The three men had a delicious dinner that lasted for several hours and included copious amounts of alcohol in cocktails before dinner, three bottles of wine during dinner, excellent cognac after dinner and finally coffee with Kahlua. After the meal the three men stumbled back to the hotel in which Johnny had reserved the most expensive and largest suite for the whole week. At Johnny's suggestion they all took off their clothes and wore bathrobes supplied by the hotel.
Johnny called room service and had a couple of bottles of chilled champagne delivered to the suite. The three of them got into the Jacuzzi, not bothering with bathing suits and continued sipping champagne. They stayed in the Jacuzzi until the skin on their fingers became all wrinkled. As the three of them got out of the Jacuzzi and entered the bedroom, Gustav said that they had to drink a nightcap as a token of gratitude to fate that had brought them together. He drew a silver flask from his backpack and poured its ivory colored content into three shot glasses. He raised his glass and said that this drink will take them to astonishing places and to new heights they had never even dreamt of. Oded and Johnny looked each other in the eye and drank, while Gustav just tilted his shot glass and only pretended to drink.
When Johnny woke up it was close to noon. He had to keep his eyes closed because he had a brain-splitting headache, much worse than any hangover he had ever experienced. He figured out that he was in a moving vehicle but had no idea how that was possible because the last thing he remembered was a nice warm Jacuzzi in his hotel suite. He tried to put his right hand on his forehead to see if he had a fever but found that his movements were restricted by something. The same happened when he tried to move his left hand. Finally, he opened his eyes and after adjusting to the pain from what seemed to be a blinding light, realized that he was lying naked on a narrow stretcher with both hands and both feet tied with plastic cable ties to the stretcher. A beach towel covered the lower part of his body and he was embarrassed when he noticed that it was wet near his midsection. He turned his head slightly to the left and saw that Oded was struggling to free his hands that were bound to another stretcher. He looked to the right expecting to see Gustav trussed in a similar fashion but instead he saw Gustav seated on a deckchair smiling.
Johnny's mouth was dry but he managed to mumble "Gustav, please untie us".
Gustav just looked at him, uttered an expletive about gullible homosexuals and then said "Well, I did promise you that this drink would take you to astonishing places that you had never even dreamt of. I only forgot to add "dreamt of in your worst nightmares". So now here you are already in the Karpas Peninsula that is in the Turkish controlled northern part of Cyprus."
Johnny thought that he could get out of this problem, as he had many time before, and offered "Gustav, I'll pay you one million dollars if you let us go". When Gustav didn't react, he added "I mean one million for each of us. It can be in your bank account tomorrow. Just release us."
Gustav only laughed at this and said "If you knew where you were going you would offer me ten times as much but even that would not help you. You may be surprised to know that my mother was a Danish woman that had fallen in love with my father, who was from Iran. Both my parents died in a car crash when my father hit a guardrail and wrecked the car while under the influence of alcohol. I was raised by my uncle who is a senior officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. He told me that I could atone for my father's sin of marrying outside the faith and drinking alcohol by proving that I would do anything for the IRG and my country. I agreed to do so and was put in charge of the operation to kidnap a senior Israeli politician. I have been following you and your bodyguard and must say that you both were an easy push-over. So don't tempt me with money." Gustav leaned over, withdrew a couple of syringes from a small metal box and injected each of the Israelis with a powerful anesthetic and within seconds they were both in a deep sleep. Blankets were thrown over their bodies to cover them and keep them warm but they were not even aware of the fact.
A few minutes later the van entered the Gecitkale air base where a private jet with no markings was waiting. Four men approached the van and removed the two stretchers with the prone Israelis and carried them to the waiting plane. A customs officer came over, was handed an envelope stuffed with bills and a couple of official looking papers stating that this was a medical evacuation of two tourists that had fainted and needed to be transported to a hospital in Ankara. The customs officer countersigned the documents and within minutes the plane took off on runway 09 heading east.
Johnny and Oded were fully conscious by the time the transport plane landed at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran and taxied to a hangar at the edge of the large airfield. The plastic cable ties were cut with a sharp knife and two men were released from the stretchers. Oded instantly understood where they were and quietly said to Johnny that they were in Iran. Johnny needed a few minutes to recover from the shock of this revelation. He told Oded that they would probably be held as hostages for some kind of deal and that he was sure that his political party would pressure the government to expedite their release. Oded was not so sure about that but remained silent. They were taken to a washroom where they were given fresh underwear and clean khaki overalls which they were glad to put on. They were also given cheap plastic sandals that were a couple of sizes too big.
After they were dressed they were taken to a small office at the airport hangar. A respectable looking man met them and introduced himself as Imam Mourtashef and said that he was sent by the Supreme Leader. He was sitting in a comfortable chair and was wearing the standard clothes of a high ranking religious leader. In excellent British accented English he invited them to sit down on a sofa facing his chair. He then called a guard in a military uniform and ordered some hot tea and pastries for his guests.
Johnny seemed to relax a little after sipping tea and having a couple of pieces of sweet pastry. His headache had abated with the help of a couple of aspirins which he had asked for and got after they had landed in Tehran. He looked up and said "Why are we in Iran?"
The Imam answered "Mr. Shmaryahu, Honorable Member of the Knesset, you are our guest. You'll be free to leave as soon as your government agrees to the legitimate and miniscule demands of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Johnny wondered why the Imam bothered with such niceties like tea and pastries if Iran wanted to present demands to the Israeli government. "Imam Mourtashef, surely there are better ways to open discussion with the Israeli government than by kidnapping a Member of the Knesset. You could use one of your allies like Turkey or China or even Russia to open covert negotiations. You know that Iran and Israel used to be great friends. This friendship was based on the common interests of the two most scientifically and technologically advanced countries in the Middle East. In addition, there is the fact the Sunni Muslim world surrounding us regards both our countries as foreign entities that should be eliminated. Furthermore, there is a mutual respect between our two ancient and proud cultures. We Jews are especially indebted to King Cyrus the Great who decreed 2500 years ago the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile to the land of Israel after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem".