lies but your press will help make it true."

George said, "Well, one of our countrymen, George Papadopoulos was just arrested. So, i think it's starting now."

"Yes, your DOJ and FBI is panicking so they will make bogus accusations to anyone in Trump campaign. America will be divided, and once divided, it will fall, how does that American expression go, united strong, divided weak."

George said, "United we stand, divided we fall"

"Yes, that is it."

Morris was uncomfortable but George thought they were in danger. He said, "Why are you telling us this?"

"You are not in government. You have no power, You can do nothing about it, and you interrupted my meeting so I wanted to give you extremely valuable information that you can do nothing with. The next few years, you will be tortured knowing that everything you hear on the news is a lie."

"A simple, 'hey, we're having a meeting, do you mind leaving us alone and enjoying your night' would have done just fine but okay"

George got up from the table and Morris hurried after him.

As time progressed, White House Council Michael Cohen turned on Trump. All sorts of indictments were made by Mueller on Papadapoulos, Manafort and Cohen but none of it had anything to do with Russian collusion. George read the Steele dossier and saw the meeting it was talking about realizing that he knew for a fact that it was the wrong Michael Cohen. He wrote his Senators Schumer and Gilibrand (George lives in New York) but they accused him of lying. Morris tried going to the authorities in Ohio where he lived but nobody would listen to a 19-year-old.

Not too long later, Theo was drinking at a bar and Morris was drinking at his college in Ohio. Neither were heavy drinkers but despite the lack of alcohol, they blacked out pretty quickly. They woke up together in a dark room with two beds. Morris was panicked but George took a deep breath. He was scared but he knew panicking wasn't the answer. A man came in and said, "I'm sorry to do this to you. I'm sure you're wondering why you're here."

George said, 'No, that's pretty obvious. The New York senators know that I know that former White House council Michael Cohen is innocent and Mueller just referred his case to the Southern District of New York, where I happen to work close by. You need to shut me up. My nephew on the other hand, is a 19-year-old kid who doesn't live in New York, so taking him was pointless."

The man seemed impressed, "that's pretty good."

Morris said, "Wait what? you can't do this? We're Americans, you can't just lock us up."

George turned to Morris and said, "That's only conservative governments, but New York is Democrat"

Morris rolled his eyes and said, "Do you really think this is the time for that?"

George smiled and said, "Yes" he then turned to the man, "He's a socialist just like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez He believes everything the media tells him. He's gullible. Despite our little conversation with the other Cohen and the Russians, he probably believes the media that we met the right Michael Cohen and that the Dossier is true,"

Morris turned to his uncle and said, "Umm, I'm right here, and I know what I heard."

"Skase" which is Greek for "shut up" George knew that despite having a Greek mother, Morris didn't speak Greek. He hoped he knew that word.

The man spoke, "Yiati? den theleis aftos no mou pes kati?"

George knew that was Greek for 'Why, you don't want him to say something to me.' George just said in English, "Well that backfired"

Morris said, "What did you say?"

George chuckled, "I told you to shut up. But it had the opposite effect I wanted. I wanted you to understand and him not to, instead he understood and you didn't. Anyway, my nephew doesn't know who you are. He's on your side he just doesn't know it. He hates Trump. I'm the Trump supporter. I know who you are. I know what this is about"

The man looked at Morris who looked genuinely confused. the man said, "Who am I?"

"Let my nephew go so we can talk."

"You do realize you have no leverage right now right?"

"Yes, I know but the fewer people that know about the meeting in Prague, the better it is for you. My nephew only knows it wasn't Trump's lawyer Cohen that was there. He doesn't know what else or who else was at that bar and what they discussed."

The man seemed interested now. "What do you know?"

"Let him go and I'll tell you."

"Guards!"

At that command, George was grabbed by two men bigger than him and held down. Five men came in and grabbed Morris. One man per limb with a man standing above him with a cloth. Morris was struggling but he couldn't really move. The man with the cloth said, "Do you know what your uncle is talking about?"

"No"

With that the cloth was pressed against his mouth, the man who had been doing the talking walked over to him with a jug of water and poured it on the cloth. Morris squirmed a lot but then the pouring stopped and the cloth was removed. Morris spit up water and coughed incessantly. The man with the cloth asked him again, "Do you know what he's talking about?"

In between coughs, Morris said, "No, I don't, Please don't do that again, I'll do anything. I just don't know. What the fuck, Holy shit, I don't know what he means, I just know it was a different Michael Cohen and the Russian didn't want us to talk to him anymore. I stopped listening after that."

"Tell us about your uncle"

Morris looked at George who was expressionless. Morris shook his head and said, "What do you want to know?"

"Where does he live?"

"New York, I'm sure I can find the address in my phone, he gave it to me when we went to Prague because I had a layover in New York. I can find it."

"Okay, tell us everything you know about him"

Morris talked and gave George's full name, his siblings, their relationship and everything he knew about him. George didn't make a sound or an expression, he just listened and hoped that he was right in what they were doing. He would be vindicated. After he was done, the man who had done the talking said, "Who am I?"

