by Thomas Shaw
“Yes, yes,” Arash answered hurriedly, “My son is a computer instructor at the University in Sydney.”
The English voice says, “Have him contact me at this site,” as Arash writes down the name of some obscure site in Tehran.
The next morning Frank arrives earlier than usual at his computer lab and begins the communication link with the unknown person in Tehran.
By the time the first students drifted into his lab he had transferred the incredible story about how his new student had used some special software to hack into a major hotel in Sydney with incredible easy and how this event was substantiated by the news report. The encrypted messages passed back and forth for two days when Frank was asked to wait for further instructions.
Classes went on as usual as Tom and Frank acted like nothing had happened until several days later when Frank approached him with an invitation to another dinner meeting. This time the meeting would just be between Jim Peterson and Frank.
The meeting lasted for over two hours with Tom taking notes so he could explain exactly what had transpired when he explained it to Julie.
As Tom entered the apartment he meet Julie at the door. “Did SAM tell you what happened?”
“SAM wants to talk to both of us at the same time,” Julie said without understanding what was going on. Once again they sat down at the kitchen table with their note pads in front of them.
“It looks like we’ve peaked their interest,” SAM said in her matter of fact female voice. “They have been actively researching the backgrounds on Jim and Julie Peterson and it looks like they’ve determined that both of you are spoiled college kids looking for a free ride on someone else’s dime. They think you applied for the scholarships in Australia just to get an elaborate paid vacation. In a couple of days Frank is going to offer both of you an option to extend your scholarships to a university in Tehran which is based on Julie’s interest in the Arabic language and more to the point Tom’s ability to hack into corporate computers.”
Tom was silent for a minute then asks, “Does Dr. Merrill know about this?”
“It was his idea,” SAM stated flatly.
“If this is what it takes to find my dad, then what is the next move,” Tom added.
“We wait,” SAM simply stated. “Frank’s story is making its way up the chain of command and I’m following every move.”
It didn’t take long for the decisions to come down from someone in the highest levels because Frank was now asking for another dinner meeting but this time it was with both Tom and Julie.
Jim and Julie Peterson walked into the East Chinese restaurant where they were met with a smiling Ishmael Jazar. It was clear that Frank had been given the go-ahead to put on a lavish dinner for his two guests because this is one of the best restaurants in Sydney. After a few cocktails and half way through the dinner, Frank made his pitch. “I’ve been talking to some of my colleges about your, let’s just say your special talent and one of the heads of an advanced computer department is very interested in meeting you. In fact he has offered you and Julie platinum level scholarships to a prestigious university.”
SAM had instructed Tom to count to ten before he answered. He sat there for a minute like he was contemplating what he was going to say, he even glance over to Julie so he could delay his answer even more.
“What university are you talking about?” he finally asked.
Frank breathed an audible sigh of relief and said, “It’s the Amirkabir University in Tehran.”
“Do you mean the Tehran that’s in Iran?” Tom asked with a big question mark.
“It’s one of the most advanced technical schools in the world,” Frank added quickly.
“Maybe so but didn’t we just have a war with those guys?” Tom pressed showing sincere concern.
“That was over two years ago and just like every other war the United States is involved with they try to reestablish the country or countries they defeated by rebuilding them into a democracy like you have in American and even like here in Australia,” Frank said in a well-rehearsed script. “I can assure you that the government in Iran is looking for talent like yours to help them rebuild the infrastructure of their country.”
“What do you mean by a platinum scholarship?” Tom finally asked.
“It means it’s beyond first class,” Frank responded sounding like the salesman he was becoming. “You will have an apartment in the best area in Tehran, which is near the university, along with a new car and an unlimited expense account for meals and entertainment. You will even have your own private interpreter.”
“When would this scholarship take effect?” Tom asked while looking at Julie for her reaction.
“The semester you’re in here at Sydney ends in early August, so you will have almost four weeks before you will need to be in Tehran,” Frank said hoping he was closing the deal.
“What about the visas and other paperwork we’ll need?” Tom asked.
“It’s all been…Uh; It will all be taken care of by the university here in Sydney,” Frank said quickly correcting himself.
Tom paused for a long second, then turned to Julie and asked, “Well, how does this sound to you?”
“You know, the more I think about it, the more I like it. The best way to learn a new language is to be around people who speak it.”
Tom paused again for ten long seconds, then turned to Frank and said, “You’ve got a deal.”
Frank was visibly relieved and simply said, “I’ll take care of everything and if you want some time off, I’ll make sure your attendance in my class is 100% so you won’t sacrifice any of your scholarship credits here in Sydney.”
Instead of going back to their apartment, fearing it might be bugged like their house back in Tracy, Tom drove to the parking area above Bondi beach. They sat for several minutes not saying a word but just looked out at the ocean and the full moon.
