QUESTION FAMILY

“We went on a trip to, Kariba. It's a big lake in Zimbabwe. And I think it was like on the second day or something, we had a disagreement, like a fight. And, he left, our room and I didn't know that he had done this, but he went to his mom's room. And I found him later. I I was walking past her room, and she had, like, these doors that opened outside. I just looked in, and I saw him, like, lying on her bed, and she was, like, lying there, like, stroking his hair.”

“So at first, it didn't. At first, he was just trying to sell me what the jury didn't buy, which was that he was framed. He was only trying to get Priscilla deported. But then I think we both proved to be very stubborn. And I and I was like, okay. Well, you know, maybe his job is to try to bullshit me, and and my job is to try to cut through the bullshit. And thirty five hours of conversations later, I genuinely felt compassion for him.”

“Look. They're gonna lose their mother. Right? She's fucking young. Right? How do we protect the kids? As long as they're not witness to violence. That's the word he used, violence. The undercover agent is methodical. He keeps coming closer to saying she will be killed, and he keeps pushing Alan to consider the hypothetical stakes. The children will lose their mother forever. Alan blithely keeps incriminating himself. As long as the kids wouldn't see the murder happen, he didn't have other concerns.”

“He asked me for this porridge that he used to like. Like, it kind of he had loved it since he was a baby and he called it blue porridge. He just said to me, did you bring blue porridge? I said, yeah. They make it in Zimbabwe. And I had carried it with me. He asked me to make it for him, like immediately. Then I did like in a little cup with warm water. I made it for him and he ate it. And, yeah, I knew that he would slowly remember me and things would get back to where they were, if he could remember simple things like that.”

“My family. If I had to give it an adjective, it's elastic. Forty five years ago, my parents, my little brother, and I came over to this country from the Soviet Union, extending the family across continents. Over the decades, the family, my father really, stretched to absorb spouses, in laws, even though they spoke a different language. Children both biological and adopted, ex spouses who chose to stick around, and eventually grandchildren. Over those same decades, as in any family, people made bad decisions, said things they hope no one would remember, got mad at each other, held grudges, came around, and the family stretched as needed. And then it snapped.”

“So we have a lot, obviously, business in South America. I'm sure Alex has told you. So, you know, my clients are in Cartagena. They're all I'm gonna tell you right now, they're all cartel level guys. They're all badasses. They they they are the real deal. They when I talk, they don't have fuck you money. They have fuck everyone money. Right? Like, you're talking hundreds of millions of dollars, you know? I don't touch the product side. I don't wanna I don't want any fucking deal with with the fucking Coke.”

“Alan would like to proceed. The time lapses between the agents saying that's up to you, and Alan's agreement to proceed with the more permanent option is a fraction of a second. He doesn't take a breath. He doesn't pretend to consider the decision. He doesn't double check that he understood the agent correctly. He doesn't even ask how much money he'll save by going for the cheaper option. He jumps right in with both feet.”

“And then almost a whole year later, he was finally sentenced. And at the sentencing hearing, his lawyer again tried to say that he was only trying to get Priscilla deported, at which point the judge said, you know, that crime that you're describing is actually called kidnapping, and it's punishable by up to twenty years in prison. So maybe just stop. And then she sentenced him to the maximum, which is ten years of prison.”