Oil wasn’t on Mostofi’s mind as he walked beside Professor Sohrab Nazer, his aides a couple of steps behind them.
White-painted corridor. More armed guards as they approached a metal door. The scientist peered into a lens, got a green light, placed his palm against a pad while the security men watched impassively. The door hissed open and closed behind them.
Mostofi had been to the facility several times but, on each occasion, he couldn’t help himself. He stopped and stared at the spectacle.
It was like a Hollywood movie. High ceiling, white light space, an observation area. Several meters away was a thick glass wall beyond which white-coated technicians worked. Some of them on sophisticated microscopes, a few clustered around centrifuges, some checking monitors or typing furiously on their keyboards.
However, the center of attention was a man strapped on a bed.
‘Do your men know anything about this?’ the professor asked.
‘No, why don’t you do the honors?’
‘About a hundred people know of this place,’ Nazer told Mostofi’s aides proudly. ‘We are in Tehran, the largest city in Iran. Hundreds of students in the university. American satellites patrol the skies above, but they have no clue what goes on in here.’
‘What’s this place?’ Tehari asked, unable to keep the awe out of his voice.
‘Iran’s only biological and chemical weapons research facility.’
Mostofi smiled when the aides gaped at him. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It exists. I know what you heard, that no such place exists, that we don’t develop such weapons. However, we are surrounded by enemies and we need to exploit every edge we have. We have some of the best scientific researchers in the world and many of them work in this facility.’
‘But, agha,’ Vahdat looked around in surprise. ‘There’s not much security. Just that gate and guard—’
‘That hallway we came through, it links to the main building. Any student can use it, right up till that first guard.’ Mostofi couldn’t contain his smile. ‘That’s the deception. Too many guards, fancy clearances and students and professors will suspect what’s behind the doors. That security man is in front of a glass door. We came through it. You saw it opened into another corridor which has another door with biometrics and that leads to the lab, where the professor greeted us. Hiding in plain sight.’
Miri turned to Mostofi, ‘What about United Nations, agha?’
‘They send their inspection teams,’ the Quds boss chuckled, ‘and we show them this facility. But we clean it up before they arrive. We tell them we do agriculture research. They believe it, the fools. The Americans, the British, the Israelis, they all have fallen for it. Why wouldn’t they? There is nothing for them to suspect. Sure, there are rumors,’ he scoffed, ‘but then we invite them to see for themselves. Even I, when I visit, I enter through a guarded hallway that links the lab to the main campus. That way, no one can see me arrive here and draw any conclusions. What Professor Nazer,’ he waved grandly at the facility, ‘has here is the most secretive and deadly lab in the world. Everyone here is security cleared. They are monitored constantly. We know where they live, who they are with at any point in time … the checks here are tighter than what we have at Quds. And you know what,’ he paused dramatically, ‘the professor doesn’t exist.’
He slapped his hand against his thigh at the expression on his aides’ faces. ‘Yes, you heard me correctly. Nazer was killed by Mossad several years ago. The Israelis confirmed it and that was enough for the rest of the world. They accepted it blindly. What they don’t know is we faked his body. Everyone thinks our chemical weapons program is over with that assassination.’
‘But, agha,’ Nassour gasped in surprise. ‘The professor … he’s here, he’s got staff, how have you pulled that off?’
‘Nazer doesn’t leave these premises. He lives here. As for his people … they know what will happen to them if his presence leaks out. We present other scientists whenever there is an inspection. We have maintained this secret for years and we will continue to do it.
‘Your boss came to me six months ago,’ the scientist beamed, proud to be the center of attention. He gestured at the vacant chairs and resumed when they had seated themselves. Not one of the researchers behind the glass partition raised their heads to regard the visitors. ‘He had a simple order for me. Prepare a toxin that could kill in mass numbers but show no distinctive symptoms. No coughing with blood, no white lips, nothing like that. Not until the victim was dying.’
‘Saddam Hussein tried to create such a secretive weapon. The Israelis might have something like this, but you know how they are. Liars. They will deny any such research, which in any case, is banned by the United Nations.’
‘Sarin,’ he carried on, ‘is one of the most famous chemical weapons.’
The aides nodded. Everyone had heard of the nerve gas.
‘The Nazis developed it,’ Nazer continued, ‘NATO adopted it, yes,’ he smiled knowingly at their expressions, ‘in the nineteen fifties, both the Americans and the Russians manufactured and stockpiled it. Iraq had it and used it against Kurds. Chile developed it as well. In the nineties, the United Nations’ Chemical Weapons Convention was signed by more than hundred and fifty countries and it banned Sarin and many other chemical weapons. We signed that agreement too.’
‘However, we kept researching,’ he laughed, ‘and when Quds became such a powerful force, we got our backing. Your boss’s order was not easy to implement. Developing a virus or a toxin that looks very natural but is easily transmitted and kills quickly … that’s not easily achievable. Many countries have tried to develop such a weapon, all have failed. Until now,’ he boasted.
Mostofi’s eyes gleamed, ‘Are you saying…?’
‘Yes, Commander. The vaccine is ready.’
The Quds boss didn’t leap in joy or high-five the scientist and the researchers. He rocked back in his seat and rubbed his hands together as the smile spread across his face.
