Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Fanis the Bodyguard Episode 48 Capitalism always finds a way


                In London, England, two Americans are residing in a flat near Hyde Park.  The flat belongs to an international Chinese art dealer named Kera.  As she became more reputable in the field, she realized that she had a lot of threats and thus needed protection.  It was then that she decided to hire her cousin Fanis.  At first, Fanis had no raw skills in hand to hand combat but she knew that he would die for her.  As he grew up with money, he could not be bought off, which was a trait absolutely vital in her line of work.  It didn’t take long for Fanis to get the necessary training and he agreed to put his life on hold to make sure that Kera was safe.  Given that he had no aspirations for marriage or kids, this wasn’t too big of an ask.  To him, the one thing he enjoyed more than anything was travelling and in Kera’s line of work; there would be plenty of that. 

                Like everywhere else in the world, the Wuhan Virus was decimating England though not nearly as bad as first predicted.  Unlike the rest of the world, Kera only halted her business for a couple weeks before she was right back to using her private plane to travel the world.  Despite their current dwelling, Fanis and Kera were intimately aware of what was going on in the country they were born and raised in; America.  Kera comments, “It appears that Covid19 was in America earlier than previously expected.”

                “Alright”

                “In California no less.  They did an autopsy and found that two people that died on February 6 and February 17 in Santa Clara tested positive for Covid19.  Both are before the February 29 case in Washington.”

                “So what?  It hit Washington a lot harder than it California.  I personally think that navy ship that President Trump sent should have gone to Washington instead of California.”

                “If you were reading between the lines, you may pick up that I’m actually complimenting you.”

                “Clearly I wasn’t reading between the lines.”

                “For a long time, despite the data, you’ve insisted that the death rate is less than 1%”

                “No, not despite the data.  It was based on the diamond princess cruise and other studies that had the best controlled laboratory settings.  That is much more reliable than a city where people are constantly moving around.”

                “Fine, you had data but I’m talking about despite all the data that’s flashed on worldmeters and CNN”

                “Oh yea, that crap that has China underreporting and America exaggerating the numbers.  Who know what the other 150 counties or whatever it is are doing.”

                “To your point, they started random testing in Massachusetts and it turns out that 32% of asymptomatic people turned out to have antibodies meaning they had the virus.”

                “Yea, there are much more cases than they think there are so that would lower the death rate despite them inflating the death numbers.”

                “Based on this extrapolated, it’s like 81 times.”

                “That is what I was saying”

                “Like I said, I’m giving you credit.”

                “Do you believe me now that we shouldn’t have shut down?”

                “Too big a leap for me right now.”

                “Do you recognize that the response has led to another subset of threats that may be larger than the threat the virus causes?”

                “As I talk to my friends who are miserable, and hear of all these job losses and people trying to get away from their spouses and getting sick of their children, yea I’m coming around”

                “Not to mention the people that are killing themselves and turning to drugs and depression.”

                “Like I said, people are miserable.  It turns out you were wrong about Hydroxychloroquine though.”

                “How do you figure?”

                “The Associated Press had an article.  They did a study in Virginia.  28% of people who got it died and 11% died when they coupled it with Zinc.”

                “Let me see that article”

                Kera sends it to Fanis and he reads through it.  He smiles and asks, “Did you miss this part at the bottom that talks about there not being a significant difference in the groups and they believe they didn’t select the control and test group at random but were biased?”

                “To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what that meant.”

                “Let me translate; they took all the healthy people and put them in the control group and then the very sick and put them in the hydroxy group.  Then when they determined that they died at the same rate, they claimed the hydroxychloroquine didn’t work.”

                “They skewed the study to make it seem like it wasn’t effective?  Why would they do that?”

                “Because there is nothing out of bounds when it comes to hurting President Trump.”

                Kera rolled her eyes, “That’s always your answer.”

                “It has yet to be disproven.  I haven’t heard alternate explanations”

                “How about incompetence?  Maybe they just suck at doing scientific studies.”

                “I like mine better.”

