“What’s the hold up?” he said nervously.
“This is all encrypted data, and massive in size. We can’t take it and we can’t send it anywhere!” Gideon’s tech guy replied in frustration.
“What are you doing?” Gideon sarcastically asked Bobby, walking in his direction.
“This is all encrypted data, and massive in size. We can’t take it and we can’t send it anywhere!” Bobby repeated, with equal sarcasm.
“But, I’ve solved the problem,” he said, closing his computer and packing up.
“Let’s go Uncle Jason. I’m done.”
“We have our people and we’re off,” Jason told Gideon. He thanked him and insisted he too leave as quickly as he could.
“You guys take off. We have some work to do before we leave. Be safe,” Gideon replied.
Jason started shoving Bobby towards the conference room, waving for the father and daughter to join them. They all started walking towards the staircase. Bobby slung his backpack over both shoulders, and painfully picked up the little girl, smiling at the dad.
“I’ll carry her for a while. You can do the next shift.”
The father picked up the Mermaid backpack, kissed his daughter with an approving smile, and they all followed Jason.
They quickly worked their way towards the employee entrance. Jason stepped out to look around. Smoke filled the distant sky, with a glimmer of orange on the horizon from the still burning mosque. He looked around. Seeing no one, they all ran to the gate. Jason swiped the magnetic card, from the now dead Parvaresh, to open the gate. Looking across the street, he saw the idling delivery truck. Erdal flashed a light, three times. Jason looked around once more.
“Our ride is here.” Grabbing and shoving people, he moved the group to the idling truck.
“We have Bobby, plus two more,” Jason said pointing to the father and little girl, while shoving them into the truck.
“What happened? Was there a sale?” Erdal smiled as he shifted gears and drove off, with all five crammed into the front cab.
Within seconds, they were blocks away and well on their way to the warehouse. Unbeknownst to them, there was a pizza delivery scooter close behind and a car with four men further behind that.
* * *
Gideon and his crew placed their explosives and were on the way out. The data breech was unsuccessful, so the next best thing was to destroy what they found. They soon reached the employee entrance and parking lot. They detonated the explosives on the gate hinges, dropping the door with a massive crash. They then ran out of the parking lot and around the corner to their car.
They drove less than a block before stopping. They first blew all of the communication systems, on and off premise, followed by triggering all internal explosives. The building explosives included enough power to bring the five thousand gallon external gas tank crashing into level B1, gushing flammables all over the data center floor. Moments later, came the final gas implosion. It brought down the entire building. Fully satisfied, Gideon tapped the driver on the shoulder and they peeled away.
* * *
A group was following them too, close, and very well.
31 | The Capture
The explosions brought more fire trucks and emergency units to the neighborhood. It seemed to be a bad night all around. Fire engines, the police, and a cadre of agents from The Center itself surrounded The Center. Added to the mix were the revolutionary guards, the military, and hundreds of onlookers. Bystanders tried to help, reminiscent of days when Saddam would volley surface-to-surface missiles towards Tehran, during their long ten-year war. This time around, the military and revolution guards were busy keeping everyone away from the building, given its sensitive nature. They told the people that it was a gas tank explosion. The heat and fire would not allow anyone to get close or go inside the building.
The only calm people in the group surrounding the burning building were The Center agents. They were fully prepared for such an event and knew exactly what the next steps were. They were angry, but kept their cool. They did not expect such total destruction, but they were prepared for this Black Swan event.
Their great training kept them professional and on task. With their equipment and systems in ruin, The Center agents had to reestablish communications. They needed to contact all assets, both locally and those on assignment. They needed to notify them of the attack and implement the emergency protocols. Most protocol changes triggered automatically when communications were broken. However, in some instances, a direct and immediate contact was necessary. The very first step was to deploy all mobile command centers and to redeploy agents to those mobile units.
* * *
Jason and the delivery truck were deep in the city’s industrial zone, followed by three cars and a collection of motorcycles and delivery scooters, with excellent street craft all around. Although the followers switched, drove by and took opposite turns, they neglected to change their license plates. Jason was memorizing each plate as they crossed paths. Jason had them all tagged in his mind.
“We’re being followed.” Jason softly mentioned to Erdal.
“How many? How long? Where?” Erdal asked as he looked back from his side mirrors.
“From the very start, and they’re too many for us to handle. I think they want to see where we end up.”
Erdal made a couple of careful turns and got back on a main stretch of road back to a different part of the industrial zone.
“I have a plan,” he said, after calling his brothers.
“We’re going to an abandoned store we own with a locked and gated driveway. We will park inside, close the gate, and quickly move to the tunnel system that will take us to the opposite block. You, Jason, will have to man the tunnel entrance and slow them down just a little.” Erdal handed Jason some keys, telling him which to use for the gate.
Within twenty minutes, they were at the abandoned storefront. Jason jumped out, unlocking and opening the gate, while the others got ready to exit the truck. Erdal pulled in and parked. They all got out. Erdal handed Jason an AK-47 machine gun, giving him some final instructions. They both closed the gate, locking it from the inside.
