‘Do you understand?’ Zarhagi asked the young student.
Mehdi Hosseini was a PhD student in MUT, pursuing his degree in electronics. He was lean, had thick glasses, an unkempt beard and was the very picture of the absent-minded academic.
Zarhagi knew that beneath that exterior was a sharp mind and an almost photographic memory.
‘Yes, agha,’ the student said respectfully. It was the first time he had met the former soldier and his awe was apparent. ‘I should try to get pictures of that room. If anyone stops me, I will say I was looking for a quiet place for writing my thesis.’
‘You will be stopped,’ the elder man warned him. ‘No one is allowed to go there. It’s well guarded. That’s why we have never been able to find out what’s behind those doors. Your bag will be searched. Your computer will be confiscated. You will need to store your research—’
‘It’s in the cloud, agha.’
‘Cloud.’ Zarhagi had heard of that term. He vaguely knew what it meant but couldn’t help looking at the sky when he heard it. ‘You won’t get your laptop back. If you do, you have to assume it will have some kind of virus in it to track whatever you are doing. They will bug your phone.’
‘I know, agha.’
‘I am not sure if you do. You don’t seem to be taking this very seriously. They will beat you up.’
‘I have taken several beatings. You forget I have been on several marches. I have had my bones broken by Quds.’
‘If you manage to go past that door, you will be caught. I can’t see how you can escape. It’s not beating you have to be scared of. They will torture you.’ He held his hands up. ‘They will do this.’
‘I know, agha,’ Hosseini said resolutely. ‘I am not scared. I volunteered for this. You chose me out of all the others because I have the best chance. Because of my memory.’
‘You have to upload whatever you see immediately to your phone.’
‘To the cloud, agha.’
‘Yes, that. Immediately. You can’t delay even for a second.’
‘I will do just that. Mariam and other students, they have access to my account. They will download whatever I store and upload it in several different accounts. That way it will be secure. I can do this, agha. Trust me.’
‘You have to give me up.’
‘What, agha?’
‘You have to say I put you up to this.’ Zarhagi smiled thinly.
‘You are dead, agha.’
‘Giving me up is the only way you can stay alive if you are captured.’