Habib Nassour knew he had the vaccine inside him, still, he was nervous. He knew it was irrational, but he would be glad to drop the killer off. He got the driver to use the siren as they sped from MUT to Imam Khomeini International Airport.
‘I don’t feel any different,’ Golzar felt the arm where he had been pricked.
‘You aren’t supposed to,’ the aide chuckled. ‘Nothing happens for two days.’
‘All that’s theory.’
‘No, the professor has tested it on several prisoners. You saw for yourself,’ Nassour said more confidently than he felt. He wondered if he should ask for another vaccine jab and then berated himself. His unease was unfounded.
He settled in his seat and checked out his protégé. Golzar looked like any young man in Tehran. Only his clean-shaven look and the outline of his hard body indicated that he was in peak physical shape.
‘Don’t log into our system,’ he warned. ‘Use that blind email system, writing drafts to communicate, once you reach America.’
‘I will, agha.’
They swept up the airport’s drive, other vehicles scattering to make way for them.
Nassour got out, regal-looking in his uniform.
‘Don’t salute,’ he told Golzar under his breath. ‘Your phone’s charged?’
‘Yes, agha,’ the operative grabbed the handle of his suitcase which the driver had extracted.
‘Go, fulfill your destiny.’
‘He’s here,’ Beth warned in Zeb’s earpiece.
He straightened from the empty airline counter he was leaning against and looked casually at the entrance.
Golzar was alone. That was a win. It meant their guesses had been right.
The sisters were patrolling the concourse. Chloe at a check-in counter. Bear and Roger on the move, looking official, giving hard stares at foreigners. Broker was in a row of seats, his screen with him, discreetly using a laser device to take out the security cameras that were in the immediate vicinity.
We’ll have grabbed Golzar before the maintenance team checks out what’s wrong.
Zeb tracked the Quds operative with his eyes as he moved to a Middle-Eastern airline’s counter and joined the line. Coach, not first or business class.
‘Moving to the restroom,’ Beth announced. The sisters would stand close to it and stop anyone from using it. They would direct passengers to another facility in the concourse. No one would question them, their authority would be blindly accepted.
No other police officer or soldier has challenged us or even looked at us twice.
It was human nature in play. Even though they were impersonating, their bearing and the uniform were sufficient for them to be accepted.
‘He’s moving,’ Chloe snapped. Zeb straightened and spotted Golzar leave the airline counter. The Quds man inspected his boarding pass, placed it inside his passport and stuffed that inside his jacket.
Zeb made his move as the killer looked up at the electronic gates.
‘Karim,’ he called out and broke into a smile when the man looked at him, puzzled. ‘You don’t recognize me.’
He headed towards the killer, his arms spread out. ‘We trained together in Imam Ali Garrison.’
‘In position,’ Roger called out.
That meant Dariush, who had taken a cab to the airport, and had his head down, reading a newspaper in a far corner, was readying to move at a sign from the Agency operative.
‘Come now,’ Zeb got close to Golzar who’s eyes flicked to his uniform and back to his face. ‘You laughed loudest when I told my dirty jokes. Have you forgotten? Have you left Quds? Where are you going?’
He hugged the man who offered no resistance. That too was natural human behavior. No one liked to be embarrassed for forgetting old acquaintances and friends.
Zeb’s left hand closed around the man’s back. His right, wrapped around his neck and the needle, held between his fingers pricked Golzar’s skin. He squeezed which activated the injection.
The Quds leader stiffened. He jerked back, his eyes wide. His arms pushed against Zeb and then his pupils dilated as the drug blanked out his nervous system and made his body blindly follow directions. His body sagged however, and that caught Zeb by surprise.
‘You’re not feeling well?’ he exclaimed as he staggered under the weight and laid the man down. Broker and Bear hurried over, forming a protective barrier.
‘I am a doctor,’ Chloe hurried up. ‘What’s happening?’
She knelt over Golzar as Zeb stood back and opened his eyelids.
‘He’s fine,’ she whispered in their comms. ‘Let’s move him.’
Broker and Bear helped her get Golzar to his feet. She pretended to look around and spotted the disabled bathroom. ‘Take him there,’ she ordered the Americans.
