903: Chapter 893 What a Coincidence 903: Chapter 893 What a Coincidence Gao Yang and his group settled into a Baghdad restaurant known for its local cuisine, arriving before the typical dining hours, so they were the only customers there.
Still, that didn’t seem to speed up the service.
At first, the cucumber yogurt salad and chickpea mash came quickly, but after that, everything seemed to slow down.
Gao Yang noticed that almost all the dishes were grilled—Iraqi cuisine seemed to consist chiefly of massive chunks of meat, like lamb and chicken, all skewered on iron spikes, even the tomatoes were charred before serving.
Upon seeing the dishes served, Cui Bo looked puzzled and said, “This feels like the barbecues back home.
Brother Yang, can we have some beer?
Just a little, it won’t hurt, right?
Otherwise, this barbecue just doesn’t feel right.”
Gao Yang too felt that beer would make the meal more enjoyable, but he knew that due to religious reasons, Iraqis abstained from alcohol, and the restaurant’s staff and owner were Iraqi.
He wondered if they could drink here.
Gao Yang turned to Polovich and asked, “Can we drink beer here?”
Polovich laughed heartily and said, “As long as you pay, nothing is impossible here.”
He then turned to a waiter and shouted, “What beers do you have today?”
The waiter approached, slightly bowed, and said, “Corona, Budweiser, and Lion.
However, the Lion beer has just arrived today and is not very cold.”
Polovich clapped his hands and ordered, “Bring all the Corona and Budweiser, start with three dozen of each, and bring some lemons too.”
Gao Yang was cautious about drinking too much, but felt it would be fine to drink moderately.
Although his alcohol tolerance was low, others like Li Jinfang and Glolov treated beer like water and were good at pacing themselves.
Eating grilled meats and sipping beer, Gao Yang somewhat recaptured the feeling of having barbecues back home with friends.
The lively atmosphere, enhanced by drinks, and Polovich saw a glimmer of hope for returning to his old trade.
The despondent old man Gao Yang first met seemed like a different person now.
It made sense since Polovich was a big shot before being kicked out by Grand Ivan.
He had to confine himself to this minor corner in the Green Zone, certainly not a happy situation.
But now that Gao Yang promised to speak on his behalf to Uriyangko, Polovich might not reclaim his old position but had hope of returning to a familiar grand stage.
Gao Yang was a lightweight drinker; after four bottles, he didn’t dare to drink more, but Li Jinfang and Glolov each drank over a dozen without so much as a wobble.
Cui Bo, who also had a few, simply bit off a bottle cap without an opener, downed half a bottle in a few gulps, and said with a laugh, “It’s really hot here, almost like Libya.
But I could never drink beer in Libya, nowhere to buy, and even if available on the black market, I couldn’t afford it.
Damn, ten dollars for a beer.
Oh, by the way, how much is a beer here?”
Polovich smacked his lips, took a swig of beer, and chuckled, “In a country where alcohol is banned, it’s obviously expensive.
But here, I might tell you the price, but you probably won’t believe me.”
Gao Yang joked, “No matter how expensive, it’s just beer; how costly can it get?”
Holding a Corona, Polovich laughed and said, “This poor thing would cost about two dollars elsewhere; here it’s one hundred dollars a bottle.
Don’t think it’s too expensive; you see those people outside?
The demand for hundred-dollar beer here outstrips supply.”
Gao Yang was dumbfounded and said, “Really?
That harsh?
Are people here mad?
Swapping hard-earned cash for hundred-dollar beer?”
Polovich smiled and said, “So what?
I’ll tell you, in the Green Zone, money is just paper.
Don’t be miserly with it while you’re alive; turn it into anything enjoyable.
Just don’t carry around a bunch of useless paper.”
Then, Polovich laughed and added, “So, selling good bullets at one dollar each isn’t too expensive, right?”
Gao Yang picked up a beer and said, “With beer this pricey, I should have another.
Once I leave here, I won’t be able to drink such expensive beer again.”
Looking disgruntled, Jansen said, “It’s even pricier than the whiskey our family produces!
I almost feel bad drinking it now that I know it’s one hundred dollars a bottle.
Damn, my heart is bleeding.”
Polovich laughed heartily and said, “Your family sells liquor?
Good, let’s use my channel to bring it here.
We’ll sell it for a thousand dollars a bottle, fifty-fifty split.
And though the beer is costly, don’t try saving money for me.
Starting this afternoon, my bullets go for three dollars each, and we’ll quickly earn back our booze money.”
Gao Yang gave a wry smile and said, “You’re ruthless!
Aren’t you worried they might trash your place?”
Polovich replied with bravado, “Let them dare!