Finally Tom broke the silence when he said, “SAM I hope you know what you’re doing, because this is getting way out of our comfort level,” as he reached over and held Julie’s hand.
The next morning before they had a chance to have breakfast their phone rang and it was Frank. “I forgot to mention one other thing we need to do before I can close this deal,” he said quickly. “They want to see you hack into another computer system just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke we had with the Hilton. Would you have a problem with that?”
“Who are they?” Tom asked.
“Let’s just call them your benefactor,” Frank said.
“No problem, when do you want to do it?” Tom said, following SAM’s instructions.
“I’m going to let the class out early today, I thought we could do it right after lunch.”
“Sounds like a plan, I’ll see you in about an hour,” Tom said as he hung up the phone.
“What in the world are we going to do this time,” Tom said in a panic.
“Don’t worry about a thing, I’ll take care of it. Just do what we did the last time. Frank will be convinced it is you that’s doing the computer manipulation,” SAM said in her almost too calm of a voice.
When the class was dismissed for lunch, Tom and Frank stayed behind as Frank locked the door to the lab. “They want to see you hack into the power grid in some town in the United States,” Frank said bluntly.
“There’s no way I’m going to hack into anything in the United States, so you can just forget about that,” Tom said sounding as indignant as he could.
“Well, that’s what they’ve ask for,” Frank said lamely.
“I’ll tell you what… I’ll hack into North Korea and shut down their internet service for a few hours, just long enough for the United Press to pick up the story so we can get confirmation that “they” will want to see,” Tom said making it sound like a non-negotiable offer.
Frank though about it for a minute then said, “That will work. Let’s do it.”
Tom pulled out the thumb drive he had used before and plugged it into th
e workstation. “Are we going to use the same host we used last time?”
Frank simply nodded his head.
An hour later the main internet service provider in North Korea went off-line.
“It should be just a matter of time before we see the wire service hit the internet with the news,” Tom said as he pushed back from his computer.
Frank had tried desperately to see what Tom was doing but couldn’t make heads or tails from his rapid keystrokes.
Forty five minutes later the first trickle of news came across the internet. “North Koreas internet goes dark” was the headline from the UP wire service.
“How long do you want to leave it down?” Tom casually asked.
Once again Frank couldn’t believe his eyes and simply said, “Put them back online, I’ve seen enough.”
When Tom arrived back at their apartment he was anxious to tell Julie about his latest venture but she quickly signaled that SAM had filled her in and indicated that someone could be eavesdropping on their conversations.
Tom suddenly had an idea. “Why don’t we take a little vacation,” and indicated with his hands that he wanted to get away from their apartment.
The next morning after several notes had been passed back and forth with coded conversation they packed some clothes in their backpacks and headed for the Volvo. They went north, out of Sydney, and followed the highway along the Eastern coast. With the windows down and the radio playing a little louder than usual, Julie leaned over to whisper in Tom’s ear, “Where are we going?”
“Use your phone and see if you can find a private airstrip, somewhere along our route,” Tom whispered back.
A few minutes later Julie held up her phone and showed Tom two orange dots displayed on her Google map. Following the directions to the first one brought them to what looked like a derelict farm. The only thing that indicated a runway had been here was the remains of tattered windsock.
Tom turned back to the highway and headed north to the second one. This was just what he was looking for. There were several planes tied down in front of a small building which Tom thought must be the FBO (or fixed base of operation) for this four thousand foot runway indicated on Julie’s phone.
It turns out that there are only two people at this FBO and they are a husband and wife team. Paul is the A&P mechanic and his wife runs the rental business. It turns out that this airstrip was used during World War II to train Australian airmen and now they own the entire operation. When Tom asked about renting a plane for a couple of days and showed them his pilot’s license and log book they seemed overly impressed that an American had chosen them.
The plane that Tom ended up selecting was a well-used Cessna 182 with a little over a 1000 hours on its engine.
“It’s yours,” Paul said handing him the keys and a couple of head-sets.
“Don’t you want to take me for a check ride to make sure I know how to fly this thing?” Tom asked.
“You Americans are the best pilots I’ve ever seen,” Paul responded “but if you don’t mind the extra gas, it’s OK with me.”
Tom and Paul were soon making some touch and goes with a couple of approach to stall when Paul said, “You’re good to go mate,” in his Australian accent.
Tom filled out the paperwork while Julie loaded the backpacks in the backseat of the plane.
“Are you sure you don’t need any sectionals to show you where you’re going?” Paul asked.
“I’ve got a special app in my iPad that will take me where ever I want to go,” Tom said with a silent smile.
Tom taxied to the end of the runway and checked his radio with Paul’s base station. “Next stop, Ayres Rock,” Tom said into his microphone.
“Cleared for takeoff,” Paul responded.
