Flight from the USSR

The Brothers

Among the prisoners, the most stubborn was Paata. Generally, he did not answer the investigator’s questions. If forced, he would only give a few general words. He had survived by sheer accident when he was dragged out of the plane by the special forces. The plane was still under heavy fire when he was taken out in handcuffs. The special forces believed it was their professional duty to protect him and shielded him from the gunfire with their bodies.

Pata was a shooting target as he was brought down the gangway, and he later sat in his cell and contemplated why the authorities had sentenced him to death at the airport. He suspected that he was mistakenly taken for his brother Kakhaber, who was the only survivor who had managed to get into the cockpit. Kakhaber would have known the truth, which was extremely dangerous for the authorities. Paata also thought the KGB was determined to kill him on the gangway because the released passengers described him as the most vicious of the hijackers. There might have been other reasons, but the fact was that he was handcuffed and unarmed, and they wanted him dead.

Had he known for sure that he was the one being shot at instead of his brother, Paata would not have felt so bitter. The brothers adored each other. The plan to leave the USSR and hijack a plane was postponed by Kakhaber, who flatly refused to leave without his younger brother.

Unlike Gega, Paata was interrogated by an experienced elderly investigator who wrote down his meaningless answers each time.

Then, one day Paata unexpectedly faced off with a completely different, young investigator and he began to feel a pain in his stomach. The investigator addressed him with a friendly smile and offered him a cigarette. Paata lit it without a word. The investigator broke the silence.

“We live in the same district.”

“I don’t remember you.”

“Not surprising. You and your brother studied in Moscow, while I graduated from Vladivostok.”

“We probably went to the same kindergarten,” Paata said with a smile.

“We’re from the same district and might have gone to the same kindergarten. I remember for sure there were brothers in my group.”

“I didn’t go to kindergarten. I hated onions in my soup.”

“What about your brother?”

“Nor did he. My brother didn’t like mashed potatoes.”

“I saw him the other day, but he didn’t mention mashed potatoes.”

“Do you see him often?”

“When I want to. When it’s necessary.”

“How is he?”

“He’s alright for a prisoner. I try to pay more attention to him, you know, being from the same district.”

“Is he in this building too?”

“I told you, he’s alright.”

In truth, Paata hadn’t the slightest idea which building he was kept in, but he strongly suspected he was in the KGB prison along with other political prisoners. The building was off Rustaveli Avenue, behind the central post office. Nothing in its facade revealed its true function because the cells were in the underground maze of multi-tiered passages.

“When will you see him?” Paata asked, though he didn’t expect a truthful answer.

“Do you want me to take a message?”

“Will you?”

“I’ll tell him whatever you want.”

“Tell him I am alright, nothing else.”

“Nothing else?”

“No.”

“Don’t be shy about it. If you want to tell him something, I’ll pass it on to him.”

“I told you, nothing else.”

“If you want to say something to your brother before the trial, or warn him, you know what I mean. I’m telling you this between us.”

“Tell him what I told you, nothing else.”

“I mean, it’s better for you guys if it doesn’t turn out at the trial that one says one thing and the other something else, you know…”

“No one can say anything new at the trial. As it is, everyone knows what really happened.”

“Yeah, that was the general belief, but now it turns out some monk was your leader.”

“What monk?”

“Father Tevdore.”

“Where did you get that from?”

“He has admitted it himself.”

“Under torture?”

“Come on, how can you say that? What good would torture do anyway? He’d say one thing now and then have second thoughts at the trial. We don’t want that at all.”

“Then how did he confess if he wasn’t even on the plane and knew nothing?”

“That’s what surprises me too. I’m baffled. You know what else surprises me? Now, strictly between you and I, how could he stay at the monastery and let you go to be butchered?”

“He knew nothing about the plane.”

“Because you hadn’t told him, that’s why.”

“Even if we had, he would have been against it.”

“I don’t know, he’s saying very different things now.”

“Like what?”

“He says he was the organizer. Who would take such blame for nothing?”

“He’s lying.”

“Why would he do that?”

“He wants to save us.”

“Then he really was the organizer.”

“That monk has no connection with our case. He wasn’t even on the plane.”

“He says he planned everything, but…”

“But what?”

“If at least one person confirms that at the trial…”

“You won’t be able to find such a person, because he was absolutely against hijacking the plane.”

“But didn’t you say, just now, he hadn’t known anything about it? I’m telling you this, because we’re from the same district and I want to help you. I’ll still be living and walking down our district streets, I’ve got kids growing up, so I’d like to look people in the eyes. You know what I mean.”

“The monk had nothing to do with this and I can’t help you with anything.”

“Help yourself man, no one’s telling you to help us.”

“I’ll be going.”

“Go then, and think. I’m right here and I’ll help you with everything. Besides, we’re close to each other. It’s my duty in a way, so if you need anything, don’t be shy about it.”

“What could I need?”

“I don’t know, but we’re men and there’s stuff to worry about, things to think about. I’m sometimes so tired myself, it’s really hard for me unless I take something to help me. You know? My job here, family there, so many problems and things to worry about. No one can say I am a drug addict, but sometimes one can’t deal with it all without a little help.”

“I don’t need anything.”

“I know, it’s just that your doctor told me you’ve got some kind of pain and I thought I could find something like a painkiller for you.”

“I don’t need anything.”

“As you wish. I am just trying to be helpful, being kind of close to you.”