                “I don’t”

                “Fine, either way it still doesn’t disprove that Hydroxychloroquine, Zinc and Azithromycin are effective.  That’s the other thing, they didn’t use Azithromycin.  It’s supposed to be a tri-fecta.”

                “Then you think it can work?”

                “Yes”

                “Well, pack your things, we are going to India.”

                “Alright”

                “Really?  Last time we went to India during Covid you accused me of trying to kill us.”

                “Yea, well, I exhausted all my reasons then.  We are going to the country that probably cares the least about social distancing.  Even before the Wuhan Virus pandemic, Indians got way too close for comfort.”

                They quickly packed their things and headed to the airport.  As they got on the plane, Kera announced, “I’ll tell you one good thing about the pandemic.”

                “What’s that?”

                “Negative oil prices.”

                “If it was negative oil prices, the gas company would be paying you to put fuel in the plane.”

                “Well, it’s the cheapest I’ve ever seen it.  Why do they say it’s negative then?”

                “Those are oil futures.  People have contracts that in the future, they’re going to pay a fixed amount on oil.  The idea is that when the future date is realized, oil will be higher than the contract indicates.  Right now, oil is lower than the contracts so people are trying to give away their contracts.  Hence, they are trying to pay people to get rid of their contracts.”

                “Why would anyone buy it?”

                “It’s really about storing oil.  Right now, people who store oil are at capacity.  Since oil is so cheap, it costs more to transport the oil to a storage facility than the oil is actually worth.  Say I want to give you a million barrels of oil and that costs $1,000.  I’m purposely using small numbers.  You give me $1,000 for my oil but it costs me $1,200 to ship you the oil.  Well, now I can’t ship it to you without losing money.  How do I rectify this?”

                “You don’t make the sale.”

                “No, I pay you to come get the oil.”

                “Oh I get it.  Say you pay me $100 to come get the oil, I get $1,000 worth of oil for $900 but if it costs me so much to transport it to my facility, why would I do it?”

                “At the end of the transaction, you still have the oil.  When I was shipping it to you I didn’t have the oil anymore so the shipping cost was a loss.  You still think when the demand for oil increases if this shut down is ever lifted, you’ll recoup the money and your costs are still lower.”

                “So, the profit that the oil company normally gets that covers shipping the oil now goes to the holder of the contract that’s storing the extra oil.”

                “That’s correct”

                “I get it now.”

                This conversation happened during the decontamination process and now they’re on the plane that reeks of disinfectant as Kera constantly has the plane professionally and thoroughly cleaned after every trip.  The plane takes off and Kera inquires, “Alright, I’m beginning to think you’re not completely crazy and I’m a little more open minded on this Russian collusion thing.”

                “Hoax”

                “Not there yet.  Especially since the Senate Intelligence Committee just came out with a bipartisan report that confirms Trump colluded with the Russians.”

                “Really?  Let me guess; you call it bipartisan because it’s headed by Richard Burr who’s listed as a Republican?”

                “Well, yes, how is that not a legitimate point?”

                “Because Richard Burr has hated Trump from the get go.  That’s like saying the Mueller report was legitimate because Mueller is a Republican.  Burr is a snake. He’s already under investigation for insider trading since he traded all his stocks right before the Wuhan Virus hit.”

                “I can’t really blame him for that.  I may have done that too if I knew.”

                “He has already talked about switching parties.”

                “Be that as it may, the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) released did say that.”

                “They’re back on the whole ICA saying 17 intelligence agencies agree Russians colluded with Trump.  Are they still claiming it wasn’t based on the dossier?”

                “Yes”

                “Yea, so Devin Nunes, who is on the house intelligence committee, has called the ICA the ‘Obama dossier’ because just like the Steele dossier, it’s completely fake.”

                “Name calling aside; do you have any proof?”

                “Do I have any proof that Nunes is right that it contains lies, omissions or both?”

                “Yes”

                “It begs the question that if they had information and didn’t put it in the ICA then how is it an ICA?  You know one of Nunes’ criminal referrals deals with the ICA and how they deliberately manipulated information.”

                “I’m still waiting for evidence.”

