Mostofi summoned Nassour and Golzar to his office.
‘What do you have to say to them?’ he asked his favored aide when they arrived, nodding at Vahdat, Miri and Tehari who stood stone-faced. ‘They lost their men. Your man is still alive.’
The Quds commander didn’t care that Golzar was present, too, observing. He wanted the man to witness his rage. Anyone who carried out his missions had to know what he was like when plans went wrong. It kept them alert.
‘Babak,’ Nassour clasped the man’s arm. ‘I don’t know what to say. We thought we had the man. He would be a hostage and when Carter came to rescue him, or surrender, we would get him too. It was a good plan. I made Radan walk me through it several times.’
‘We were mentoring them for leadership, agha,’ Vahdat jerked away from Nassour and addressed Mostofi. ‘You are aware of that. Eventually those three men, and him,’ he spat at Golzar, ‘were to take over from us. Now what do we have? Just one survivor and he too will die soon in America. You know how hard it is to find good leadership material, agha. We have thirty-thousand soldiers in Quds. Finding Radan, Jehangir, Fathi and Golzar … we had to search for the right candidates, go with them on missions, assess them, gain their trust … all that for nothing.’
Mostofi let him vent. He didn’t interrupt Vahdat and suppressed a smile as Nassour squirmed. It was only fair that Golzar’s mentor face some heat from the other aides. I am partial to him but don’t want it to be too obvious.
‘Stop,’ he commanded when Miri and Tehari had joined in too. ‘Nassour is right. The plan was good. I was aware of it too. It would have worked with every other enemy. Not Carter. Somehow, he knew it was a trap. My double,’ he told his aides. ‘Babak, you, Salar and Jehangir interrogate him. He has been standing in for me for a long time but who knows? The Americans might have turned him. Also, question everyone in the command bus. The soldiers that Radan worked with. The choppers, the pilots and its occupants. Why didn’t they spot the Americans? That gas, the money, how didn’t anyone see that truck? Find out. Spare no effort. Report back to only me.’
‘As for your men,’ he stopped them. ‘You said it yourself. We are thirty-thousand people. There will be more leaders. All four of you start a new search immediately, as soon as Golzar’s gone.’
He waited for them to leave and then pointed at two chairs.
‘You know why I had to do that?’
‘Yes, agha,’ Nassour replied in a subdued tone when he and his man had seated themselves. ‘You have to show impartiality.’
‘Their anger is genuine, Habib. Every operation to capture Carter has failed.’
‘You have been pursuing him for a long time, agha,’ Nassour burst out in a rare show of defiance. ‘You know better than me how difficult getting him is.’
Mostofi couldn’t help smiling. He liked spirit. ‘Yes. Enough about the American.’ He swept the man’s photograph from his desk to the floor contemptuously. ‘You look like you have something to tell me.’
‘We got someone at MUT, agha.’
‘Someone?’
‘A PhD student. He strayed into that hallway, you know, the entrance to the—’
‘Yes, I know which one. What happened? Many students go there. The guards turn them away. What’s the big deal?’
‘There was a software glitch at the doors. Both sets opened at the same time. He saw Professor Nazer.’
Mostofi sucked his breath sharply. His eyes glittered. ‘This student recognized him?’
‘We don’t know, agha. He turned and ran. The guards captured him. We haven’t questioned him yet.’
‘Is this connected to Carter?’
‘I don’t see how, agha. It happened at the same time as the attack on Marzdaran. Do you think he will employ students?’
Mostofi thought about it for a long time. ‘No,’ he shook his head finally. ‘Carter does not outsource such surveillance. He and his team, they do everything together. He works closely with Mossad—’
‘No, agha. This student, Mehdi Hosseini is his name, is not Mossad. I am sure of that. He does not have the look of a seasoned operative.’
‘Hosseini you said?’ Mostofi turned to his screen and typed into it rapidly. ‘M.E.H.D.I,’ he spelt out aloud. He looked up. ‘You checked him out?’
‘No, agha. I got caught in the Marzdaran incident. I was directing our people. I heard of this only when coming here.’
‘This student is an activist. A rebel. He is known to the police. It’s possible he was gathering information for the other revolutionaries. Where is he?’
‘At NAJA’s headquarters.’
NAJA was the Iranian short form for the Law Enforcement Force of Iran, its police.
‘On Malek-e-Ashtar?’
‘Yes, agha. They have a prison in the basement.’
‘I know it well,’ Mostofi smiled coldly and got to his feet. ‘Why don’t we question this young man?’