The missile came out of the darkness. A split-second streak of fire and fury before crashing through the compound wall. It brought down a security tower and exploded in a ball of fire and dust.
The guards turned around in shock. Their jaws dropped. Zeb leaped out of the vehicle and clubbed Hamid down with a vicious blow to his head. He lunged over the ground and brought Feroze down too.
Bear and Roger raced to the hut as more explosions sounded and slugged the third guard. They ripped out the phone and shot up the computer screens.
‘GO!’ Meghan ordered in their earpieces. ‘Security building is down. Admin offices are, too. One comms tower is destroyed. Our drones will start EMP-blasting in a moment. We won’t have comms ourselves.’
‘Copy that,’ Zeb signed off and jumped inside their ride and hung on as Broker took off. Bear and Roger leaped from the hut, clung to the roof rails and crawled inside through the side door.
‘Won’t those guards report us?’ Broker huffed beside Zeb as he sounded his horn and navigated through a trickle of soldiers coming out of buildings.
‘Nope. They’ll be too embarrassed to admit they were sucker-punched. They’ll say they were knocked out by the missile’s heat wave. Something like that.’
The trickle became a flood as men ran on the road aimlessly, looking dazed.
‘GET TO THE EVACUATION AREA,’ Zeb leaned out of the window and thundered. ‘WE ARE UNDER ATTACK. WE NEED TO GET OUT.’
They looked at him, stiffened at the authority in his voice and at his uniform. They trotted towards a demolished building.
There’s a training ground over there, where troops gather. Reuben’s intel, backed up by the server, had mentioned a manual escape by climbing over the walls, in case the camp was overpowered.
Broker kept driving, shouting orders from his side, at other soldiers who accepted his commands without question.
‘That’s the mosque, on the right,’ Bear hissed.
Zeb nodded and clutched the door handle as Broker drove faster. Time was of the essence. The Quds Command would hear of the attack. They would find comms were down. Reinforcements would arrive. The vehicle shuddered as it rolled over rubble. That burning husk was the central administration building, where the commander’s offices were. That tower over there, leaning crazily, was out of commission.
Broker turned on a tarmac road. Two soldiers barring their way who seemed more self-possessed than the others. One of them raised a palm to stop them, the other fingered his weapon, an HK MP5. Zeb jumped out of the vehicle. Didn’t call out. He bodyslammed into the first guard and punched him while Bear swung out from the rear and swatted the second with an almost lazy flick of his fist.
‘ARREST THEM,’ Zeb yelled at a bunch of soldiers who had stopped to stare. ‘THEY QUESTIONED MY AUTHORITY. THEY’LL BE COURT-MARTIALED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.’
The soldiers hurried over, grabbed the fallen men and led them away.
‘YOU KNOW WHERE TO GO?’
‘Yes, agha,’ one of them replied. ‘The route beyond the training ground. We’ll gather outside the camp and wait for orders.’
‘GO.’
Zeb cursed at the lost time and jumped on the vehicle’s running boards as it raced towards the first residential building. Men, many of them armed, jumped out of the way as they sped toward the residential building.
He jumped off and rushed towards the stairs before Broker had brought the ride to a stop. He shoved soldiers out of the way as they staggered down the stairs.
He grabbed one by the collar. ‘HAVE YOU SEEN KABALI?’ The man looked at him dazedly and sidled past when Zeb let him go.
Third floor. That’s where the trainers and the officers stay.
He burst up the steps, yelling at the men to make way, his friends behind him. Second floor, a group of soldiers hovering over a fallen man. Zeb’s heart sank. He pushed them aside. A Quds man, his face bleeding, glass shards stuck on his face. Not Reuben. ‘Take him down,’ he snapped. ‘This building’s not safe.’
Third floor. Skidding on spilled water and something darker that he didn’t dare think about. Fifth door to the right. He pounded on it. No reply. Was raising his hand to knock again when it opened abruptly and he was yanked inside.
He got a quick glimpse of Reuben’s bearded face. Ducked to evade the incoming blow but wasn’t fast enough. The concrete-like edge of the Mossad man caught him on the side of his temple, made his head ring.
‘Stop!’ someone yelled and when Zeb looked up, Bear had shoved the kidon against the wall with a hand to his throat, his Glock to the belly.
‘We’re friendly,’ Zeb rasped at Reuben in Hebrew, rubbing his head gingerly. He packs a punch. ‘We need to get out of here. Where’s Benisch?’