                “The problem is the ICA hasn’t been declassified so we can only rely on common sense and actions of people that haven’t been known to lie to us before.  I have to ask reasonable questions in place of actual facts.”

                “That seems a little weak.”

                “Well, hear me out.”

                “Alright”

                “If we knew the Russians were trying to help Donald Trump and there was all this information out there about it; how come none of it was known before the election?  Why is it that after President Trump won the election all this information in the ICA magically appeared?”

                “Still not very concrete but that is an interesting question”

                “Here’s something concrete.  I forgot where I was going before.  They still claim that it had nothing to do with the dossier.  That’s funny because here’s a part of the ICA that isn’t redacted.  It says that Comey insisted that the dossier be brought to the party even though he was an agnostic as to whether it was footnoted or put in the annex.  Comey tells the committee that he remembers telling John Brennan that he didn’t care about the dossier but felt It should be included.”

                Kera snatched Fanis’ phone and reads the excerpt herself and her shoulders slouch.  She replies, “But, that’s….I guess that’s your point, they lie.”

                Fanis took the phone back and flipped through and stated, “Now, look at this part.  Wow, you have all these public statements from Russia that they showed preference for Trump.  Again, where was all this open source and out in the open statements by Russia before the election?  Also, if Russia was secretly colluding with Trump, why would they put it out in the public sphere like that?  I mean, Russians never lie when they make public statements right?”

                Kera frowned, “Why do I even get into this with you.  No matter what, you’ll defend Trump”

                “No matter what, you will attack him.  Keep reading the committee’s statement.  They claim that the differing confidence levels on analytic judgment are properly reasonable.”

                “Translation?”

                “In a committee of people who hate President Trump and would do anything to destroy him, there is a difference of opinion among the committee on who Russia was supporting;  Hillary or Trump and Burr reasons that both sides have a legitimate point.”

                “They wanted chaos.  That is what you’ve been saying all along.  Though, I think you believe Hillary colluded with Russia more than Trump did.”

                “I do believe that but I think the ultimate goal of the Russians was to stir chaos and anti-Trumpers were more than happy to oblige.”

                They land in Mysore located in Southern India.  Mysore is a small town with a gigantic palace and not much of anything else.  There are cows roaming the street and a large hill that leads to a monastery.  Although Fanis is a world traveler, he is not a fan of Mysore for one reason that most people take for granted; no western toilets.  In Mysore, the toilet is literally a hole in the ground and given how Indian food tends to go through you, it’s not a fun place when you have to go number two.  Kera and Fanis are staying with a family as there are no hotels in Mysore.  Fanis and Kera eat dinner that the host cooked and then went to sleep.  The next day, Kera and Fanis go to the meeting.  Fanis stands in the back and scoots next to the security guard.  The guard asks, “I thought you were from England?”

                “We live there.”

                “Ah, but you are Americans”

                “Yes”

                “That makes sense.  Can I ask you about your country?”

                “Fire away.”

                “The Senate Intelligence Committee just came out with a report that your president colluded with the Russians.  I thought that was already disproven.”

                “It was”

                “I thought the National Intelligence Organization confirmed it.”

                “No, the committee asked the National Intelligence Organization (NIO) how they handled the question on whether activities were being coordinated between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.”

                “What was the response?”

                “Well, the NIO for Russia and Eurasia responded that they couldn’t come up with anything and had no evidence for it.”

                “Then it was a lie.”

                “Yup, just one more thing that the Steele dossier corrupted.”

                “Then it was used.”

                “Yes, the ICA even admits that Comey pushed the dossier.”

                “Why would he do that when he knew it was fake?”

                “He wanted to throw Brennan under the bus.  Since Brennan is the one that insisted the dossier be in the president’s briefing and laundered it into the FBI through multiple sources; Comey wanted Brennan’s credibility and livelihood be linked to the dossier’s success.”

                “Yes, this was in December 2016 so it was after the FBI had the dossier in September.”

                “The FBI had the dossier a lot longer than that.  Both Comey and Brennan are lying about when they had the Steele information that was in the dossier.  I have to say it like that because it’s possible they didn’t see the actual documents until later in 2016 but since the author was a source of theirs, they heard from the author.  In America, we have an expression, ‘hearing it from the horse’s mouth.”

