Bwana and Roger, their cover as fitness coaches, followed Babak Vahdat out of Khagani. They too spotted the counter-surveillance measures and hung back. They had eyes-on; it didn’t matter if they were several vehicles behind.
The two men didn’t indulge in idle conversation. They had been friends for long and were used to each other. The Texan whistled tunelessly while Bwana cracked his knuckles as they parked and waited.
‘It will be difficult to shadow Vahdat,’ the bigger operative stifled a yawn. ‘Those dudes with him are good. They’ve got a protective cordon around him.’
Roger grunted in assent.
A similar conversation in Bear and Chloe’s car as they followed Salar Tehari and parked near the Presidential Administration Building when the major’s retinue went inside the compound.
‘You can enjoy my company until he returns,’ the petite operative grinned. ‘We’ll figure out if we can get closer once he exits.’
Bear took her hand and kissed her knuckles. They had met in Afghanistan while stationed on the same base. Chloe, with the Eighty-Second Airborne, and Bear, with his special forces team, both of them aware of each other but neither had the courage to make a move. It was when they had left the Army that the two had set out to find each other. Zeb happened as they fell in love and New York became their home.
‘We’re just off the Presidential Building,’ Meghan navigated the twins’ vehicle expertly, glared angrily at another driver and raced into an empty parking spot. ‘Nassour’s gone in.’
‘We’re here as well,’ Broker checked in, Bwana and Chloe echoing him.
She looked at her sister and shrugged. It looked like none of Mostofi’s aides had gone for a run in the morning, or had been alone, outside. Those could have been opportunities to get close … we’ll have to wait, she told herself.
Comfortable silence between the two as they brought out their screens and followed up on Werner’s searches.
‘That was Mostofi’s first such interview in more than a year,’ she reported on their comms network. ‘His last interview was about how successful Quds was in curbing political dissidents. No mention of the US in that one.’
‘We might need to fly the drones over their houses,’ her sister chimed in, ‘to see if we can break in and hack into their phones or laptops.’
‘Mostofi’s here,’ was Zeb’s only response. ‘We spotted his vehicle. All five of them, now, in some office in that building.’
Wait and watch, Meghan told herself, an opportunity will arise.