Other arms dealers might enter, but once they sell bullets in the Green Zone, they won’t think of leaving alive.
Here, I’m the only one who can sell—that’s monopoly!
If you want good bullets, don’t complain about the price!”
Cui Bo anxiously asked, “What if they buy outside the Green Zone?”
Polovich shrugged and said, “Then, I can’t do anything.
But, if they think of buying arms in downtown Baghdad outside the Green Zone, well, they’re welcome to try if they aren’t afraid of dying.”
After that, Polovich waved his hand again and said, “Drink up!”
Just then, a middle-aged white man wearing U.S.
Army desert camouflage pants and a quick-drying shirt passed by the entrance of the restaurant and glanced at Gao Yang and the others.
The restaurant wasn’t enclosed and had no air conditioning; it was semi-open with just a canopy for shade, so you could clearly see inside from outside.
After taking a look, the middle-aged man burst in, came up behind Gao Yang, and said in a deep voice, “Guys, you’ve got trouble.”
Gao Yang was facing away from the entrance, he looked up at the people beside him, while Eileen, who was sitting opposite Gao Yang facing the newcomer, raised an eyebrow and asked, “What trouble?”
The middle-aged man sighed and said, “It’s hot as hell.
Let me grab a beer and tell you…”
Just then, without even looking up, Polovich said in a low voice, “Get out.”
The middle-aged man, reaching for the beer next to Gao Yang, stopped, looked around bewildered, and whispered, “Russian guy?”
Polovich glanced at the man and repeated, “Get out.”
The middle-aged man immediately nodded and bowed, saying, “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t see you there.
Sorry, I’m leaving right now.”
As the middle-aged man hurried out, Gao Yang curiously asked, “Who was that guy?
What did he want?”
Polovich scoffed, “Just a freeloader who thought you were newbies he could scare, hoping to swindle a few beers here.
A complete waste.”
Gao Yang couldn’t help but laugh, “There are people like that, huh?”
Polovich shook his head and said, “That guy’s a lost cause; he can’t make it anymore.
He’s always hiding in the Green Zone, surviving by cheating and swindling.
Who knows, he might get killed any day now.”
Glolov chuckled, “The guy’s a wreck, and still, he doesn’t leave, what’s he sticking around for?”
Polovich laughed briefly and said, “That guy’s an American.
If he wanted to leave, there are plenty of people who would pay for his ticket.
But he’s too shameless to leave.
He just hangs around here, who knows what he’s planning.
You know, this guy caused the death of over a hundred people.”
Gao Yang perked up and said, “There’s a story there.
What happened?”
Polovich laughed and said, “He used to work for some company, I forget which, but he’s been in Iraq for a long time.
Their company was hired by the U.S.
Army for logistical support and could even call in air support when needed.”
Picking up his beer, Polovich gestured for everyone to toast and then downed his drink.
He continued, “This guy is a retired veteran and was always in charge of calling in fire support.
Once, they were escorting something or on some mission, a big convoy anyway, and they got attacked.
So this dude calls in an air strike.”
Having set down his empty beer bottle, Polovich grinned maliciously and said, “Who knows if he was high or drunk, but after getting attacked, he called in the planes.
Then the nearest two F-15s came over.
Guess what happened?
He gave the wrong coordinates.
The pilots saw this huge convoy and after confirming the coordinates with him again, they dropped cluster bombs.
Hah, needless to say, right?”
Gao Yang swallowed hard and said, “No way, really?
Still, tell me what happened.”
Polovich gestured explosively with his hands and exclaimed loudly, “Boom!
Boom, boom, boom!
A whole convoy, over a hundred people, all sent to the sky!
Seven of his comrades were Americans and many Iraqi employees, plus all the convoy’s supplies, all gone!”
Gao Yang looked astonished and said, “No way, what a coincidence!”
Indeed, it was too much of a coincidence.
When fighting in Colombia, Gao Yang discovered Nate Schumacher had a psychological trauma from cluster bombs, only to find out he had experienced them firsthand in Iraq.
More precisely, Nate had witnessed the power of cluster bombs.
Gao Yang remembered clearly what Nate had said before, and it matched exactly with what Polovich now explained; it had to be the same incident.
Polovich looked at Gao Yang and asked, “What’s so coincidental?”
Gao Yang shrugged and said, “A friend of mine, he must have been involved in exactly the incident you just described.
Though he mentioned seventy to eighty people died, not over a hundred.
But it must be the same friendly fire incident.”
Polovich waved his hand, laughing and said, “They were under attack, right?
The cluster bomb nearly wiped them out, and then, seizing the opportunity, the attackers finished off the survivors.
If somebody hadn’t come along and rescued them, not a single person would have survived.” (To be continued.
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