‘Golzar,’ Nassour said contemptuously, ‘take these women away. For interrogation.’ He let go of Meghan’s wrist. ‘Did you see anyone else? Outside?’
‘No, agha.’
‘You,’ the Quds major addressed the patrons. ‘Mind your business. This is official work.’
He started rising which was when Meghan acted.
She reared forward, grabbed him by the lapels, twisted her hips and sent him staggering toward Golzar.
The men crashed into one another. Regained their balance. Looked at each other and then at Meghan in shock.
‘ARREST THEM,’ Nassour roared in anger, his hand clawing at his waist for his gun.
Zeb kicked his table and sprang out of his chair. Heads turned in his direction. He lunged forward and caught the rising gun and forced it down. Headbutted Nassour who seemed taken aback by the strength and power in the hefty man.
All hell broke loose when the Quds officer yelled in rage. He punched Zeb who took the blows on his chest. Pound away, he grinned inwardly. That’s just padding.
Nassour was fast, wiry and strong, however. He twisted like an eel and attempted an armlock. Zeb read his move, charged at him and bodyslammed the officer. Sent him sprawling into a table behind, whose patrons shrieked and fled.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Meghan grappling with Golzar, Beth grabbing another soldier’s gun and forcing it down. Bear and Chloe jumped into the fray; their faces covered by scarves. The big operative hurled a chair at the bunch of Quds soldiers who were reaching for their weapons.
Broker and Roger, their faces covered too, and seeing how effective furniture was, grabbed a table and flung it at the Iranian men.
Bwana waded in as well, just his eyes showing above the patterned cloth over his nose. He swung a fist, and a bone cracked loudly over the sounds of the fight.
Zeb’s head rocked back when Nassour punched him. He turned his attention to the officer who was reaching again for his weapon. Need him alive and unhurt. He caught the man’s wrist and forced the gun away, to the side, both men heaving and straining, kicking and punching each other with their free hands. A shot sounded. Someone screamed and the rush of customers turned into a stampede.
‘We’re good,’ Broker panted in his earpiece. ‘We need to leave.’
As if on cue, Nassour bellowed at his men, ‘CALL MORE MEN. NONE OF THEM SHOULD ESCAPE. USE YOUR WEAPONS.’
His warning was too late.
Bwana and Bear plunged deeper into the melee, cracking faces, grabbing weapons and tossing them away like firewood. They caught hold of a Quds soldier threw him against a wall. Lunged at Golzar who had drawn a blade on Meghan and was cutting and weaving in the air. Bwana swatted away his knife arm as the man turned towards the new threat.
‘Get him,’ he told his friend in Hebrew. Bear lowered his shoulder and ran into the killer, picked him up in a fireman’s lift, spun on his heel and heaved him towards the window.
A shout left Golzar as he windmilled in the air and crashed through the glass.
‘GO!’ Zeb commanded in the same language and Chloe leaped through the shattered window. Broker followed her. The twins were next and then Bear and Bwana.
Zeb let go of Nassour’s gun arm, aware of the triumphant look in the man’s eyes as he swung the weapon towards him. The major’s snarl faded when Zeb throat punched him, grabbed his neck and smashed his head onto a table.
He spun on his heel and lunged through the open window. Landed in the alley which was emptying rapidly as customers and storeowners fled from the scene.
‘Split,’ he ordered and disappeared into the night as his friends went separate ways.
He jogged through the maze of the Grand Bazaar, joined a crowd of shoppers and discreetly removed his cheek pads and fake nose. Bent his head and replaced the contacts in his eyes to grey from their previous brown.
He caught up with Chloe in a shoe shop, their rendezvous point. The petite operative had her face fully covered in a black veil, different to the one in the restaurant, as she inspected the footwear in the display window. Bear, in a pristine white shirt, glowered at men who dared to eye his woman.
‘That was a quick costume change,’ Zeb murmured as he joined them.
‘Years of practice,’ Beth said in his earpiece.
He turned casually and saw the sisters approach, colored shawls on their heads, sporting different hairstyles.
He chuckled when he noticed them holding hands. Very common in Iran for friends and family to hold each other like that. The gesture didn’t have any of the Western connotation in the Middle East and Asia. Anyone looking at them wouldn’t think they were lethal operatives.
Bear’s head loomed over the shoulders of other customers; his face now wrapped in a red scarf. Broker and Roger some distance behind him.
‘Anyone hurt?’ Zeb asked.
‘Nope,’ the sisters chorused while the other operatives shook their heads.
‘Anyone see your faces?’
‘Meg, you and I were the only ones uncovered,’ Beth replied. ‘Everyone else hid their faces the moment the fight broke out.’
‘That Golzar,’ Meghan grimaced, ‘he’s very good. He had me cornered.’
‘I kicked him when he was down in the alley,’ Roger grinned. ‘He won’t forget that soon.’
‘We’ve got eyes-on,’ Beth held up her phone discreetly. ‘Nassour’s still at the restaurant.’
‘Let’s go,’ Zeb said and turned on his heel swiftly. Quds would blanket the Grand Bazaar and even though they were sporting different looks, it wasn’t safe to stay any longer.
The gel that Meghan had poured into the major’s tea was a liquid GPS transponder that stayed in the human body for days and pinged its location to a tracking device.
We now can listen to his call recordings and know where he is, Zeb thought as he walked swiftly, ducking beneath awnings and skirting other shoppers.
As he left the Grand Bazaar, a thought niggled away at him.
Why was Golzar there? Why had Nassour recalled him from Imam Ali Garrison?
It can’t have been just to capture us. The major could call up any number of elite soldiers for that.
No answers came to him as he made his way through the streets of Tehran, back to his accommodation.