‘Khanom,’ she snapped at Meghan and Beth, as they neared the restroom, ‘make sure no one enters this place. I need to attend to him and see what’s wrong. We might need an ambulance.’
‘What’s happening?’
Zeb whipped around to see a police officer approaching.
‘My friend collapsed,’ he intercepted the cop. ‘Luckily, that passenger is a doctor. She’s taking him to inspect him.’
Get back to your station, he prayed. No one else was looking their way. No other soldier or officer in vicinity.
The cop didn’t back off. ‘There’s a medical team in the airport. Let me call them,’ he raised his hand towards his radio.
Zeb acted. His right hand slid into his pocket to draw out the back-up plunger.
‘What’s your name?’ he spoke with authority in his voice, buying time for him to get closer, clap the man on the shoulder, slide his hand up and inject the police officer as well.
Don’t drop on me.
The officer didn’t. He obeyed mechanically when Zeb turned him towards the bathroom.
‘Traffic?’ he barked.
‘Nothing,’ Beth replied. ‘Not even a curious look our way.’
‘Cameras?’
‘All down, those around us. We checked.’
Zeb hurried the man towards the restroom. Pulled it open while Bear and Roger shielded him with their bodies.
‘What?’ Chloe looked up startled. ‘Another body?’
‘No time to explain,’ he grated. His voice softened when he saw Dariush who was disrobing. Broker was removing Golzar’s clothes who stood immobile, staring blankly at the wall.
The clothing change took ten minutes.
‘Put this on him,’ Chloe gave a transparent skin patch to Broker. ‘It’s a GPS tracker,’ she assured the student. ‘It goes on your neck. It will help us track you. Don’t use your personal phone.’
‘Yes, khanom,’ The activist was wide-eyed as he buttoned up Golzar’s shirt which was a looser fit but not noticeably so.
‘No need to call me that.’
‘Yes, khanom.’
‘And this,’ Broker handed him the killer’s phone. ‘No calls on it. Do nothing other than keeping it in your pocket.’
‘You will be received at JFK,’ Zeb assured him. ‘A signboard with your real name. By then we will know what his plan was,’ he nodded at the Quds operative, ‘and you will follow that. You will have protection. You have got your passport? Tickets? Money?’
‘I have everything, agha.’
‘Act natural.’
‘Yes, agha.’
The student straightened with a resolute look.
No need to remind him that a lot hinges on him. He’s determined.
‘We’ll watch you all the way to security. What will you do if you are arrested?’
‘I will say some strangers paid me money to do this.’
‘Yes. Describe us. We will rescue you if that happens. We will be watching.’
‘How, agha?’
Zeb smiled at him. He’s asking questions. That’s good. He’s alert.
‘The police will call that man’s boss,’ he pointed at Golzar. ‘We are tracking him. We will know who he speaks to, where he goes.’
‘They might hurt me before you get me out.’
‘They will.’ He didn’t mince his words. ‘Do you want to back out? You can. We will take you back to your friends.’
‘No. I won’t let any of you down. I will not disappoint our leader.’
‘Dariush, listen—’
‘I will not let myself down.’
Zeb looked into his eyes. Waited for several moments but saw nothing other than quiet determination in the student.
‘We owe you,’ he shook the activist’s hand and then spoke in his comms. ‘Traffic?’
‘Coast is clear,’ Meghan replied.
Chloe opened the door and Dariush slipped out, followed by Broker.
Zeb waited a beat and hustled the police officer out with the petite operative bringing Golzar in his wake.
They split up again, Chloe drifted away while Broker, Bear and Roger took hold of Golzar and led him toward the exit.
Zeb lingered until Dariush passed through the security gates and disappeared out of sight.
‘Break,’ he gave the signal for his friends to leave.
Meghan and Beth, their batons underneath their arms, strode to the exit. Zeb nodded when a soldier saluted at him and kept up small conversation with the cop by his side. Broker, Roger and Bear were already outside.
A minute to get the police officer loaded and everyone inside.
Zeb took the wheel and eyed Bwana in the mirror who jerked a thumb at the cop.
‘What do we do with him?’