Soon he and Eva were sitting across from one another at a small table for two, sipping chai and careful to keep their voices low and professional but not conspiratorial.
“So where are we with Esfahani?” Eva asked.
“It’s not good,” David said. “We made a serious mistake. We both should have known better.”
“Can it be salvaged?”
“Honestly, it’s too soon to say.”
“What do you recommend?”
“We need to cut our losses.”
“Meaning what?”
David chose his words carefully. He liked Eva. He respected her. And he very much needed her help. But she had suddenly become a liability in Iran.
“You have to understand,” he began. “Abdol Esfahani is a very religious man.”
“Meaning he doesn’t think I should be in charge of this project.”
“I’m afraid not.”
“What do you think?”
“That’s not my call.”
“That’s not what I asked,” Eva said. “Do you think I’m capable of this job?”
“Absolutely. But that’s not the point.”
“What is?”
“An awful lot is riding on this deal, Eva.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Of course you do. So why worry about it? Let’s just do what’s in the best interest of the project and the company, and go from there.”
“You’re saying you want me to go back to Dubai?”
David took a deep breath and another sip of chai. “I think we need to give Esfahani and Iran Telecom exactly what they want.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Eva said, incredulous.
“Look, you and I both know this is neither the time nor the place to challenge fourteen hundred years of culture and religion over a software upgrade.”
Eva held her tongue for a few moments, but David could see it wasn’t easy. If there hadn’t been at least two Iranian agents sitting at nearby tables, he suspected she really would have unloaded on him.
“If I go back to Dubai, Esfahani will let us keep the contract?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
There was another long pause.
“But if I stay here, he’s guaranteed to cut us loose,” she said.
David nodded.
“Then there’s not much to discuss, is there?” she asked, taking her napkin, wiping her mouth, and getting up from the table.
David leaned toward her and looked her in the eye. “Listen to me,” he said, speaking in character for the benefit of nearby listeners. “You and I are going to make a killing on this deal, okay? Then we’re going to go back to Europe and make boatloads of money there, too. Our bosses are going to love us. They’re going to give us big raises and bonuses. And then we’re going to come up with ways to blow all our money and really live it up. I promise. And just between you and me, I’m really looking forward to working with you every step of the way. So don’t let this throw you, okay? This, too, shall pass.”
Eva’s expression suddenly softened. David even thought he detected a modicum of gratitude in there somewhere.
“Thanks,” she said.
“Don’t mention it.”
“Okay. I’m going to pack up, check out, and head to the airport.”
“Call me when you get to Dubai.”
“I will. And thank you, Reza. You’re an impressive young man. I hope Mr. Esfahani realizes what’s he got.”
And with that, she was gone.
David stayed, finished his chai, and caught up on a few more e-mails. That hadn’t gone as badly as he’d feared. But only time would tell, for he was fairly confident that the transcript of this conversation would likely be in Esfahani’s hands by the end of the day.
48
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Zalinsky was furious.
But he tried not to show it. It had been his decision to send Eva Fischer in as the project leader. He hadn’t had any indications that the senior executives at Iran Telecom were so religious. Clearly, he and his team knew far too little about Abdol Esfahani, for starters. Still, the trip wasn’t a complete loss, he told Eva over coffee in the Dubai safe house. Thanks to Zephyr, they now had Esfahani’s private cell phone number, and it was already bearing fruit.
He slid the laptop over to Eva so that she could look at the most interesting of several transcripts.
› › › › › › 000017-43-NSATXTREF: ZEPHYRINTERCEPT-EYES ONLY
CALL BEGAN AT 0209/21:53:06
ESFAHANI [98-21-2234-5684]: Hello?
CALLER [98-21-8876-5401]: You up?
ESFAHANI: I am now.
CALLER: Take this down.
ESFAHANI: This had better be important.
CALLER: It is.
ESFAHANI: Hold on.
CALLER: Hurry up. I’ve got to get back in.
ESFAHANI: Where are you?
CALLER: The Qaleh.
ESFAHANI: Still?
CALLER: Something happened.
ESFAHANI: What?
CALLER: I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. Not on an open line.
ESFAHANI: Give me a hint.
CALLER: I can’t… I…
ESFAHANI: What? What is it?
CALLER: You won’t believe it. It’s miraculous, but…
ESFAHANI: But what?
CALLER: I will tell you more when I see you. But I really have to go. Are you ready?
ESFAHANI: Yes, I’m ready.
CALLER: We need twenty SSPs.
ESFAHANI: Did you say twenty?
CALLER: Yes; two-zero. Twenty.
ESFAHANI: How soon?
CALLER: Yesterday.
ESFAHANI: Why? What’s happening?
CALLER: It’s big, but I can’t say right now. Will call you again when I can.
CALL ENDED AT 0209/21:56:23
“Interesting,” Eva said. “Not every day you read the word miraculous in an intercept.”
“My thought exactly,” Zalinsky said.
“What do you think it means?”
“I have no idea. So let’s start with the more mundane. What’s an SSP?”
“I thought you knew everything, Jack,” she teased.
Zalinsky was in no mood for jocularity. “Just answer the question.”
“I’m guessing they’re referring to secure satellite phones. But why twenty? They need thousands.”
Zalinsky took another sip of black coffee and mulled that for a bit. They both knew that the Iranians had recently bought thousands of satellite phones from a Russian company. The Iranian high command was building an alliance with Moscow and buying billions of dollars’ worth of arms and nuclear technology from the Russians. Why not communications equipment as well? There was just one problem. The Iranians eventually discovered the phones had been tampered with in a way that allowed the FSB, the Russian intelligence services, to monitor their calls. When the bugs were discovered, every Russian-made satellite phone in the country belonging to an Iranian military or intelligence commander had been recalled and destroyed.
The Iranians still had fairly secure landline communications for their military and intelligence organizations, but Iranian officials knew they were vulnerable due to the lack of secure, encrypted mobile communications. This was the very reason the NSA was having success intercepting calls from Esfahani’s cell phone and anyone else’s phone for which Zephyr was able to get a number. It wouldn’t last long. The Iranians had proven themselves incredibly resourceful in the past. But for the moment, the NSA and CIA had caught a break, and they were exploiting it as best they could.