‘You think you found something yesterday?’ Beth smirked when Chloe showed her photographs to the twins.
‘Read what that says,’ Zeb told her. ‘Research Lab. A soldier was blocking access to it.’
‘Yeah,’ Bear confirmed, ‘and it was in a part of the campus that wasn’t in the plan.’
MUT’s campus layout was readily accessible on its website. However, the sisters had their own building plans, sourced from various intel reports. None of those had shown the existence of that particular hallway that Dr. Vermillion had barged into.
‘What do you think is happening there?’ Meghan toyed with a pen.
‘Some kind of chemical, biological or nuclear research,’ Zeb suggested. ‘Why else would there be a guard?’
‘It’s a military university, for Chrissakes,’ Beth snorted. ‘They have armed sentries everywhere.’
‘Not like that man,’ Chloe replied stubbornly. ‘He was an elite soldier. I am sure he would have questioned us if Bakhtyar’s aides hadn’t pulled us away. Zeb is right. There’s something there.’
‘There’s nothing,’ Meghan said smugly. ‘Oh, sure, there’s a lab, but it’s not as if they are doing anything banned by the UN. Here,’ she turned her screen at them. ‘That part of the university isn’t as hidden as you thought.’
Zeb leaned forward and looked at several photographs of a large building, which had the words Research Lab, carved on a concrete pillar. Images showed several suits being greeted by university officials and entering the building.
‘That’s the same name you, saw, right?’
Chloe scrolled through her phone and nodded dumbly.
‘Why did it feel like we had reached the end of the campus?’ Zeb asked puzzled. ‘We were checking our screens as those men took us around. We were sure we had been to every building, except that hallway and whatever lay beyond.’
‘It’s the layout,’ Meghan explained as she brought up the building’s plan. ‘It’s designed cunningly.’ She dragged her pen along the pathway in the layout. ‘You went here, here and here,’ she pointed to various labs, ‘but the campus curves right at the back where that building is and there’s thick undergrowth and vegetation—’
‘Yes, we were on that track. Dabri said there was nothing else beyond and there was nothing in our plan.’
‘Simple trick. The building is easy to miss when touring on foot. Its entrance is at the rear, no other building has it that way. That hallway you saw links that Research Lab to another building. It’s only aerial surveillance or a more comprehensive walkthrough that will show that place.’
‘So, we did miss out on a lab.’
‘You did.’
‘Why are you giving us a hard time, then?’ he spread his hands helplessly.
‘Because,’ she made a face, ‘those photographs,’ she brought up the photographs on the screen again. ‘Those official-looking men entering that building … those are UN inspectors. They visited that lab just last month. It’s where chemical and biological research does happen, but related to agriculture. Crops, fertilizers … those officials found nothing incriminating. No weapons of any kind. No banned substances.’
‘It’s easy to fool UN inspectors,’ Bwana said doubtfully.
‘Yes, I think one lab looks like another. These inspectors need to give advance notice of their arrival and that’s enough time for whatever research that’s going on there to be hidden. That’s why Beth and I … we think Mostofi is pulling a fast one on everyone.’
‘He did go there along with Nassour,’ Zeb reminded Bwana, backing up the twins.
‘Yeah,’ Meghan chewed her lip in frustration. ‘But, MUT did get a clean certificate from the UN.’
‘Iran is very closely watched,’ Bear said thoughtfully. ‘Any chemical or non-conventional weapons research would have been spotted by the international community.’
‘They carried out the nuclear weapons program under everyone’s noses until they acknowledged it,’ the elder twin flashed back at him. ‘Mostofi’s a fox. He knows how to conceal his country’s secrets. Not just him, but everyone in the IRGC and military leadership.’
‘We told you there’s something there,’ Chloe said triumphantly, ‘something behind that soldier.’
‘But what?’ Beth threw her hands up in frustration.
They stared at the layout on her screen and Chloe’s photographs. None of them had any answers.
‘What about you?’ Zeb turned to Broker and Roger. ‘What did you find?’
‘Mostofi’s got a new—’ the Texan began.
‘Don’t,’ Broker warned him and briefed his friends about their visit to Kharg.
‘Paint?’ Bwana asked incredulously.
‘Yeah.’ Broker showed them the drone’s footage and the close-ups of the flakes.
‘Why…?’ Bwana squinted at the paint. ‘That’s what on their oil pipes. We’ve seen it everywhere in this country, wherever there’s oil equipment.’ He scratched his head, befuddled. ‘Heck, none of this makes sense.’
‘They touched the pipe on that bridge?’ Zeb looked at the photographs that Broker was projecting on the wall.
‘You can see for yourself,’ his friend replied and flicked to the right image. ‘We couldn’t see what they were doing inside the pumping station.’
Bear went closer to the wall and stared at the photograph. ‘Nope,’ he shook his head. ‘I can’t see why they’re doing that.’
‘Can you identify who that Chinese dude was?’ Zeb looked at the twins. ‘He must be someone important, for that official—’
‘That oil company man is Ghafoori, he’s the VP Operations for that terminal. He runs it.’ Meghan interrupted him. ‘And the man he introduced was Owen Chau, the Head of Business, that’s his official title of Gayou Corporation.’
That strikes a bell. Where did I hear it?
‘It came up in one of Clare’s intel briefing,’ Chloe read his expression. ‘They have maintenance contracts with the NIOC.’
‘Not just them, with many other national oil companies in the Middle East,’ Beth brought up several photographs of the company on her screen. ‘They are the largest contractor in this part of the world. Thousands of employees, offices in several cities. Chau,’ a smiling face appeared on the projection wall, ‘lives in Niavaran.’
‘Alone?’ Zeb asked.
‘Seems like it. He’s got protection,’ Meghan skimmed through a dossier quickly, ‘wife and kids are in Shanghai. He travels extensively … company jet … nope, he’s around for a few days. I checked flight records.’
‘Let’s meet him,’ Zeb said. ‘Ask him a few questions.’