The Minders

by Max Boroumand

  Scanning the door jam and frame, he placed his key in the door, unlocked it, and stepped inside. He placed his briefcase by the door. Walking into the kitchen, he placed the takeout food on the counter. He wanted to dress into something more comfortable for dinner. He walked to his room, to the closet, and opened the door, finding a masked man standing in front of him. He froze, just briefly. Before he could make a move, a spray of knockout gas put him out. He fell to the ground after just one breath, instantly.

  Gideon dragged Parvaresh to the kitchen and placed him in a chair. Taking off his gas mask, he bound the unconscious man’s hands and feet. He then opened the front door for the others who were waiting outside. Jason and another of Gideon’s men walked in, closing the door behind them. Gideon’s man placed a worn, well-used leather doctor’s bag on the table, from which he pulled out a necklace bomb and several other items. He placed the necklace around Parvaresh’s neck, closing the clasp and moving the three combination dials randomly into lock position. He then snapped open a smelling salt ampule and stuck it under Parvaresh’s nose. Parvaresh’s eyes opened wide. He was confused but alert. He took a deep breath. Tied to the chair, he calmly and quickly began to gauge his surroundings, measuring everyone, scanning for weapons, looking for solutions.

  “Wake up!” Gideon yelled in Farsi, smacking the man’s face.

  “How are you feeling?” He grabbed the necklace, pulling it forward a bit.

  “Should you get further than five meters from us, the necklace bomb will go off. The explosion is small but large enough to take your head off! Now we have several questions.”

  Parvaresh took several minutes to gain his composure. He was still analyzing. Moving his head and neck around he felt some object tight around his neck. He moved his chin up and down, getting a feel for the size of the item. He turned his head to see his reflection in the window, to get a visual on the item. He clearly recognized the design and origin.

  “You are Israeli! Yes?” he asked in Farsi. He asked again, in English.

  Gideon replied in Farsi.

  “Just speak in English. I can always use the practice. Don’t bother with Farsi,” Parvaresh continued in English.

  “Either way, the questions are the same,” Gideon responded.

  “So what now? Are you going to torture me?” Parvaresh asked calmly.

  “No. We’re going to ask you some questions, and then we shall ask more, and maybe more after that. If you’re truthful we will leave you be. Let’s start with where you work.”

  Parvaresh gave a long, passionate, well-rehearsed speech about his work at a cultural center. He gave tours to people around Tehran. The books were for learning about the tourists. He loved his job, and he loved interacting with foreigners.

  “You are too calm, with a bomb around your neck, to be a tour guide,” Gideon said moving his chair closer.

  Gideon stuck an ice pick into the man’s thigh to let him know they wouldn’t be patronized. Parvaresh, with his lips quivering, nearly screamed with pain, but bit down hard instead, keeping completely quiet.

  “See, I knew you weren’t a tour guide. A tour guide would have pissed his pants right about now.” Gideon pulled out the ice pick. He asked him again, the same question. Parvaresh spewed out more details about his career, his favorite tours, tour locations, and his love of English.

  “I would love to take you on a tour of the old Shah’s palace someday.” Parvaresh smirked.

  Gideon dragged the chair with Parvaresh in it, against the wall, removing the painting on the wall above him. He then grabbed a small, full IV from the doctor’s bag and hung it on the nail used to hold the painting. He tapped on Parvaresh’s arm, looking for a vein. Having found one, he stuck the IV needle into the vein. He then stabbed him in the other thigh with the ice pick.

  “That’s for wasting my time. And, to raise your adrenaline so the meds could go through your body faster.”

  Gideon went to the kitchen for a drink, to allow the drugs to do their thing. He opened the fridge and found a nice cold beer. He sat at the dining room table chatting with Jason about this new experimental drug they’ve been using and how it worked. It created this warming sensation, feeling hotter and hotter as though acid was flowing through the body. It literally boils your blood inside your body. It will not kill you, but can cause severe brain damage if too much is given or for too long. He points to a second IV on the table as being the coolant, the only cure.

  They were all staring at Parvaresh. He was sweating. His skin tone was changing to shades of pink and red. He kept biting down on his lips, clenching his fists, trying his best to endure the pain. He lasted almost ten minutes, before begging to have it stopped. He answered the first question truthfully. Gideon stopped the IV flow, and added the second IV as a coolant. Jason asked him several control questions, about Bobby, the other prisoners, and the Biologicals. Parvaresh began to lie again. Gideon switched the IV flows, for five more minutes. In pain, he started to shake and beg for relief. The process started and stopped several more times, until the truth started spattering out in sentences and paragraphs.

  They asked questions about the building. Starting with the outside, with which they were already familiar, followed by detailed questions about which they knew very little. Parvaresh seemed to be cooperating. All control questions matched the answers. They would validate all other questions in short order. They spent over three hours with Parvaresh getting what they needed, with one major snag. The employee entry system used a swipe card in combination with a biometric iris scanner.

  “Well, we shall just gouge out both eyes and off we go.” Gideon asserted.

  “A dead eye won’t work,” Parvaresh painfully said, “The scanner checks geometry as well as dilation.”