                “When did the FBI know about the Steele information in the dossier then?”

                “At least by July 2016”

                “When they opened Crossfire Hurricane.”

                “Correct”

                “How do you know this?”

                “If you look at the text messages between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, on July 28, she’s laughing about how she loves the first line of an article written.  She was nice enough to give a link to the article.  The first line is, ‘What does the US government know about Russia and the DNC hack.’ Information about that hack only appears in the dossier.  Page loving the headline means she already knew the information and didn’t need to get it from the article.”

                “Why wouldn’t she be suspicious how the paper got it?”

                “Keep in mind right around this time, the FBI fired Steele as a source for leaking to the media.  I think they did know that they got it from Steele.  Then again, they did claim that these media stories were used to corroborate the Steele dossier so perhaps she figured the information she knew from Steele and the dossier was getting out in other ways not realizing it was from Steele yet.  Either way, she knew and now we know that there were no other sources.”

                “I see.”

                “The other thing that made it obvious was that, keep in mind that Hillary paid Fusion GPS which hired Steele for the dossier, Hillary’s campaign aid, Robby Mook went on TV a day before the article and talks about the same thing about how the Russians hacked the DNC and released the e-mail to help Trump right before the convention.  I mean, they hired Steele to write that and he did and now they’re using it before it becomes public knowledge.”

                “In fairness, they thought they were going to win so it wouldn’t matter.”

                “The pathetic thing is that they lost and even though they were really sloppy, people still believe this nonsense.”

                “it would have been more covered up if he lost.”

                “No question but it’s pathetic that people don’t see it.  It’s very obvious if you look.”

                “The media is strong and the Democrats control it.”

                “Yea, I guess the internet isn’t really an information superhighway that made media obsolete.”

                Kera turns around and inquired, “Hey Fanis, what are the measurements for Hydroxychloroquine, Zinc and Azithromycin.”

                The question took Fanis off guard but he answered it.  Kera waved Fanis over to the table and Fanis gave a wry smile to the guard and sat down a little confused.  He muttered to Kera in Greek, “Are you okay?”

                She responded back, “Yes, I’m fine.  This time I need you to help close the deal.”

                “I don’t even know what you do”

                “This isn’t what I do.  We’re here on a side hustle.  Not many people want Chinese products right now.”

                “But….” Before he could finish the sentence he realized that he had no idea what these deals during the pandemic were about.  He switched to English, “Sorry, I’m new to this.  What can I do for you?”

                “We need you to explain how this treatment works.  If India is going to be providing you with the medication, we don’t want to be responsible if people die.”

                “Well, the virus attacks the lungs.  Traditionally, your lungs are filled with a membrane that when viruses, bacteria or foreign entities attack it, it creates a mucus to flush out the virus.  The Wuhan Virus attacks the mucus so it can’t clean out the lungs.  Now, if you’re healthy, your body will counteract the mucus and fight harder and you can handle the fight until the mucus eventually overtakes the virus and goes on normally.  If you’re not healthy, you’re ill equipped for the fight and the virus wins.  Now, the virus tries to stop your body from sending reinforcements.  The Hydroxychloroquine comes in and creates a tunnel into the membrane.  The Zinc and Azithromycin can go through the tunnel and back up the mucus and kick out the virus.”

                “If you only had Zinc and Azithromycin then it would be bouncing off the membrane unable to help the mucus.”

                “Correct.  Some would get through but not enough to be too effective.”

                The Indians looked at each other and started talking to each other.  Fanis didn’t know if it was Hindi or the local dialect.  He knew the local dialect of nearby Bangalore was Kunada but he was unsure if Mysore was the same.  He assumed it was Hindi.  When they stopped, Kera posed, “So, do we have a deal?”

                They nodded yes and extended their hand.  Kera gave a horrified look and Fanis darted his hand out and shook theirs.  He was not afraid of the virus but he also wasn’t afraid to die; especially for Kera, which was his job.  It is unclear which of these motivations promoted him to shake the hands of the Indians.  The Indian declared, “We will get the 10,000 pills by the time you leave tomorrow.”

