Byrnes responded with a thin-lipped frown that Sandor had often seen from his superior officers. He figured it was something they taught in the first year at the State Department. “Actually,” the DD explained, “he does have some requests, and that’s one of the reasons I brought you down here. He asked to speak with you.”
The statement took Sandor by surprise but all he did was nod. “Did he mention the topic?”
“No. He just said he wanted you here.”
“Uh huh. Well, I’m here,” Sandor said as he stood up. “Let’s go see what he has to say.”
Byrnes also stood, placing a hand on Sandor’s shoulder. “Remember, this whole thing is being recorded. No antics, no violence, no gun in his ear.”
Sandor offered up his best impression of an innocent look. It was not convincing. “I get to say whatever I want though, right?”
Byrnes responded with a resigned shake of his head. “Where’s your weapon?”
“They checked it at the door.”
“Sandor. Your weapon. Now.”
Sandor reluctantly reached his hand under his blazer and removed the Walther and holster from the small of his back.
“Just put it on the table,” the DD ordered. “You can have it back when we’re done.”
The room in which Jaber waited was furnished as a small, comfortable den. The walls were painted a dark green with walnut wainscoting. There were several easy chairs set in a circle and an oval cocktail table in the middle that held a tray with coffee and tea carafes, cups and saucers, cream, sugar, and pastries. This was obviously the soft sell, Sandor noted as he followed Byrnes inside. He would have chosen something a little less comfortable.
Jaber stood when they entered. He ignored Byrnes, with whom he had already spent considerable time, and said in thickly accented English, “Mr. Sandor, I am glad to see you are here.”
Sandor stared at him for a moment, then said, “If I wasn’t already standing I wouldn’t have gotten up for you.” Then he sat in the chair directly opposite the Iranian.
Jaber nodded, then retook his seat. “All the same, thank you for joining us.”
Sandor stuck out his lower lip as he looked his man up and down. Then he said, “Let’s be clear where we stand, you and I. I don’t believe your defection is real and, even if it is, I wouldn’t care if you could tell me where to find the Holy Grail; if it were up to me I’d take you out right here and now—”
“Sandor!” Byrnes barked.
Jaber waved off the DD with a sweep of his hand. “As you Americans say,” he observed in a polite tone as he continued to look squarely at Sandor, “at least we know where we stand.”
“Not quite. It’s bad enough that you’re responsible for the deaths of hundreds of my countrymen and allies, but I believe you and my old friend Vincent Traiman also had my men killed in Bahrain. Then you tried to have me murdered, which makes this personal.” Sandor leaned forward as he added, “Just so you really know where we stand.”
“This is war, Mr. Sandor.”
“War? Is that what you claim this is? Tell me, Ahmad, where are your soldiers? What uniform do they wear? What country do they represent?”
Jaber responded with a blank stare.
“This isn’t war, and you’re not in any army. You’re just a gang of murderers from countries without the guts to admit their involvement, and that’s only because we’d kick your Arab asses up and down the Gobi Desert if you did. So instead you send suicide bombers into crowded plazas and claim they’re on a holy mission for Allah. I’ve got news for you, paclass="underline" if Allah stops by anytime soon he’ll tell you that you’re not even close to what he had in mind.”
“Are you done, Mr. Sandor?”
Sandor sat back, but said nothing.
“Good, because it may have occurred to you that I, as your enemy, must have had some compelling reason to request that you join this discussion. You must have realized I am aware of your hatred for me. It is obvious. Is it not?”
“It is to me.”
“Excellent. In that case, what I have to tell you will be all the more effective, since you and I have what you might want to call a history.”
Sandor nodded slowly as he studied the Iranian. The sonuvabitch was a cool customer, he would give him that much. “History, is that what we have? All right, I’m listening. But I have to warn you, I tend to have a short attention span.”
Now Jaber leaned forward slightly. “It is no secret that the governments of our nations are enemies. I make the distinction between government and people because, as you are well aware, under prior regimes the people and governments of Iran and the United States were closely allied. In fact, Iranians are more Western than any other country in the Middle East.”
“Except Israel.”
“You will forgive me if I postpone a discussion of Israel to another time. As far as I am concerned, the Israelis are nothing more than a filthy herd of desert-dwelling, land-grabbing goatherders. My countrymen are far more civilized and far more European in their ways than your Israeli friends can ever hope to be.”
“Glad you don’t want to discuss that right now.”
“My point is that the governments of Iran and the United States are very much at odds, even if our people are not.”
“Your man Ahmadinejad would call that statement treason.”
“He might, which may be part of the reason I am here. There are many within my country who fear the consequences of the ongoing nuclear program, the incursion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps into Iraq, and the general hostilities between your nation and ours. Iran has problems within the region that it must address, some of which originated centuries ago. As you have suggested, it may not choose to face annihilation by the United States for actions in which it actually has no real part.”
“Are you trying to sell me the idea that your defection is part of some unofficial peace initiative?”
“No, not at all. My defection is quite a personal matter. What I have to offer, however, is information about coming attacks that will neither serve my country nor yours.”
“From the IRGC?”
“No.”
“Al Qaeda?”
“No. In this instance, I believe your enemy will only appear to be from among these groups. No, this threat is actually from the East.”
Sandor looked to Byrnes. The Deputy Director said nothing.
Jaber continued. “I will have to admit that I am lacking certain details, but I think it will become clear that an offensive is being launched by North Korea.” For the time being, he had decided not to mention what Seyed had told him about the involvement of the South Americans. There was an old saying in the desert about never displaying all your wares until the very end of the trade.
Sandor shook his head in disgust. “You want us to believe that we’re going to be attacked by North Korea, but it’s going to be made to look as if it came from Iran?”
“Not Iran, necessarily. From what your media calls Islamic extremists.”
“And how would you have come into possession of this information?”
“An excellent question. In order for their plan to succeed they would obviously need to involve certain personnel, to have it appear the source of the attack was Islamic and not Asian. They have been extremely careful in their planning, but nothing is beyond detection or betrayal in the modern world, as you gentlemen know only too well. Thus far I only have fragments of information, but it is enough for me to piece together a large part of this puzzle.”
Byrnes said, “If you’ve already discovered this, presumably others would also have access to the information inside Iran. The plot could be easily exposed, if and when the time comes.”
Jaber showed his white teeth in a grim smile. “That may be a false presumption. I am fairly certain that the man who provided this information, Seyed Asghari, has been removed, and I was the only one to whom he reported.”