The Mossad operative looked at him, checked out Bear who had stood down but was alert for any sudden moves. His eyes flicked over to Roger and Broker who were at the door.
‘Who are you?’ Reuben asked, his eyes curious, his body tense.
‘Zeb Carter. That’s Bear. Broker and Roger over there. Avichai knows us. Some of the other kidon too.’
‘Carter?’ Reuben, rocked back in astonishment. ‘I’ve seen your photographs. You don’t look like him.’
‘You’ve heard of disguises?’ Broker smirked from the doorway.
‘I don’t mean to be a spoilsport,’ Roger drawled, ‘but this isn’t the time for lengthy explanations.’
‘You all speak Hebrew?’ Reuben carried on, still processing the arrival of the Agency operatives.
Zeb had enough. He reached out and slammed the kidon against the wall. ‘GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER,’ he hissed. ‘WHERE’S BENISCH?’
The Israeli blinked. He fell into Mossad agent mode. ‘Third building from here. Women’s quarters.’
He set off without a word, brushing past Broker and Roger and headed for the stairs. Zeb followed him, backed up by his friends.
The building had nearly emptied, just a few stragglers, as they raced down the stairs. ‘Agha!’ A soldier called out when Reuben overtook him. ‘Do you know what happened?’
‘Looks like we’ve been attacked,’ the Mossad operative threw back. ‘Get to safety.’
They hit ground level. Reuben joined Broker and Roger on the running boards while Zeb climbed inside. A colonel had to maintain appearances. Broker hit the gas, the tires spun and bit and they took off creating passage through the fleeing soldiers. Military trucks on the road, gathering slow-moving soldiers. No one giving them a second glance or stopping them.
There’s no command left, Zeb figured. The missiles must have killed everyone in authority. Or, they are dazed and trying to work the comms.
The vehicle’s skidding halt roused him and he was out in a flash, running behind Reuben. Halted suddenly when a thought occurred. Quds men might commandeer the vehicle if there’s no one in it.
‘We’ll stay here,’ Bear read his thoughts and smiled wickedly. ‘Someone needs to babysit Broker.’
Zeb turned and went up the stairs. Caught up with Reuben who was climbing nimbly, directing fleeing women to get to open space.
‘Cooks, cleaners, wives of those men who aren’t given family quarters,’ he panted at Zeb’s questioning look.
They rounded on a floor, froze for a moment at a scream.
‘That’s Zeha’s room,’ Reuben took off like a rocket.
Zeb kept pace, entered the room which was already open, automatically moving to the left, away from the open door, as he took in the scene.
Two men crouching over a woman on the floor. Three others pinning another on her bed.
The Mossad man lunged towards the bigger group with an oath while Zeb turned his attention to the two Quds soldiers who were straightening at the presence of the intruders.
The beast inside him, slumbering till then, filled him in an instant.
They were going to rape the women.
One soldier called out, his hand reaching for the gun at his belt. The other circled Zeb warily.
They must have seen my uniform, but they don’t care. They know they’ll have to kill me. That was the only way the soldiers could extricate themselves.
Zeb didn’t wait for the men to attack. Gun Man hadn’t drawn yet. That gave him an edge. He might be thinking shots will draw attention. He feinted at the second man who reared back.
Zeb attacked, a scythe-like blow at the man’s belly that would have felled him. The soldier saw it coming, deflected it neatly and counter-punched.
Zeb saw it coming. The beast made it feel like he was fighting in slow motion, enhancing his reaction speed and time. He caught the incoming wrist, twisted it and applied a lock, heard the man yell out, took a punch to his waist, another to his neck, but kept turning and clamping down on the man’s hand until his wrist snapped and his shoulder dislocated and he screamed, but Zeb didn’t let up, not even when the second soldier leaped up on him from behind and brought him down.
Zeb twisted eel-like as he fell, wrapped his right arm around the first soldier’s neck and squeezed, elbow-punched the second attacker in the face with his free arm and landed heavily on the man. Kept hitting him, taking blows in return, the cold fury inside him letting him absorb the punches.
‘CARTER!’ Reuben’s sharp voice cut through his killing rage.
He blinked. The body on top of him was limp. He pushed it away. The soldier beneath him was staring sightlessly at the wall. The three men Reuben had attacked were unmoving as well, sprawled on the floor. They had been attacking Benisch who now stood by Reuben’s side, looking at him with wide eyes.