                Fanis gave a confused look but Kera put her hand on his thigh and squeezed as a signal to not say anything.  Fanis got up and Kera followed him to the door and they left.  They stopped at a restaurant.  The menu was two pages and Fanis picked something from the menu but they didn’t have it.  He pointed to something else but was told they didn’t have that either.  Fanis then asked, “Which items do you have?”

                The waitress waved to one side, which represented half the menu, and explained that they didn’t have anything on that page and then pointed to three items on the remaining page.  He nodded and went with one of the items and ordered two cokes knowing that he needed to drink, a lot with Indian food.  The waitress then informed him that they only had one coke left.  He accepted it and Kera ordered one of the three items they had.  When the food came, Fanis got his meal but Kera was informed that they actually didn’t have what she ordered so they brought her something they did.  Kera giggled and Fanis shook his head.  After dinner, Fanis approached a bull that was randomly in the street.  He looked around and stood in front of the bull that seemed uninterested in Fanis.  Fanis articulated, “Kera, take a picture of me grabbing the bull by the horns.”

                “You’re an idiot.  Cows are sacred here.”

                “I’m not hurting the bull.”

                “The bull might hurt you.”

                “Worth it.”

                “No, it really isn’t”

                “Just take the picture.”

                “Fine, I might as well take a video because this will probably be hilarious.”

                Fanis reached out and queried, “ready?”

                “Now”

                Fanis grabbed the bull by the horns and it immediately flinched his head breaking his grip.  Fanis then sidestepped the bull in case it charged.  It didn’t.  He looked up expectantly at Kera and she nodded indicating she got the shot.  They go back to the house and the host had gotten them coconuts.  She had a machete and was cutting off slices for them to eat.  They ate the coconut and then drank the water, which felt extremely refreshing.  Fanis and Kera were in the same room in separate beds.  Fanis asked, “So, are we selling the Wuhan Virus cocktail?”

                “Yes”

                “Do you need me to call my dad so we have a license doctor to prescribe it?”

                “I mean, that could work in America except the governors are trying very hard to stop people from getting the treatment they need.  Besides, my network is more Europe and Asia.  I mean, I am selling to America too but…”

                “You’re doing it on the black market.”

                Kera’s mouth opened as she looked very guilty and speechless.  She took a deep breath and played with her long black hair, “I mean, we don’t get into this a lot.  I promised I would keep you in the dark about what I do but with these questions I find it’s difficult.”

                “You involved me in the negotiation.”

                “I admit I forgot how it worked and they asked questions I didn’t know the answer to but I knew you did.  I tried to make it seem like a casual conversation and not what the meeting was about but then he blew it at the end.”

                “Well, when the government withholds needed items, it creates a black market.  That’s kind of how capitalism works when it’s suppressed.  I guess I don’t have a problem with it.”

                “Good, but my network is already in place.  There really is nothing for you to do.  I intended and continue to intend to not involve you.”

                “To be honest, I’m okay with that.”

                Suddenly the door swung open and a man stood there with a machete.  Although Fanis was in his boxers, he kept his weapons close at hand and took out his own Kuchri.  He had a pistol under the pillow but he tried to refrain from killing people.  He shouted, “What are you doing here?”

                He pointed at Kera, “She comes into our country and doesn’t have the decency to shake our hand.”

                Fanis did not think this person looked like the guy whose hand he shook but he wasn’t very good at faces.  Kera fired back, “The whole world is in a pandemic.”

                “A pandemic that you tasked us to manufacture what you claim is a cure.  If you believed in it, you wouldn’t be afraid to shake our hands.”

                “I shook your hand.  I’m just throwing that out there” offered Fanis

                “This is what you get when you do business with women.”

                “Fuck you!” screamed Kera as she got up and charged at the man. 