  They had to drag him along and alive. They quickly increased the coolant solution and added a saline solution to help dilute the chemicals, to make sure he did not die before opening The Center doors.

  Gideon sent his man ahead to pass the intelligence to the others waiting at the site, to help finalize the entry points. There would be three entering as planned, and three others entering through the main employee door, in the parking lot behind the building, Parvaresh being one of them.

  * * *

  Within the hour, the group was prepped and ready for the assault.

  28 | The Center

  It was past midnight on Thursday. Jason and Gideon cleaned Parvaresh up, preparing him for a drive to The Center. They tied his hands behind his back. Placing a nice roomy jacket over him and zipping it all the way up. They added a shawl around his neck and a ski hat on his head. He looked wrapped and goofy, but was ready to go, nice and cozy. Jason walked the halls several times, as well as the staircase. There was no activity in the building. He waved down the hall to Gideon, signaling the move.

  Gideon grabbed Parvaresh and started walking down the hall. Parvaresh was still feeling the heat throughout every blood vessel. His thighs were in pain, sore and bleeding. He needed help walking, and leaned heavily on Gideon. Jason caught up to them, moving to the other side of Parvaresh, grabbing him by the pant belt. They moved down several flights of stairs, to the garage. They placed him in Parvaresh’s car, Jason with him in the back and Gideon driving.

  * * *

  They went by the café for a quick email stop. Jason lifted his cell phone up towards the car window, moving left to right, searching for a strong Wi-Fi signal. He let several emails piggyback the Wi-Fi out of the country. On verification, he tapped Gideon on the back, and off they went to The Center.

  They drove into the employee parking lot. There was a license plate reader scanning the car. Gideon opened the window, sliding Parvaresh’s magnetic card through the card-reader. The heavy gate began to open. The car went through, with one of Gideon’s men following on foot, placing a small device on the gate hinges, then running up to the car, signaling the number ten. He then quickly ran out before the gate closed.

  “We have to wait for ten min
utes,” Gideon whispered in Jason’s direction.

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, at the local mosque several blocks away, there was a large explosion. The mosque was getting ready for Friday prayers. People were working to clean the place, laying out the carpets and preparing for the thousand or so worshipers. The police, ambulances, and fire engines rolled in from all directions, converging on the mosque. Gideon and Jason kept a close eye on their building looking for any movement, an open door, an office light coming on or off, but there was nothing. They stepped out of the car, got Parvaresh on his feet and walked towards the employee entrance. At the door, Jason slid the card, with Gideon placing Parvaresh’s face near the biometric reader. Parvaresh stared into the reader. First, there was a low-level red flash, followed by a redline scan, up and down and then side to side. Parvaresh blinked twice and moved his head back. The door opened.

  * * *

  At The Center’s main guardroom, on level B2, the alarm jolted the guard on duty. He sat straight, scanning all the monitors. He quickly found the monitor covering the employee entrance where the alarm originated. The scanner had read the two winks as a coded message, one employee with two extra and unwanted visitors. The guard sounded the internal silent alarm. Several guards, fully armed with automatic guns, left their dorm rooms moving towards the main guard duty room. They were there to get their orders and to place themselves in the best spot for a counter move. They watched as Jason and Gideon slowly moved Parvaresh down the corridor towards the staircase. Several of the armed men ran out to position themselves. The remainder kept watching for others. They kept watching as Jason, Gideon and Parvaresh walked past B1 and towards B2.

  Having seen no others on any other monitor, the remaining men moved out to support the first set of guards.

  * * *

  Gideon’s three other Mossad agents had specked out a roof entrance, which they had accessed via a zip line from the commercial building on the backside. The roof was a necessary entrance, given that they had to disable the satellite and microwave communications links. It was the last of the communication systems. Earlier, they had placed explosive devices inside the neighborhood telephone junction boxes. Communications could be cut in an instant should it be required. They bypassed the alarm system triggers on the roof door and began making their way down to B2.

  Jason and Gideon were near level B2.

  * * *

  The armed guards waited patiently for the B2 stairwell door to open. They heard second by second updates from the main control room. Gideon was the first to step out, followed by Parvaresh and Jason behind him. All three were now on level B2. Within seconds, lights inundated them from several directions, with the guards yelling in Farsi, ordering them to get down. Moments later, the ceiling lights went on and all was visible. Guards had fully surrounded them.

  The duty guard from the surveillance booth was also out watching the commotion, missing the other three Mossad agents coming down the stairs, closing in on them.

  Two guards moved onto each man on the ground, zip tying their hands and legs. When reaching for Parvaresh they saw his tied hands, so they merely zipped his legs. Parvaresh started yelling at the guards. He was a prisoner of these two Israelis. The booth guard brought out a portable biometric reader. Rolling Parvaresh over, he scanned his iris, confirming his identity.

  “Well, you are who you say you are but you’ll still be tied. However, you may sit.” Two guards lifted Parvaresh and began moving him towards the guardroom.

  Gideon started counting, winking at Jason. “One meter … two meters … three meters … four meters … five meters.”

