“Yes.”
“Done,” David said. “After all, we can’t let the Saudis or the Zionists have something you don’t have. I’ll get right on it.”
“See that you do,” Esfahani said. “I can assure you, success will be handsomely rewarded.”
“It will be my honor to bless Iran in every way I can,” David said. “Which reminds me. I need to call Dubai and tell our tech teams to get here tomorrow. Will your staff be able to pick them up at the airport, orient them, and show them where to get started? I’ll need to head back to Munich to fulfill this other request.”
“Yes, we will take care of everything,” Esfahani assured him. “Just tell my secretary who is coming and when.”
“I will do that, but could I just ask a question?”
“What is it?”
“If it’s inappropriate, please forgive me.”
“You needn’t hesitate. What’s your question?”
“Well, I’m just curious. Why such urgency?”
The moment the words left David’s lips, Rashidi reentered the room. David sensed he had finished his phone call some time before and had been listening to most of the conversation, presumably approving of its direction.
“That one I would like to answer,” the CEO said. “Mr. Tabrizi, have you ever heard of the Twelfth Imam?”
55
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
David landed at 11:40 a.m. and was greeted by Eva.
He was surprised by how happy she was to see him. She was professional, to be sure, but her smile was warm and she seemed genuinely relieved that he was out of Iran for the time being, safe and sound.
“So how’d it go?” she asked as they headed out of the parking garage.
“Better than I’d expected,” he said. “Is the tech team all set?”
“Absolutely. They’re booked on the first flight, tomorrow morning at six.”
“Good. Where are they now?”
“They’re all waiting for you at the office, as you requested.”
“Thanks,” David said. “Were you able to book me a room at Le Méridien?”
“I did.” Eva smirked a little. “Even got you an upgraded suite.”
“Wow, thanks. But that wasn’t necessary.”
“What are friends for?” she asked.
David laughed, getting it now. “Jack told you to make me look like a wealthy businessman.”
“He did indeed.”
David’s briefing lasted about an hour.
The irony was that while each of the members of the technical team worked for the CIA, none of them individually knew that the others did. Nor did they know that David was a NOC as well. Each of them had been hired as an independent contractor by Eva, and compartmentalization was the name of the game. The less they knew about the overall operation, and about each other, the better.
When they finished a lightning round of Q &A, Eva dismissed the team. Then, when the coast was clear, she led David out of the conference room and down several hallways to a small, quiet, private office in the back of the MDS regional headquarters. They slipped in quickly and closed the door behind them, and there they found Jack Zalinsky waiting for them.
“You survived,” he said upon laying eyes on his protégé.
“Better than that,” David replied. “I bear gifts from afar.”
“That’s my boy,” Zalinsky said, slapping him on the back and actually smiling for the first time in David couldn’t remember how long.
“Let me guess,” Eva began as they took their seats. “You need twenty secure satellite phones.”
“I’m impressed.”
“Well, mein freund, you may have been loafing around in your hotel room, watching TV, and going to prayer five times a day,” Eva teased, “but your phone has been working hard, and it’s been a gold mine.”
She explained the middle-of-the-night call from some senior Iranian official-yet unidentified-to Esfahani, requesting the satellite phones. What’s more, she assured him that all twenty would be ready for him to pick up in Munich in seventy-two hours. She also gave him a file with the transcripts of every call the NSA had intercepted thus far based on the new contacts he had entered into his phone.
Thanking them, David quickly shifted gears. “You guys have heard of the Twelfth Imam, right?” he asked.
“Of course,” Eva said. “I sent you that article about the cult leader in Yemen who says he’s preparing the way for him to return.”
“Exactly,” David said.
“You’re talking about the so-called Islamic messiah?” Zalinsky asked. “The one who is supposed to bring about the end of the world, that kind of thing?”
“Right.”
“What about him?”
“He may actually be on the ground, in Iran.”
There was dead silence for a moment.
“Come on,” Zalinsky said, “it’s a fanatic’s fantasy, a myth.”
“Jack, it’s not about what you and I are willing to believe,” David countered. “It’s about what the Iranian leaders believe, and I’m telling you, they think he’s here-some of them, anyway.”
“So what?” Zalinsky said. “That has nothing to do with our mission.”
“Actually, it does.”
“How so?”
“Everywhere I go, people are talking about him,” David said. “He’s popping up in news stories. Religious experts are having conferences about him. And I’m hearing all kinds of rumors that he is alive and well and appearing to people.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Zalinsky said. “It’s a bunch of religious superstition. Don’t get sidetracked.”
“No, no, you’re wrong, Jack,” David insisted. “Listen to me. Two nights ago, a mysterious cleric shows up at the home of a little girl who has been mute from birth. He knocks on the door and asks if he can pray a blessing on the home. He seems harmless enough, so the parents say yes. Then he asks if he can see their little girl and pray for her. They ask him how he knows they even have a little girl. Now get this-the stranger says Allah has sent him to their house to heal their child. At this point, the father thinks the man is a little, you know, out there. But just then, the little girl walks into the room. The man prays for her; she falls down and goes into convulsions. Her parents freak out. But a moment later the little girl gets up and begins to speak for the first time in her life.”
“So who was the man?” Eva asked.
“Well, that’s just it; no one’s ever seen him before,” David said. “They have no idea where he’s from or who he is, and in the commotion of the little girl’s healing, the man simply vanishes. But the girl is convinced it was the Twelfth Imam. The parents are too. They’re telling everyone what happened, and the story was on the front page of all the newspapers in Tehran this morning.”
“That’s crazy,” Zalinsky said.
“Maybe, but that’s not all,” David said. “I’m told that recently, Ayatollah Hosseini was up at some mountain retreat center of his called the Qaleh.”
“The Qaleh?” Eva asked, looking at Zalinsky.
“That’s right,” David said. “Why?”
“Nothing; go on,” she said.
“Well, apparently, Hosseini is praying when he suddenly sees a bright light and hears a voice speaking to him. The voice tells him that the Mahdi is going to be revealed soon and that Hosseini and his advisors are supposed to ‘get ready and be prepared’ for his arrival. Hosseini is telling people close to him that it was the Twelfth Imam who spoke to him. Rumors like these are spreading like wildfire throughout Tehran. People are saying that the Mahdi has come and that he’s about to reveal himself to the Islamic world-and all of humanity-and usher in the end of days.”
“You picked all this up on the street?” Zalinsky asked.
“Everyone’s talking about it. Even Rashidi,” David said.
“When?”
“Last night at his apartment.”