12
Tom and Julie took off and climbed to eight thousand feet then picked up a westward heading that would take them directly to Ayers Rock. SAM was there to lend them a guiding hand so they were never more than fifty feet off the exact heading to their next destination. They hadn’t flown more than a couple of hundred miles when the terrain changed from the coastal green to a desert sand and remained like that all the way to the rock.
They landed at a small airstrip in a town just north of Ayers Rock where they found a motel which was close to a local restaurant. While having dinner they met an elderly Aborigine man who was anxious to tell them about this geological oddity. He was quick to correct them about the name of this “Rock”, it was not Ayers Rock but he called it Uluru Rock and according to him it was formed over 10,000 years ago when the earth was created. He claimed that when he touched the “Rock” he was able to communicate with his ancestors back to the creation of time itself. I ask him if he ever watched the History channel where they claim the earth is over 4½ billion years old. He said he wasn’t familiar with that and quickly changed the subject by asking if I had ever tried to play a didgeridoo. After a few drinks and several attempts at playing the didgeridoo, which happens to be the oldest musical instrument in the world, Julie and Tom called it an evening and retired to bed.
The next morning after a tour of the “Rock” they gassed up their plane and headed back toward the coast and the city of Brisbane. They turned north when they were over the water and followed the Great Barrier Reef until it was time to look for a place to land and catch up on some sleep. For the next two day they flew north until they landed in the historical town of Darwin. As they started looking for a place to stay they were surprised to find almost every commercial enterprise was closed even though it was in the middle of the week. There was one exception to this situation; it seemed like every bar was open and overflowing with men dressed in every era military attire you could imagine. With nothing more than the curiosity to see what all this commotion was about, Tom and Julie walked into the first tavern they came to. When Tom asked to see a menu, the Australian man standing close to him recognized the American accent and yelled out, “It’s a Yank!” The whole tavern exploded in unison, “Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray for the Yanks!”
It turns out that Tom and Julie had landed in Darwin on Anzac Day, which is a national holiday in Australia honoring the military men and women who served their country. You would have through that from the level of gratitude being poured on Tom and Julie that they had won World War II single handed. It seemed like every military person in this tavern wanted to tell them their combat experience from WWI all the way to the recent 10-Day War in the Mideast.
They found out that the same Japanese commander that headed the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 led a similar attack on Darwin one year later. During this period the threat of being attacked had become so intense that all the women and children in Darwin were forced to evacuate until the end of the war. The Japanese air force bombed the Darwin harbor and other northern territories relentlessly for about a year killing hundreds of Australians and injuring thousands more. One thing was for sure, you wouldn’t want to be from Japan in this crowd. The animosity toward that culture is still at a heightened state even to this day.
Tom and Julie finally found a classic looking Bed and Breakfast on the harbor and spent the next couple of days exploring the famous Crocodile Sanctuaries and historical locations this area has to offer.
As the end of the month was approaching it was time to head back to Sydney and prepare for the move to Tehran. Two days later Tom set the rented Cessna down on the runway where they had originally left. After a quick recap of their adventure with Paul and his wife, Tom and Julie headed back to their apartment and packed everything they were going to take with them to Iran. It had been a nice break in the stress they had been under but the thought of his dad being held against his will began to weigh more heavily on his mind.
Tom bid farewell to Frank, who had become better known as Ishmael Jazar from all the references SAM had made when she talked about him.
Tom and Julie arrived at the International Airport in Sydney a couple of hours earlier than their flight was sche
duled to depart. After they had removed their luggage from their car a young man approached out of the crowd and climbed into the Volvo and drove off. Even though SAM had given them a heads-up as to what was going to happen, it still gave Tom an odd feeling to watch some stranger driving away in “his” car.
They went through security without a hitch and made their way to the Lufthansa flight that would take them to Tehran.
The first class tickets made their sixteen and a half hour flight a bearable event.
They were just pulling their bags off the carousel in Tehran when a young man about their age walked up and introduced himself. “My name is Hussein Javid and will be your concierge while you are here in Iran,” he said in almost perfect English. Jim and Julie Peterson introduced themselves and soon both felt the bonds of friendship developing with this pleasant person. They were soon heading through the traffic bound streets of Tehran to their new living quarters. Their apartment was very modern with amenities they had not expected like the Jacuzzi jets in the oversized bathtub and the sauna built into their extra-large bathroom. To top it off they were only a four block walk from the university’s campus. After the pleasantries were pretty much played out Tom asked, “Where is the car we will be using?”
“I will be your personal driver while you are here at the university,” Hussein replied.
Tom was surprised by this statement and he quickly added, “Our scholarship included a car,” he said a little over ardently.
“We thought it would be more convenient for you if I was your personal driver,” he pressed.
“We appreciate your offer but we will definitely need our own transportation,” Tom said with a firmness that was felt by Hussein.
“I understand,” he answered. “Is there any particular type you prefer?”
“I would like a four door model with an automatic transmission and a reasonable amount of horsepower,” Tom said as he repeated the requests being made by SAM.