Once outside the interrogation room, when the guard ordered him to face the wall, Gega somehow managed to add two more words under Tina’s writing: were here.
As the guards took him down the long passage to his cell, Gega thought ahead to the day they would take him for interrogation again. He desperately wanted to see the inscription on the wall. New words would appear underneath if Tina had really written that phrase.
Gega was sleepless that night. He had many sleepless nights before, but this time it was because he had something to look forward to.
At dawn, he somehow managed to stop thinking about Tina and went to sleep, but was awoken once again as he thought back to his investigator. He couldn’t understand why they had replaced his first investigator, or how they could assign such a young, inexperienced investigator to the case. It may have been done purposefully, because an investigator that was roughly the same age as Gega might find it easier to find commonality with him more and make him confess. Gega had nothing to tell, or rather, had nothing to hide. Everything really happened as it did. Yet, that night Gega started to wonder if maybe investigations worked as badly as everything else in the Soviet Union…
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.”