  There was a sudden explosion around the corner. Half of Parvaresh’s neck was missing. His jaw was hanging on his face by some strips of skin and muscle, blood was squirting everywhere. Suddenly the blood flow stopped and he fell dead to the ground. The guards escorting him were in shock, gawking at the disfigured body, with blood splattered all over their faces. The other guards started running towards them. They were circling the body wondering what just happened, talking amongst themselves as a few cleaned their faces with their shirtsleeves, far away from the stairwell.

  At that very moment, the stairwell door to level B2 quietly opened again.

  Having cleaned up a little, the guards decided to go back to collect the other two, now more cautiously. They walked back and around the corner, right into three men pointing guns at them. A quick barrage of silenced gunfire later, the four guards fell dead.

  One agent stayed behind to release Jason and Gideon, as the others ran around the corner to be sure no other guards remained. In the control room, they killed three more guards.

  Having cleared the room and general area, one sat down to operate the security monitors, to keep an eye out for more guards and to monitor the premises.

  With Jason and Gideon free, the plan was once again on track. Gideon took one of his men to B1, the data center. While Jason and another of Gideon’s crew stayed on B2, looking for prisoners.

  29 | Prisoners

  Jason walked the halls on B2, checking room after room. Looking for where Parvaresh had said the guests stayed. He opened yet another door, a new corridor to inspect. The lights automatically came on. He walked past a room with lockers, a small kitchen, and a small circular table with chairs. He went to the first room. Looking inside, it was empty, as were the next two. The third room had a person in the bed. He unlocked the door. Opening the door slowly, pointing a gun at the prisoner, he turned on the light. It was a girl. She was sound asleep. He closed the door and moved to the other rooms. They were all empty.

  At the end of the hall were bi-directional swinging doors with large glass portals. He opened them into a small lobby resembling a hospital emergency facility. Surrounding the nurses’ station was a series of rooms. He started on the right checking each room. Someone occupied the third room. He walked in and, under the dim lights, counted six hospital beds. He turned on the lights, again pointing his gun as he moved forward. He heard a young man grunting.

  “It’s too late for a visit, Mr. Parvaresh!” Bobby yelled, burying his head back in the pillow.

  Jason immediately recognized the voice. He walked over to Bobby.

  “Hey Pinchy, wake up, it’s time to go home,” he whispered in Bobby’s ear.

  Bobby still groggy rolled over and continued in his deep slumber. Perhaps it was just another happy dream.

  “Turn off the lights Mr. Parvaresh!” he said. Then suddenly and painfully, he sat up, looking around.

  “Who said Pinchy?”

  He was face to face with an unshaven, dusty looking man wearing local garb, and staring back at him.

  “Uncle Jason!” He cried, reaching out for a hug.

  “Ouch! My ribs!”

  Jason wanted to hold him for a long time, but time was short. Leaving Bobby, he walked over to the other prisoner, asking him for his nickname.

  “Why does everyone want to know my nickname?” the father said, followed by a soft whisper containing his nickname.

  Ordering them both to get up, Jason explained the next steps, as briefly as he could. He started to drag them both out of bed, rushing them to get dressed and to put on their shoes. He had found his people. It was time to get out, quickly.

  30 | Level B1

  Jason escorted Bobby and the father down the hall to pick up the little girl, while Jason and Gideon’s man checked out the remaining rooms one last time. Bobby was in the locker room looking for his belongings. The father and daughter were also looking. They found all of their personal belongings in those lockers. Bobby grabbed his backpack and laptop.

  “These are mine, bitches!” he said smiling.

  They found the other carry-ons and brought them out. It was too much. Jason told the father to pack as little as he could in the smallest bag. The father took some clothes for his daughter and her favorite doll. He left all the rest behind. He stuffed the items in his daughter’s Mermaid Backpack and followed Jason.
He needed to focus on carrying his daughter, if need be, and not any luggage. After a short visit at the surveillance booth, they left the floor, moving up to B1.

  * * *

  They walked up the stairwell to level B1, opening the door to what seemed like a scene out of a sci-fi movie, with sophisticated technology wall-to-wall. Gideon and his people were busy working. Gideon was placing explosives, while the other man was working on a computer.

  “What are you guys doing? Let’s just blow the place and get out,” Jason yelled towards Gideon.

  “We need to get as much intelligence as we can,” Gideon yelled back from the other side of the floor. Bobby stood behind the man on the computer and watched for a while. The man was clearly out of his league.

  “Uncle Jason? Do you mind if I have a go?” Without waiting, Bobby walked around, passing all the data processing servers, looking for the data vaults.

  He found an HP x510 Data Vault sitting next to two dozen more. He knew they were all connected, and knew it was easier getting in from the back door versus the front door. He picked the first one and connected his computer to it. He started typing, running scripts, staring at his laptop monitor. Almost an hour went by with everyone nervously waiting. The father and daughter were inside the conference room, looking through the glass wall, clinging to each other. Jason was standing near Bobby looking at his watch. The rest of Gideon’s men were sending status reports via earpieces every ten minutes. Gideon planted all of his explosives, and was now hovering over his guy at the terminal.