Finn leaned back on his ruck stool.
“He died… Susan’s father died of colon cancer.”
“Okay Finn… so I’m guessing you’re okay with all this now,” Camp asked. “So are you Omid or Pablo?”
“Neither actually, but you probably could figure that out by now.”
“So how do you manage to just waltz out of Iran and into other countries for these covert assignments?” Finn asked.
“I tell the authorities that my father needs constant help, Finn. He was wounded in an attack in 1981 and left a paraplegic. He’s in a convalescent home in Islamabad.”
“Oh, sorry to hear that,” Camp said.
“Don’t be, not anymore at least. The truth is that he died in 1981 after the attack. I was only six, just after the Revolution began. He was ambushed, shot, and then died several months later. I kept him alive in my reports and it became a convenient story. I even have nurses, doctors and caregivers who call and send letters from my father to the authorities. Works out nice.”
“How did you get in this time?” Finn asked.
“Commercial flight to Islamabad, rode out with Pakistan troops to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and they dropped me off in Miran Shah District. Did a little business then changed and geared up in my safe house and rode over to Datta Khel Village in the back of a truck. Spent a few hours, located where I think your major is, hiked through the Hindu Kush and then pissed in your soup.”
Finn and Camp looked at each other in utter amazement. Finn got up. “I’m gonna hit my roll. Early morning coming.” Finn placed his dirty cup in the ammo box and found his place against the back wall of the room as the rest of Operation Detachment Alpha were winding down with iPods and PS3 portable play stations so they could play combat war games until they fell asleep.
Camp moved closer to the fire as Omid stoked the flames.
“So tell me Omid, why do you do this? For the money?”
His brown eyes fixated by the fire, Omid smiled and shook his head.
“I love my country. I love the Iranians and the Persian people. I would gladly die for my land. The revolution in 1979 hijacked the soul of the Iranian people and plunged all of us into a black hole of religious fundamentalism under the Ayatollah Khomeini. But we have never lost hope; there will be a Persian Renaissance… someday… inshallah.”
“Before or after you drop nukes on Israel?” Camp asked with no hint of pleasure in his voice.
“You Americans,” Omid scoffed as he kicked a small branch into the fire pit. “You still have a Cold War mentality. You still act like Kremlinologists, you read the tea leaves, listen to the rhetoric as sabers rattle and then try to interpret events with no evidence at all, no understanding at all.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. We’ve got inspectors from the IAEA and satellite imagery of your nuclear facilities and our intel is somehow tea leaves, interpretation without evidence? Give me a break.”
“You miss the point. You churn out college graduates who can make video games, manage museums and run hamburger stores. Do you study philosophy? Do you study religion? Do you understand history? No, you study for jobs so you can buy big cars, get fat and use credit cards.”
“You’re right, Omid. I’m just a dumb, fat American with a Visa card and a Cadillac. Enlighten me!”
“Of course they are building nuclear weapons… of course they plan to bomb Israel… and if possible, they will bomb you with long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles and with bombs inside cargo containers at your ports. You know all of this, yet still, you know nothing.”
“They? You may be playing double-agent for some quick cash, but ‘they’ is ‘you’, Omid, whether you like it or not.”
“That’s where you are wrong, Camp. That’s where your leaders have made major miscalculations. Iran has two governments, two populations of people. There is no unitary structure or sovereign power that makes our decisions. There are many competing factions within Iran. Yet you continue to say ‘Iran will do this’ and ‘Iran will do that’. The formal government was stolen from the people during the last election and is still run at Ahmadinejad’s pleasure. But the religious and ideological command is the domain of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.”
“Is this supposed to be new information?”
“Power is decentralized. Everyone is vying for power in Iran, even the Russian mafia, even Muqtada al Sadr in Iraq. You think one voice in Tehran speaks for all Iranians? You think one threat from Tehran is a threat from every farmer, teacher, mother and child? You know nothing.”
“Sorry, Omid, but nut jobs run your country hell-bent on destroying Israel at any cost. Any way you slice it, Islamic extremism runs rampant and unchecked both in Iran and throughout your proxies like Hezbollah. You may have some romantic notion of a Persian Renaissance after a nuclear winter, but as far as I’m concerned, you still view us as the Great Satan, and you still want death for the infidels. It’s in the Holy Koran, Omid; it’s in your book. Look it up and read it.”
Omid grew silent and shrugged his shoulders. He closed his eyes as though he was praying.
“Yes, Camp, it’s in there. I can’t deny that. Some fanatics and terrorists believe they must help Allah, that it is their duty to purge the world of infidels. But the vast majority of Muslims are content to let Allah solve all of that in the next life. Are you a good Christian?”
Camp reflected on his answer for several seconds. “I believe in God. I used to go to church; at least I did when I was a boy. I try to do the right things, but — I don’t know — I’m not sure I’m a very good Christian.”
“Some might read your Holy Bible or listen to a preacher and conclude that you help Jesus by killing your sinners in prison with the death penalty. Some might read your Holy Bible and decide that they can help Jesus by killing doctors who perform abortions. You can argue that those words are in your Holy text, too. But do all Christians believe that? Do they all act on that? Your Holy Bible says that it is easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for him to get into heaven. But you still have nice cars, nice homes, and what you call 401Ks? By any standard, American Christians are rich. Do you read that Holy text and decide to remain poor? Of course not. But it’s in your book, Camp. You can’t deny it. Perhaps most Christians are willing to let Jesus solve everything in the afterlife. Most Muslims feel the same way.”
“Omid, there’s a difference between moderate Muslims who are willing to live in peace and radical Islamic fundamentalism through state-sponsored terror.”
“You see satellite images and think you understand everything. You do not. If you did, you would act differently… if you did, you would have come to our aid during the people’s protest and the democratic uprising… if you did, then you would understand why I betray the regime so I can embrace the people. How can you be so smart, so educated, yet still know nothing?”
Omid walked away from the fire, unrolled his bed and curled up against the wall near Billy Finn.
13
National Interagency Biodefense Center
BSL-4 Facility
Fort Detrick, Maryland
Lieutenant Colonel Raines got her coffee from the atrium’s barista, scanned her security card and processed her biometric as she rode the elevator without floor buttons to her cleared location.
Groenwald’s door was open, and he was talking with a man and a woman she didn’t at first recognize, but she offered a smile and a wave as she passed by nonetheless.