"I don't know, I swear"

"Well, if you gave up your uncle to avoid going through that again, I have a feeling you're telling me the truth."

"I am, I swear"

"Do you realize you may have just gotten your uncle killed?"

"No, wait why? I told you basic information."

George broke the silence, "He's bluffing, I'm about to do that to myself if they let you go."

The man nodded and turned to Morris, "He's right, we're going to take you to a different room. If your uncle isn't bluffing, we're going to let you go. If he doesn't know anything, then we'll be acquainted longer."

The guards took Morris out of the room. As he was going, Morris said, "I'm sorry"

George said, "Don't be, you did exactly what you should've done and what I wanted you to do."

After Morris left, the man said, "Who am I?"

"You're Stephan Halper. You helped set up Papadopoulos when Mifsud and Downer failed. In Prague, I thought you were Russian but given that your a spy and I actually didn't hear you say anything because the other Russian was talking, I didn't realize you were American."

"How did you figure this out?"

"I've been paying attention unlike Morris. Strzok just had his closed testimony revealed. He talks about a sensitive source he got for the phony Dossier the exact same time I was in Prague, July 2017. His sensitive source couldn't be Downer because Downer isn't sensitive, he's just a diplomat not a spy where his identity, if leaked, may lead to his death. Downer also said nothing about Russia or the Trump campaign in their meeting that the media blew out of proportion. You'd think it was Steele, after all, he talked to like 20 people to launder the dossier why not one more in Strzok? But that's not true because Strzok testified under oath that he didn't know Steele until September 2017, so either he perjured himself, and a lawyer would know how serious that would be, or Steele's not the sensitive source. It has to be someone around July 2017, who is a spy and who is knee deep in this. I knew when I saw your picture on the news you looked familiar. being face to face, I know it was you at the meeting. You're the only one that fits as the sensitive source."

"So what? I had a drink in Prague, so did you."

If you are the source, then a spy was spying on the Trump campaign before crossfire hurricane started, which means the obstruction case is bogus. It also means that the Dossier was the only reason the FISA warrants were issued and not this 'mosaic of information' or 'multiple articulable' facts that MeCabe, Ohr and others keep talking about.

Halper took a deep breath and looked around. "Did you tell anyone about this? Or did you really just figure it out?"

"I just figured it out"

"Did you tell anyone?"

"Release my nephew"

"I could waterboard you to find out."

"Or I could just lie. I know you have no idea if I did or didn't"

Halper called the guards in and they waterboarded George the same way they did Morris. Halper said, "Who did you tell?"

George coughed, composed himself and said, "Release the kid"

George found himself back again with water being poured on his mouth over a cloth. When they stopped. Halper asked him again, "Who did you tell?"

"Barak Obama"

"How do you know how to contact Barak Obama?"

"I don't but as ridiculous as a story as that was, you actually asked a follow up question. Now you know I can lie convincingly even after being water boarded. So how do you know if it's not disinformation, lie to stop the waterboarding but not expose anyone or the truth to stop it?"

Halper called a guard in, "Blindfold the kid, get him out of here"

"You're going to have to let him call me to know he's safe"

"You're going to have to wait. We are not in New York or Ohio"

Halper walked out of the room. He didn't return for four hours. George was used to being alone so this interrogation tactic didn't work on him. When Halper came back he was discouraged he saw no stress on George's face. He handed George a phone, George said, "Hello"

"Hey Uncle George, it's Morris"

"Are you okay?"

"Yea, they dropped me off in the bar I was at before waking up with you."

"Put someone on the phone around you"

Morris handed the phone to someone who shyly picked up the phone "Hello"

"What is the mascot for the campus you're on"

"The Rockets"

That was about as good as he could hope for. No hesitation to confer and the guy that got on the phone seemed confused. Could be a ploy and it was actually a guard but he didn't have a better way right now."

Halper said, "Did you tell anyone?"

"No, I just figured it out in this room" George's head was down and he looked despondant.

Halper smiled, "Did you think I'd kill you with that response?"

George looked up, "Yes"

"You watch too many movies. I'm just going to hold you until the Mueller probe is over"

"When will that be?"

"Don't know. News says Mueller's going to indict Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner so it's getting serious now"

"What about work?"

"You're young, you'll find a new job"

Turns out that wasn't necessary. The news lied again. Two days after being taken, the Mueller reoort was released with no colluision and no more indictments. George was released, he had a lot of messages from work and he just said he was in the hospital because he lost consciousness for two days. He had to deal with worried co-workers but it was better than telling them he got kidnapped by a spy. George didn't talk to Morris much anyway and he still didn't. Who knew a simple vacation to Prague would lead to being in a basement of an American spy. He decided to go to a movie. Unplanned was the only non-liberal movie playing. George thought it funny that it was rated "R." he said outloud, "So, you're telling me that a 16-year-old can get an abortion without parental consent but can't see a movie about abortion? Ah the double standards of leftists.

No government body ever contact George or Morris again.