‘Vaccine?’ Vahdat asked puzzled. ‘You developed that before the virus?’
‘No,’ Nazer chuckled. ‘We had the virus, but we couldn’t weaponize it without the vaccine. That would put our own people at risk. Come, let me show you.’
He rose from his chair and went to the glass wall. Tapped on it to get a researcher’s attention.
‘That man on the bed,’ the scientist narrated, ‘what can you see in him?’
‘He seems normal,’ Tehari said. ‘He’s either sleeping or is unconscious.’
‘We injected him with the virus three days ago. It has a gestation period of forty-eight hours. That means the virus settles inside the human body for that long before acting. On the third day, Mansoor,’ he went to a mic and spoke to the researcher, ‘how does it work?’
‘Fever, shivering, coughing, sweating, agha. The normal symptoms of the flu. But they worsen rapidly, within a few hours. The virus attacks the internal organs. Breathing becomes difficult, and then almost impossible. Kidneys fail. Heart struggles to pump. Within three or four hours, the person is dead.’
‘That man,’ the professor pointed at the body, ‘a criminal that the commander provided us with … his symptoms are just starting.’ Even as they watched, the man coughed intensely, his body heaving on the bed. The researchers around him drew back in alarm.
‘You all are fine, Mansoor,’ he laughed. ‘You have been injected with the vaccine.’
‘Yes, agha. We couldn’t help ourselves,’ the researcher replied but kept a distance from the prisoner.
‘That distance is not enough,’ the professor whispered. ‘That’s how the virus spreads. Body fluid contact. Coughing or breathing close to someone. It is perfect for transmission in crowded places. Events. Football games. Restaurants, bars, cinemas, trains, anything that you can think of where people gather.’ He raised his voice. ‘Bring the other prisoners.’
The researchers dragged in three men and positioned them around the infected man.
‘They are drugged,’ Nazer continued, ‘they aren’t aware of their surroundings.’
Mostofi didn’t react in any way that he had recognized the three prisoners, the guards from Shahriar Garrison. He could have tortured and killed them for their failing at the camp, but had restrained himself. When Nazer had asked him for more test subjects, he found a use for them.
Nassour might know them. He’s investigating the attack. He glanced sideways at his aide, however, there was nothing but fascination on his subordinate’s face. He must have forgotten. He would have interviewed hundreds of men at the camp.
None of his aides showed any reaction to the presence of the prisoners or to how they were treated. They are Quds men. They know how we work. We’ll do anything for our country.
Mostofi turned his attention back to the glass enclosure as the prisoner reared up and coughed loudly. He groaned and lay back on the bed, visibly shivering.
‘That’s enough for them to be infected,’ the professor said in satisfaction. ‘Take them away,’ he ordered and turned back to his visitors. ‘We have cameras in their cells. I’ll send over the footage to you. There will be nothing to watch for two days and on the third day, they will die. Quickly.’
‘I will send more prisoners,’ Mostofi told him. ‘Stuff them with those three. I want to see the infection spread as you claim.’
‘I don’t claim, Commander, I am stating that’s how it works.’
‘Still, I want to see for myself.’ The Quds boss wasn’t going to tell Nazer that he had to show proof to the Supreme Leader.
‘This is your virus,’ Nazer said triumphantly as he brought out a test-tube from his pocket and flourished it in front of their eyes.
A colorless thick fluid, nothing else to see. ‘And this is the vaccine,’ he drew out another tube containing another colorless liquid. ‘Come to my office, I will inject all of you with it.’
‘Where will the vaccine’s supplies be?’
‘Here.’
‘No. You may keep a small stock of it here for your experiments, but the rest of it will be stored at our bases. You,’ Mostofi addressed his aides, ‘make the arrangements. No one should know what’s in the cases.’
‘We’ll take care of it, agha,’ Nassour promised.
‘We don’t have enough for the entire country,’ Nazer said. ‘We are not equipped for that kind of manufacturing.’
‘I’ll take care of that,’ the Quds boss said. ‘I will need the formulation—’
‘I can provide you that.’
‘Any doctor can administer this?’
‘Yes. Why?’
‘The Supreme Leader and his team need to be protected as well.’
‘I have thought about that. I have packed a separate batch for them. You can collect it when you leave.’
‘Great.’ Mostofi clapped him on the shoulder. ‘You have enough stock for a few thousand people?’
‘Yes, that’s what we agreed on.’
‘Good. The manufacturing can wait until we need it. Send me the details and make sure you and only you know of it.’ He didn’t need to warn the professor, the two of them had worked together long enough that Nazer knew what had to be done and how security had to be maintained.
He also knows the consequences of failing.
‘What have you named it?’ he asked the scientist.
‘Nothing. That honor is yours.’
Mostofi beamed. He had thought up a name.
‘We’ll call it USX-74.’
Nazer stroked his chin and nodded thoughtfully. ‘That will do. I’ll get my people to label it. We can call the vaccine USXV. Any significance to that name?’
Mostofi smiled but didn’t explain. He glanced at his aides wondering if they got it. Nassour, he was the smartest of them, made the connection first.
He slapped his thigh and chuckled. ‘You are a genius, agha. That’s such a name.’
His people’s adulation carried him late into the night.
USX-74. The destruction of the United States on the Fourth of July.