Leaving Jason at the gate, Erdal directed the rest through a broken side door, towards the tearoom, with a tunnel entrance under a carpet in the middle of the room. Once the trap door was open, he whistled towards Jason, starting the five-minute timer. Jason kept a close eye on the road through the gate bars, seeing only two cars and a motorcycle visible in the distance. They were stopped, idling, and steadfast. Five minutes were up. Several more cars had joined Jason’s main tail, with no one moving any closer to the store.
Jason shored up the gate as best as he could, moving the truck against it. He then ran towards the tearoom. He placed the carpet over the tunnel door so that upon closing it covered the entrance as before. Any slowdown was a good thing. He climbed down the ladder and into the tunnel. It was dark and musty, the air thick with dust. Apart from that, it was well-built, and surely the last time Baba’s family would ever use that tunnel. Jason ran down the tunnel guiding himself by feeling the sidewalls, feeling the foundation beams every five feet. A good hundred yards away, the end of the tunnel became visible, lit by the opposite opening. As he got closer, he started yelling, as instructed.
“Hello Dolly! Hello Dolly!” It was either that or be shot by Erdal. Apparently, Erdal loved American musicals. Soon enough, he was at the other end of the tunnel.
“Welcome.” Erdal greeted him as he pulled him out of a fake manhole at the end of a short dead-end side street. They were now on the opposite side of a very long block of buildings. Erdal quickly replaced the cover as they ran to the waiting car half a block away.
“I didn’t hear any gun shots. Did they not come in?” Erdal asked.
“No. they were just waiting at the end of the road.”
“Good. I suppose they wanted to gather their tactical group and assault the place properly. We have lots of time now.” He smi
led as they both jumped into the back of a waiting taxi, driven by Erdal’s brother. The father and daughter were in the front seat, the other three were in the back seat.
“How many cars a day do you guys steal?” Jason joked.
“As many as we need,” Erdal and his brother replied in harmony.
The father looked at his daughter and clarified that they are not stealing but just borrowing, and will return it later.
“So! Why ‘Hello Dolly’?” Jason asked Erdal, as the taxi moved towards safety.
“Oh, no reason, I just thought it would be funny to hear you yell that as you ran,” Erdal replied with a big smile on his face, as his brother shook his head, laughing.
* * *
Halfway across town, Center agents surrounded Gideon’s safe house. The assault teams were in place. They found the building manager and the building blueprints, as well as the roster of tenants. They discussed the roster in detail with the manager, breaking down the possibilities into two apartments, #408 and #209. The assault team split into groups. The orders were to capture them alive.
Back at the abandoned store, that assault team too was ready to move in. All three places were on a synchronized, timed assault. Watches were marked. Thirty seconds left to go.
It was well into an hour since both locations had been found, with assault teams in place, and ready for the take down. Fifteen seconds left. The store and two apartments were seconds away from a full assault, with concussion grenades and entry battering rams in hand. Three. Two. One.
* * *
A truck pulled the store gate off its hinges. A Center agent tossed concussion grenades through the already broken windows. Seconds later, seven fully masked and protected assault members rushed in, rifles pointing forward at the ready. The place was empty. They searched for back doors, windows, and all exits. There were no other exits. They initiated a more detailed search.
Doors to apartment #209 and #408 were battered open, concussion grenades tossed in, followed by similar teams rushing through the door. They cleared apartment #209, after a thirty-minute search and interrogation. It housed three brothers, local men, who worked at nearby shops.
Apartment #408 turned out to be a gold mine. Gideon and his three colleagues were taken in, with one shot, but not fatally. The others were just slightly bruised and injured. They prepared them for a move to the Revolutionary Guard facilities at the heart of Tehran, while another group of agents remained behind to collect all the evidence left in the apartment.
* * *
Leaving the apartment, agents in several carloads drove to the Revolutionary Guard Headquarters, while Jason’s car elsewhere in town, drove to safety.
32 | Breakfast
The cramped, stolen taxi was thick with anticipation. Driving away from the abandoned store they were all thinking, “will we be free? Are they going to catch us?” There was a nervous quietness encasing all. Everyone looked down as if by doing so, invisibility would set in.
If I can’t see them, maybe they can’t see me, the little girl was thinking.
Jason asked for the satphone and made a call to his dad. Several tries and many rings into the process, his dad finally picked up the phone.
“Gordon here!”
“It’s me!” Jason said firmly, followed by short sentences, “I have him. He is healthy. Be very careful, because we’ve kicked the hornet’s nest. I’ll call later.”
Hanging up the phone, he asked the man with the daughter if he could make a call on his behalf. To which he received a nod and a phone number. Again, after multiple tries, he finally reached a voicemail. He quickly handed the phone to the father.
“I got voicemail, leave a quick message!”
The father grabbed the phone, hearing the end of his wife’s message. He started talking with quivering lips and a shaky voice.
“Azizam … it’s me … us … me and Khoochikam. We’re safe for now. We’ve been rescued from the jail. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’re going to try to get home somehow. Pray for us. I love you.” Hanging up, he handed the phone back to Jason. He then hugged his girl who was sleeping in his lap, clutching her pink backpack.