Zeb got to his feet and wiped his hands against his uniform. Was conscious of the second woman staring at him, pale-faced.
‘Let’s go,’ Reuben rapped out and Zeb followed him and the women blindly. The beast was still in his blood, the fury still strong.
He had recovered by the time they reached ground level.
‘Who’s she?’ he asked Benisch and Reuben in Persian, nodding at the second woman who stood a distance away, looking forlorn.
‘Shabnam Vakili, a cook,’ the female Mossad operative took his cue and replied in the same language. Their covers had to be maintained. ‘The men …’ she grimaced. ‘Officers used her.’
Zeb understood what she meant. ‘Were you and her … up there?’
‘No. You arrived in time. Both of you,’ she shuddered.
‘Let’s go.’
‘We’re on our way out,’ he whispered in his collar mic when Broker set off with their new passengers.
‘We’ve eyes on you,’ Meghan replied.
They approached the main entrance, the guards still out. Zeb was turning away from the sentry hut when the vehicle was rocked by a tremendous explosion.
Broker stomped on the brakes, brought the ride to a jarring stop. They looked back as one at the cloud of dirt and debris raining down behind them.
‘We had fired only four missiles, earlier,’ Beth said smugly. ‘That was the fifth one. Smack dab into where you just left. It’s destroyed the road and brought down some more buildings. Stop gawking and get away.’
Broker floored it.
Shabnam Vakili hadn’t said a word on their ride out. Zeb had noticed her nodding when Benisch whispered at her a few times. The cook had looked on curiously when Broker stopped the vehicle on a dark street in Nazi Abad. She kept quiet when the twins drove up, climbed out with Chloe and high-fived the other operatives. Her eyes turned round when Bwana emerged from the Jeep and joined them.
She didn’t say a word when Zeb and his friends stripped their army uniforms and got into civilian clothing. Her lips pressed tight when she saw them strap their Glocks and cover the weapons with jackets and hoodies.
‘She’s good,’ Benisch murmured in Hebrew to Zeb. ‘She’s got no love for Quds, Iranian military or the police, not after what they did to her.’
Vakili looked up when Zeb approached her.
‘Khanom,’ he asked her gently, ‘do you have any place to go? Far away from here?’
She stared at him. Her eyes flicked over his shoulder to the Agency operatives. They lingered on Reuben and Benisch.
‘My father was a professor,’ she said, ‘in Gorgan. He taught science in the university there.’
Zeb stood still, hearing her out. If Vakili, used by Quds soldiers like a prostitute, wanted to tell her story, he would listen. It was late. The IRGC and Quds would get their acts together and would start combing the city, the police would join them. Despite that, he wouldn’t hurry her.
‘One evening, we were having dinner. Mama, Mahya, my sister, Papa and me. He was telling us about his day. About some students. The door burst open and gunmen rushed into our house. They were masked. They started shouting, saying Papa was corrupting the students, teaching them Western nonsense. They beat him up and when Mama went to help him, they shot her. Right in front of us. And then they shot him. I don’t know why they spared us.’
She took a breath.
‘Thank you,’ she said simply.
‘Khanom, do you have somewhere safe to go?’ he asked after a while.
‘Mahya,’ Vakili nodded. ‘She’s still in Gorgan. No one knows I am from there.’
Zeb brought out a bundle of rial notes and thrust it at her. From another pocket, he drew out several US dollars and handed them to her as well. ‘Make a new life for yourself.’
She hesitated for a moment and then took the money, folded the notes without counting and pocketed them.
‘We’ll drop you off at the station in Rahanan Square. You can make it to your sister from there?’
‘Yes, agha.’
They squeezed into Meghan’s Jeep and as dawn was breaking, reached the train station.
‘You are not Iranian, are you, agha?’ she asked when they climbed out.
‘No,’ Zeb replied.
‘And you,’ Shabnam Vakili looked at Reuben. A weight seemed to have lifted off the cook’s shoulders. She looked younger, a hint of a smile in her voice. ‘You’re not a terrorist, are you? And Layla, you’re not a brothel owner.’
‘No, khanom,’ Benisch grinned and hugged her. ‘But don’t ask anything more. I don’t want to lie to you.’
Vakili nodded, her gaze lingered on the sisters and Chloe and Bwana. Her lips parted as if to ask something. She shook her head imperceptibly and then looked at Zeb.
‘You’ll finish what you started?’
‘Yes, khanom.’
She nodded and entered the station and they didn’t see her again.