22

Meghan had noticed the way he leered at women shoppers. She hissed in annoyance when he shouldered past a teenage girl, his hand brushing against her butt.

Rage filled her when she saw the man smile conspirationally at the second guard. Nassour was ahead of them, unaware of how his men were behaving.

‘We take them down?’ Beth asked her.

‘Yeah,’ she snarled and when the guard nudged a woman’s chest with his shoulder, she acted.

‘YOU!’ she yelled and lunged at him. ‘Is that how you treat women?’ She slapped him, a blow that sent the Quds man reeling. He stumbled and crashed into the second guard. ‘I saw what you did, how you were behaving in the market.’

She gestured at the woman who was hurrying away, head down in embarrassment. A bunch of shoppers stopped. Iran. A patriarchal society. Men made the rules. It was highly unusual for a woman to take someone on from the opposite gender. A woman fighting a man, a military one at that, was guaranteed to draw attention.

The bodyguard cupped a palm to his cheek and dabbed at a split lip. His head rose. His eyes slitted. ‘DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?’ he roared.

‘SOMEONE WHO MOLESTS WOMEN,’ Meghan shouted back.

The assaulter cursed and surged forward his hand drawing back in a punch. The elder twin read it expertly. She ducked beneath the wild swing, grabbed the incoming wrist, twisted it, swayed her hips and brought her knee up in his groin. Shoved the man back who crashed into a stall and brought its awning down.

‘BEHIND YOU!’ Beth warned, but the warning was unneeded. Meghan had sensed the second man approaching. She spun on her heel, bending low and planted a fist in his belly. Caught his collar and slapped him several times before pushing him away to join his companion in the wreckage of the shop.

She brushed her hands against her jeans as she surveyed them angrily. They thought I would cower under their authority. They might be good at their jobs, but they were complacent.

She straightened and spread out, making room for Beth to join when the Quds men got to their feet, their faces dark with anger, their hands reaching for their holstered guns.

‘STOP!’ Nassour thundered and pushed through the crowd. ‘WHO ARE YOU AND WHY DID YOU ATTACK MY MEN?’ he asked Meghan.

Time to be obsequious. ‘Agha, that man,’ she pointed to the assaulter, ‘was getting close to women as he followed you. Very close,’ she emphasized. ‘My sister and I were behind and we noticed him. His hands strayed, his shoulder …’ she trailed off. Descriptions weren’t necessary going by the dawning light in Nassour’s eyes.

‘IS THAT TRUE?’ the Quds major challenged his men.

‘I saw it too,’ an elderly woman called out from the watching crowd. ‘That woman should have hit him harder.’ The onlookers murmured in assent.

‘Is this how the army trains its soldiers?’ a man shouted angrily. More voices in support.

Nassour read the crowd swiftly. Sure, he was Quds. He and his bodyguards were armed. They could use their authority to silence the crowd. However, several watchers had their phones out and were recording the proceedings. Despite his organization’s grip over Iranian society, there were activists and such videos attracted a lot of attention.

He acted. He strode forward and slapped both his men. ‘You are suspended immediately,’ he snarled. ‘You are a disgrace to your uniform.’

He turned to the watching crowd. ‘They’ll be disciplined. You have my assurance about that. The way they acted is not how we want our soldiers to behave.’

He turned on the charm as he faced the sisters. ‘Khanom,’ he half-bowed to Meghan. ‘Thank you. One should report such incidents to the police, not take the law in one’s own hands, but I can see the circumstances were different.’

He’s playing to the gallery. He knows everyone is watching, hence the fancy gesture and speech.

‘I know, agha,’ Meghan said, putting on embarrassed since she was the center of attention. ‘But when I saw that, I couldn’t help myself.’

The officer flashed his pearly whites in a large smile which grew wider when the crowd started dispersing. He took in Meghan and Beth. ‘You are sisters?’

‘Yes, agha,’ the elder sister smiled, her eyes soft. She too could turn on the charm taps. ‘I am Parvin Hajar and that’s my twin, Mahya Hajar.’

Nassour’s eyes lingered discreetly over their bodies. ‘You are not Iranian, even though you speak the language fluently. Women from my country will not act like this. They won’t raise their hands on soldiers.’

Beth snorted, covered it up with a cough and waved her hands in the air to dissipate the dust in the air.

‘You have a keen ear, agha,’ Meghan kept with the flattery. ‘We are from Germany. Our parents, were from Tehran, went to that country before we were born. They settled there and that’s where we live. We identify as Iranian, however. The German part of us is just an accident of birth,’ she shrugged her shoulders. ‘Mahya and I are on a tour to discover our roots.’

‘Such a romantic story,’ Nassour clapped his hands. ‘Khanom, I would love to hear more. It would give me the greatest pleasure if you join me for chai. There’s a nice place nearby.’

Meghan looked at Beth who nodded imperceptibly.

‘It would be our honor, agha,’ she replied.

‘Excellent,’ the Quds major exclaimed and brought his phone out. ‘You two,’ he ordered his bodyguards, ‘get back to my residence. I will deal with you later.’

‘But, agha—’ the assaulter protested.

‘LEAVE,’ Nassour commanded.

They left.

‘Let me make some arrangements,’ he smiled at Meghan. ‘I’ll need another vehicle and another set of bodyguards. My boss,’ he made a face, ‘he insists on protection for me.’

Got him! Meghan nodded and turned to her sister while he made calls.

‘You heard all that?’ she asked in her collar mic.

‘Yeah,’ Zeb responded. ‘Saw it too.’

She searched the bazaar’s alley for her friends, but all she could see were shoppers and storefronts and colored garments and trinkets which caught the light. They won’t be obvious enough to be spotted.

‘We got the make of his phone,’ she mentioned a popular brand. ‘It’s got those detachable batteries.’

‘We’ve got those with us,’ Chloe replied. ‘I’ll slip you one.’

Meghan nodded and turned back to Nassour when Beth warned her with a look.

‘Shall we go?’ the major asked.

‘Yes, agha.’

She replied to his questions, keeping him engaged, smiling and blushing at his compliments as they accompanied him down the bazaar.

It was when they were in the thick part of a crowd, shoppers making way for them in deference to his uniform, that she felt a body brush past her and felt something slide in her rear pocket.

Chloe. The battery.

She waggled her fingers behind her back in acknowledgment, knowing her friends would be watching.

We’re in play.