Soon they could all rest.
* * *
Safely back at the warehouse, in the tearoom at the far end of the building, they were all sitting on several sofas sipping tea. It was early in morning. In the distance, you could hear the call to prayer. From the couch, you could see trucks through the glass window, parked throughout the warehouse. All the trucks had their back doors open, some were empty and some partially loaded. All had different side paneling and logos. All had mud and dirt at least half way up the side. Erdal took out a country map, laying it out on the rickety table. He started showing all the possible exit routes.
“This is the main road and the most traveled for us haulers.” He grabbed his tea, took a sip and popped a cube of sugar in his mouth.
“We’re safest at this crossing, although almost all trucks are checked and inspected,” he mumbled, sipping once more.
“But they never check for long because there are hundreds of trucks that go through every day.” Filling his teacup again, he came back to the table and pointed to another crossing.
“This one is rarely used by big trucks. It’s right off of highway 16 and rarely checked, but when checked, they look over every inch, hoping for some bribery money.” He took another big sip, and popped another cube of sugar in his mouth.
“And, on the other side, in Turkey, the roads are filled with bandits, usually too much trouble.” He put down the teacup and sat back down on the couch.
“As you can see there are dozens of crossings into Iraq. So, you guys pick.”
Jason asked Erdal for his car keys, telling him that he needed to do some thinking before he could decide. He asked for the satphone again.
“Didn’t I already give you a satphone?” Erdal asked, handing Jason another.
“Yes, but I left it at Gideon’s place.”
Jason grabbed the keys and phone, and walked out.
* * *
By mid-morning, Jason was back in the coffee shop where he first met Gideon. It was not very busy since it was Friday, the beginning of the weekend. He wanted to work his way back to Gideon’s place. He needed to know what had happened to them. He tried to remember the countdown from that spot, through every turn, to Gideon’s apartment. He began his drive, focusing on sounds and timing. Fifteen minutes later, after several wrong turns and miscalculations he was in the general neighborhood. He parked his car on a busy street. He started looking for buildings he recalled seeing from inside the apartment. He walked around the block several times and finally pinned down the building he believed to be the one where Gideon had taken him.
Someone followed Gideon as well, he was certain of that. He had to be careful. Center agents probably had peppered the surrounding area and building. He had to be sure of Gideon’s predicament. He walked around the building and eventually found his way in through the underground garage. By the sound of things, listening to the gossip in the basement laundry room, there was some major action in the building. Indeed, they arrested the residents of #408, by force, and one was injured.
As much as he could have used some of the equipment in the apartment, he left as stealthily as he had arrived.
* * *
Jason drove back towards the warehouse and along the way found a large, somewhat active shopping mall. Parking his car away from all others, he began a sat call to his friend Warren Spencer at the agency. The call went through.
“Hello. This is Ames Electronics. How may I direct your call?”
“Good day. I’m checking on order #275,” Jason replied.
“Please hold.”
Minutes went by, with several clicking sounds, and finally, “Good to hear from you. Where are you?” Warren answered.
“Good to hear your voice too. I have my package. I also picked up an extra pair. As a bonus, I’ve picked up a trove of in
credible intelligence. Two packages will ship through Turkey, taking our spot. My package and I will be going to Piranshahr, then across Iraq to the Erbil embassy. We’ll need air support. Can you provide?”
“Yes. Do you have the intelligence on you?”
“No, we’ve moved it offshore,” Jason said cautiously.
“Where?” Warren asked.
“We’ll tell you when we see you,” Jason replied. His value inextricably tied to the intelligence.
“Make sure you can provide quick air support. I’ll contact you one last time before the crossing. Thanks.” Jason hung up, knowing there will be some support nearby. All he had to do was to cross the border.
He got out and walked to the bakery at the edge of the mall to buy breakfast for everyone.
* * *
At the warehouse, Bobby was sitting on a couch next to the little girl. They were playing games on his laptop. The father was across the room staring lovingly at her, holding her small pink backpack. His tea was next to him, on the side table, untouched. He was afraid for her, for himself.
Erdal and his brother were loading trucks, packing the right pallets in the right order, leaving gaps for the special deliveries. Erdal was working on the truck designed for smuggling people. It was a refrigerated Mitsubishi Fuso FE160 truck, with a hidden and cooled two-man sitting or four-man standing compartment in the very back. There was an opening at the base, for bathroom breaks. There was food and water storage for 5 days. He filled the water compartment, loading dry bread, nuts and dried fruits in the food compartment. He then checked the hidden door hinges, the door lock, and finally did a little spray painting to cover some scratches on the floor and ceiling. The partition was ready.
Jason showed up just in time for breakfast. With his bag full of fresh flat bread, pomegranate juice, cheese, and water soaked walnuts. You could smell the bread all around Jason as he walked in to the tearoom. He covered the table with the food. The little girl and Bobby were the first to jump to their feet. They were craving something other than tea. The rest stood back as the youngest in the crowd took their food first and then the rest took turns helping themselves. Erdal’s bothers grabbed their food and ate near the trucks, with the rest in the tearoom discussing their plans.
The Minders Page 17