“I don’t need anything.”

Paata stood up, smiled and the investigator called the guard. When they were taking him out of the room, the investigator was still talking to him, but Paata wasn’t listening anymore, instead he concentrated on his pain.

It had bothered him since dinner yesterday, if what they fed him could be called dinner. But Paata was thinking about something else. He was wondering how the investigator could have known about his aches if Paata hadn’t mentioned it to anyone. Once in the cell, he decided to ask to see a physician. As expected, he had no painkillers, especially for this particular pain…

When they told Gega he was being taken for questioning again, he looked so delighted that the guard was genuinely surprised. He strode down the passage so hurriedly that the guard even reprimanded him several times, but Gega only thought of the wall where Tina’s answer was waiting for him at the interrogation room. When they ordered him to stand at that wall, his heartbeat quickened just like back on their first date.

Next to the two English words he had written several days ago, there were small, but legible, letters beginning the exact verse from The Knight In The Panther’s Skin that Tina had once read aloud to Gega: “Here I sit in prison.” Gega, right then, quickly inscribed the continuation “so tall…”

At the interrogation, he didn’t listen at all to the investigator, who had been replaced again, and was quite elderly this time. He found himself thinking of the night when they were at the seaside house and Tina had taken The Knight in The Panther’s Skin from a bookshelf.

They were lying very close to the window, where they could look out at the sea, and that night the moon was so big and bright they didn’t even need to light a candle to read. It had been Tina’s idea:

“I’ll open The Knight in The Panther’s Skin with my eyes closed, and read out whatever passage I happen to see. Then you’ll do the same, put your finger on one of the pages and read.”

Now, in the interrogation room, Gega clearly remembered that Tina had come upon exactly this line the very first time she opened the book: “Here I sit in prison so tall…”

The investigator, meanwhile, wondered why this prisoner charged with the gravest crime, and facing the death penalty, had such a happy face. He was totally unaware it was the happiest day for Gega because he was finally convinced that Tina was alive. She was well, and most importantly she wasn’t alone. There were the two of them: Tina and their unborn baby. Gega didn’t know exactly which cell his wife and their unborn child were in, but the main thing for him was that they were alive. During questioning, he only thought about when it would end, hoping he would have enough time to write a few more words on that wall: our baby or hello to the little one or take care of the baby…

Gega thought about Tina stroking her belly, how her beautiful fingers touched where a new human was already growing…

Meanwhile, the investigator welcomed the prisoner’s unusually good mood, as he couldn’t have asked for a better moment to tell Gega the news.

“At the trial, you have to confirm that the airplane hijacking was arranged by the monk.”

“Why?”

“Because he was the real organizer of the hijacking.”

“I’ve already told the investigation that it is absurd. It is impossible for a person to lead something which he categorically opposes.”

“The investigation knows everything and it’s already proven with solid evidence that he was the organizer. The monk himself also says he directed everything.”

“Then what do you want from me?”

“It’s necessary for one of you to confirm the same at the hearing.”

“Why me? I didn’t know him at all.”

“That doesn’t matter to us. The main thing is for one of you to confirm that it was precisely the monk who was the organizer and it’s easiest for you to do it.”

“Why me?”

“Because your wife is expecting a baby and, according to the Soviet law, a pregnant woman cannot be imprisoned.”

“You’ve never observed the law, so why start now?”

“We’ve always observed the law and will observe it now too.”

“So you will free my wife?”

“We do not free terrorists!”

“I don’t understand. What are you trying to say?”

“I think I’ve told you clearly, so you should understand that the fate of your future child depends on what testimony you intend to give at the hearing…”

“If I don’t say what you want me to, what happens?”

“Nothing son. It’s up to you what you choose to say. I only advise you, like I’d do for my own son, that you should confirm the monk was the organizer and…”

“What if I don’t confirm it?”

“As I’ve already said nothing is going to happen. It’ll still be proven that the monk was the leader of your criminal gang, but your testimony would be of additional help to us.”

“What if I can’t help you?”

“Then we can’t help you either and I think you must understand, as it is, that a pregnant woman needs special care in prison.”

“Yes, but they are fine, right?”

“So far they are, but you know what prison conditions are like. Things can happen any minute that might…”

“That my wife may lose the baby?”

“I haven’t said that, but you should know that no one will release a terrorist and a plane hijacker, even a pregnant woman.”

“But the child has not done anything wrong, right? It isn’t even born yet.”

“That’s what I’m telling you. Their fate depends on you.”

“If my wife and child are going to be alright, I’ll say anything the investigation and the court needs.”

“That’s because you are smart. Why should so many people sacrifice their lives for that scum of a monk?”

The pleased investigator continued, but Gega wasn’t listening anymore. His mind was solely with the wall where he had to write two more words. He actually managed three: mind the baby…

Back in his cell, he thought about the investigator’s words and how he would give the exact testimony demanded of him so it would save the baby. The main thing for him now was to hope the baby was born before the trial. Then, Gega could tell the truth, say everything. He could not confirm what they demanded of him since it was a lie: the monk was completely innocent and had not even been on the plane. This was why Gega would tell the truth. But he would do this only after his baby was born, with loud screams in one of the prison cells. It would be born like all babies are born, when their lungs fill with air for the first time.

Little did Gega know that those preparing to sentence him were far more cold-blooded than he could have ever imagined. No one could have imagined what lengths the authorities would go to, even in such a ruthless country…