Fanis hopped from the bed and intercepted the machete with his own just before it collided with Kera’s neck.  Since Kera was unarmed she was able to shove the 6’2” Indian who barely budged with the 5’4” Kera barreling into him.  Fanis grabbed Kera by the arm and yanked her behind him.  Fanis brandished his weapon and asserted, “You can’t kill my cousin.  Just leave.”

“You have access to US government documents right?”

“No, we don’t” Fanis answered even though he could really only talk for himself.

“What do you know about the Intelligence Community Assessment?”

“Why is everyone talking about that lately?  I know Burr just came out with it but why don’t people realize these people are full of shit?”

“Is it true that it wasn’t based on the dossier?”

“No”

“How do you know?”

“Well Comey admitted it in the ICA for one.  For another, every memo in the dossier is dated except Dossier 95.”

“I knew you had access”

“It’s public information.  You have access to it too.”

“Why do we care that it’s not dated.”

“Well, dossier number 94 is dated July 19.  Dossier 97 is dated July 30 so it has to be sometime between July 19 and July 30.”

“When is Dossier 96 dated?”

“I don’t know; that one is classified.”

                The machete man looked confused but acquiesced.  “Again, what are you getting at?”

                “Well, on July 26, Robby Mooks, Hillary’s campaign aid, is on CNN talking about the DNC hack.  An article is written in the press about how the US government used Russians to hack in the DNC and FBI lawyer Lisa Page is texting lead investigator Peter Strzok how she loves the article.  I’m guessing it’s not dated so people don’t realize that on the same day Robby Mooks is blabbering to CNN about the Russian hacks, dossier #95 is written.  It was probably the same day that Clinton got information from Steele on his secondary sources.”

                “What is dossier 95 about?”

                “A conspiracy between Trump and the Russians.  Allegedly, they agreed on an exchange of ideas that was in both directions.  It’s written in legalese so it’s probably not Steele since it’s written like a lawyer.  The point is, this is right before Crossfire Hurricane is open and it just happens to list things that are crimes.  Before, the dossier wasn’t alleging a crime.  It’s almost like someone was telling Steele to write things that are crimes so they could open an investigation.  It also talked about how Trump had moles in the United States.”

                “That is pretty juicy stuff.”

                “Of course it is.  It’s almost too good to be true.  Actually, that’s exactly the case because none of it is true.  It’s all made up.”

                “How do you know?”

                “This information was credited to a sub-source.  In the IG report in footnote 347, Horowitz claims that they discovered that Steele’s sub-source voiced strong support for Hillary Clinton.”  

                “Thanks for the information but step aside because my issue is with your whore not with you.”

                Fanis laughed, “Did you really think that would work?”

                The Indian swung the machete and Fanis intercepted it yet again.  He took a fencing stance and swung his own backing him up.  Kera scanned around the room for an escape but they were blocking the doorway.  They were on the second floor so she couldn’t go out the window.  The Indian was now backing Fanis up and they tied up their blades and pushed against each other.  Fanis kicked the bigger man in the stomach to unbalance him and then drove him out the door.  Kera hurried to the door and slammed it shut locking it.  Fanis didn’t know what happened to the woman who was hosting but figured she was too afraid to come out.  They continued to lunge at each other with neither combatant landing a blow.  The Indian takes a massive swing trying to overpower Fanis but Fanis ducks under it and jams his blade toward the Indians hamstring.  To Fanis’ shock, he anticipated this and dropped his blade to block the blow.  Now, Fanis wished that he had the pistol.  He kicked himself for letting pride get in the way of what needed to be done.  Fanis opened a door and looked inside.  It was a closet and he decided to just ask, “What did you do with the woman who lives here?”

                “I told her she was housing bad people and she let me in.  I then told her she wouldn’t want to see what happens here.”

                “Quite right”

                The man charged Fanis and locked up with him once again.  He went to kick him in the stomach again but this time the man dodged it, bent his knees and shoved Fanis with everything he had.  Since Fanis was on one foot to deliver the kick, he was off balanced and flew back landing on his back.  The Indian’s machete came slamming down and Fanis turned his body as the machete cracked the floor.  Fanis kicked the man’s knee and then drove his foot into his chest backing him up giving time for Fanis to rush to his feet. 

