Assassin's Bullet (Sofia) (Assassin's Bullet)

As you can see,

our Cultural Attache Department has extended our ESL program

to the rest of Bulgaria with extraordinary results.

Sofia Private School has the best scores in the country.

I think you should give each and every one of yourselves

a round of applause for this extraordinary accomplishment.

Aah!

No witnesses.

So how's the good doctor this evening?

Happy to have the company of my old friend.

Attractive, huh?

Yes, very.

So what's it been now, Robert, hmm?

Three years? Four?

It's been four years today, actually.

Look around, my friend.

If you wanted to,

you could go home with a different one every night.

It's not exactly my style, you know that.

What, then?

Ah, you're still punishing yourself

about the accident, are you?

Oh, Robert, you need to deal with it, my friend.

I know what carrying that kind of burden around can do to you.

I appreciate your concern as always,

but as long as I stay here in Eastern Europe,

all of that stays back in New York. Out of sight, out of mind.

Well, that's...

It doesn't work that way, my friend.

I think you need therapy.

I'll tell you what I do need. I need a drink.

Where's our waitress?

So, Vicki, how are we today, hmm?

I'm okay.

Good.

Any more memory lapses, hmm?

Any more bad dreams?

I sense that you're avoiding conversation today.

Perhaps you'll indulge me in a brief activity, hmm?

It's a hypnotic technique we use to open a patient's senses,

to tap into the imagination.

It's really quite harmless. You can trust me.

You're not afraid of a simple little blindfold, are you?

You can remove it whenever you want to.

I promise.

And just relax.

Breathe and relax.

Now, I asked you about your dreams.

Any recently that you recall?

Yes, one.

Go on.

It's embarrassing, actually.

It's like a re-creation from something I read long ago.

Have you read Hubert Selby, Jr., Last Exit to Brooklyn?

No, I can't say I have.

There is this part at the end

where this junkie chick climbs into an abandoned car

and lets every guy in the neighborhood screw her.

Every scumbag and lowlife for miles around get in this line,

and the line goes around the block.

How did it affect you, the scene, when you read it?

At the time, it was disturbing.

But in this dream...

I'm the girl in the abandoned car.

I can never see their faces.

They're hidden by keffiyehs,

you know, those Arabic scarves.

They're pulled over their faces,

and every one of those men...

Go on.

They're all the same man.

Have you thought who he might be...

the man wearing the keffiyeh?

Vicki?

Vicki?

- Vicki? - What?

You blanked out there.

Went somewhere else as you answered my questions.

I did?

Answered your questions?

What questions? What did I say?

Well, you were away for several moments.

You don't remember what we were talking about?

No, I don't remember.

One moment, please.

Oh, here she is now.

This is the man from the embassy, Vicki.

Robert Diggs.

Please meet my wife, Vicki Denov.

Pleased to meet you. Call me Vicki.

Sure.

So you'll be spending some time with us today then?

Yes, that's correct.

Your English is excellent, by the way.

It better be.

Shall we? I'm running late.

Sure. It's a pleasure.

Bye.

Proper nouns includes words like Sofia and Bulgaria.

When writing proper nouns, you capitalize the first letter.

Pavo, can you give us examples of proper nouns?

Atea, Mexico,

New York, Istanbul,

Washington, Mexico City,

Cairo.

Tiger Woods.

David Beckham.

Very good. You may sit.

Remember: names, places, and titles.

I'm going to the ambassador's office.

- Robert Diggs. - Ambassador.

Good to finally meet you.

Pleasure's all mine, ambassador.

Sorry to drag you in like this.

Well, I have to admit, sir,

that your email did arouse my curiosity.

Let's get some air.

Project Sofia? Sure, I remember.

A counter-terrorism program based here in the city, defunct now.

Yes. Black ops.

A lot of fuss in the press about it here, though.

Our agents were good guys, really great.

They've been able to infiltrate

some of the best organized terrorist-radical groups

from New York to Madrid,

and they were not able--

not able to get into Sofia, ever.

Not then, not now.

I gotta talk to you about what's going on with Sofia today.

I thought it was dead in the water.

Yeah. Seemed to be

until yesterday.

Yeah, I read about this this morning.

Hmm. I've been on the phone all night with the States dealing with this.

Turns out Washington knows all about the fella

this vigilante terminated.

He was a target of highest priority for us,

and we've never been able to get anywhere near him.

Oh, I guess the guys back home are feeling some heat from higher up,

and now they want to find out exactly what's going on here.

So I have been specifically instructed to, quote, unquote, persuade you

to take charge of the investigation here.

Why me?

Because you are exemplary.

- - No, seriously.

That's what your FBI friends called you. They said you were exemplary.

I've never had anybody say I was exemplary in my whole life.

Leaving law enforcement

was a well-thought-out decision on my part, ambassador.

Yeah. Yeah, I know.

I know. They told me about that, and I'm truly sorry.

Come on.

But it seems that the ramifications of this are very big--politically, globally.

See, these vigilantes have taken on a whole string of high-profile targets,

targets your FBI guys told me on the phone last night

that they've been tracking for years and could never get a look at.

So now they need to know

how come these vigilantes can get inside when they can't?

And who are they, these guys?

And what do they know? How do they know it?

And why them, not us?

What intel do we have?

They tell me that some militant is setting up safe houses.

He doesn't know why, but he knows they're here in villages.

Islamic Jihad.

Am I being pressured into this assignment, sir?

You have complete disclosure, full disclosure, everything.

Consul General has told me

that your clearances have been made complete.

If you need help from local law enforcement, you have it.

We need to get a handle on this, Robert.

And you're the man for it.

You're...

Well, you know what you are.

- Exemplary - Exemplary

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait.

Lonewolf. Proceeding with next target.