                The Indian smiled as Fanis knew that he almost had him.  It gave the bigger man renewed confidence and he darted forward once again.  Fanis sidestepped him and put his right foot out as his left slid behind the Indian’s and kicked at his Achilles Heel.  The Indian fell forward and the tip of his machete sliced his chin as he fell.  Fanis had gone to the ground to deliver the maneuver.  He got up but so did the Indian.  Fanis raised his machete to snap it down on the back of the Indian’s head but the Indian barreled into him and pushed him against the banister.  Instinctively, Fanis’s right, blade wielding arm, snapped down and the Kuchari slammed against the railing.  The Indian used his machete to chop at the banister on the opposite side of Fanis as he grabbed his arm and leaned his body into him.  Fanis used his left hand to grab the Indian’s arm but with each thrust of the Indian’s shoulder, he felt the banister move violently.  Fanis twisted his right hand against the thumb of the attacker to break his grip but felt the railing give way.  As Fanis fell he swung his machete and slit the Indian’s throat.  Fanis fell from the second floor to the first landing on his back with his opponent’s machete landing beside him and Fanis dropping his own upon impact.  Fanis watched helplessly from the ground as the Indian writhed on the ground holding his neck and coughing.  If he survived, there wasn’t much stopping him going into Kera’s room.  Fanis rolled trying to will himself to his feet and climb the stairs to protect Kera.  That’s when he heard a loud thud.  He looked up and saw the Indian collapsed face down..  His blow had worked as it proved fatal. 

                There was a long silence and then Kera’s voice echoed hesitantly, “Fanis?”

                She said it louder but Fanis didn’t want to answer because he didn’t know if the attacker was actually dead.  Back in the room, Kera opened a window and climbed out on the roof.  Indian houses are made of concrete so there are no footholds to climb down.  She found a gutter and slid down that.  She went around to the front of the house and opened the door.  The first thing she saw was Fanis sitting up against the wall panting.  She rushed over to him and looked him over.  There was blood on the back of his head but his limbs seemed to be okay.  She helped him to his feet and that’s when she noticed impact wounds on his back.  He learned heavily on Kera but Kera knew she wasn’t strong enough to get him up their stairs.  She eased him back down and looked up to see the mound of flesh.  She asked, “Is he dead?”

                “I don’t know.  He hasn’t moved in a while so I think so.”

                Kera didn’t want to check even if she had both blades.  She sprinted out of the house and knocked on neighbors doors asking for help.  It didn’t take long for a group of Indians to come.  They helped Fanis to his feet and up the stairs and got him into bed.  Kera thanked them and offered them money but they refused.  She then asked if they would get rid of the body of the person that tried to attack them.  For that task, they did accept money.  They removed the man from the house and Kera didn’t even bother asking what they were going to do with it.  She no longer felt safe in the house so she slept with both machetes while Fanis had one hand on his pistol and the other on a small serrated knife.  Despite the fear, they both fell asleep and in the morning the hostess arrived and made them breakfast.  They then took an auto to the air strip.  They got into the plane and the first thing Fanis did was go to the bathroom as he had been holding it for the entire time they were there.  He was still walking gingerly and believed he was concuss as his equilibrium was off and he was seeing stars. He knew that in a couple days it would go away but that didn’t help the annoyance of the disorientation now.

                As promised, a man showed up with the pills and Kera loaded them in the plane.  Fanis uttered, “I don’t get it.  First, they try to kill us and then they follow through on the deal.”

                “The guy who tried to kill us was not the guy we met with or the one you shook hands with.”

                “Then why was he so mad that you didn’t shake hands?”

                “It was the man I met with the first time I was here.  He said ‘no’ but when the man we met with today got the money I promised, he was jealous.”

                “That’s not what he said.”

                “I know what he said, but he’s full of shit”

                “I guess it doesn’t matter now.  He’s dead.  How do you know they made it right?”

                “I have a supervisor in the lab.”

                “Oh, alright.  Like you said, you have everything taken care of.  I just think our efforts might be too late.”

                “Why do you say that?  Because we’re past the curve?”

                “No, because the whole world runs on the American economy and we are spending into oblivion.”

                “I think we’ll be alright.  Once things open, people are going to spend like crazy.  Hell, they started to after the stimulus so they definitely will.”

                “They’re also going to once their money becomes worthless from all the money we’re printing.  The stimulus money wasn’t real.  It was money we didn’t have that they’re printing to replenish.  Now, they want to pass another bill.  I mean McConnell and the Republicans are pushing back but they always give in and the Democrats know that.”

                “This gets a little wonky for me.”

                “The Wall Street Journal explained it well.  The lockdown is a threat to the dollar because once the fiat money is no longer believable, then it’s all over.”

                “I get what fiat money is.  Dollars aren’t backed up by anything except the word of government.”

                “It only works if people are confident the government can pay it if they need to.  Once that confidence is gone, then it’s hyperinflation.”

                “So, if you ruled the world.  What would you do to fix it? Or, are we doomed no matter what because we dug too deep a hole?”

                “I’m leaning toward the second but we could try to normalize the Federal Reserve policy.”

                “Meaning what?”

                “Raise interest rates.”

                “Won’t that make the debt worse?”

                “Not as bad as spending another $ 4 Trillion.”

                “Didn’t Trump sign an executive order?”

                “Yea, encouraging space resources and mining the moon and asteroids and bringing it back here.”

                “Yea, China has been working on that for years.”

                “Yes they have and that’s why Trump made a whole new branch to the military to combat them.  If I’m right about the Wuhan Virus being their Chernobyl, then we will be the leaders in the next frontier in space once again.”

                “I don’t understand why it’s so important to go to space.”

                “Asteroids and the moon have various rare metals and resources that are highly valuable on Earth.  I told you earlier that when you print money, then the price of everything goes up because you don’t have money chasing output or goods but you’re increasing the supply of money but keeping the supply of products stagnant.  The only possible result is hyperinflation in this case.  But, if you bring in more products and more things for money to buy, then the ratio of the supply of material to the supply of dollars is less and we will stop hyperinflation.”

                “You lost me.”

                “If we have more shit to sell people, then our economy will grow.  Right now, our economy is worth $20 Trillion and our debt is $24 trillion.  If the economy all of a sudden grows to $ 30 Trillion, then the $ 24 Trillion doesn’t look so bad.”

                “Basically grow the economy to make the debt to income ratio lower.”

                “Correct”

                “Why didn’t you just say that?”

                “I don’t know, I like economics so I get into the details.”

                “Well, not everyone is a nerd like you.”

                “Thanks” he rejoined sarcastically

                “You’re welcome” she replied with a giggle.  She then added, “You know, it was only three months ago that Trump said America will never be a socialist country and yet here we are; socialism.”

                “Not exactly”

                “How do you figure?  The government won’t let us work.”

                “That’s state governments.  Not all states were on board.  The Federal government was actually pulled back during the crisis.  Usually that is not the case.  Trump rewrote the book on emergencies.  After 9/11 and the housing crash, the government got bigger with the Patriot Act and everything but Trump, in contrast, deregulated and pulled government back.”

                “Like allowing schools and labs to make testing.”

                “And letting doctors practice across state lines, releasing the restrictions on telemedicine, forcing the FDA to fast track treatments and approvals etc.”

                “It just doesn’t seem that way.”

                “That’s because the state governments got tyrannical.  That’s why I’m against the bailout.  The pressure should be on the states to open the economy because they’re not going to get shit from the federal government.”

                “It’s an interesting theory.”

                “In the meantime, we just became black market drug dealers.”

                “Maybe that fall fucked with your head.  I sell Chinese artifacts not drugs.”

                Kera’s smile was ear to ear and Fanis nodded.  She knew what she was doing and he was going to let it happen. The message was clear; forget what you heard in the meeting.  Everything is normal. 

                They land in London and Fanis plops on the couch when they get home.  All he’s planning to do for the next three days is rest and recover.  Kera realizes he needs this so she ignores him and goes about her business making sure not to schedule amy travelling. 

 

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