In the morning, Leila, who had gone back to her own room, acted as if nothing had happened. Alex did his best, but he worried that Pancho and John could see through them. Alex checked his computer to see if there were any messages—there was one from Razor: “Today target is checking out of hospital at 1700.”
Alex updated Pancho, John, and Leila and told them to get ready to hit the target ASAP. Then Alex sent a secure email to JSOC to tell the Tigers that he needed the extract for his team tonight.
Leila put on a black skirt and gray blouse with a doctor’s white coat. She covered her hair and neck with a black scarf called a maghnaeh. Although the burqa and niqab were seen in Iran’s southern rural areas such as Abadi Abad, headscarves and maghnaeh were popular throughout the rest of Iran. Alex, Pancho, and John wore dark slacks, gray shirts, and doctors’ white coats—and Zoaf pistols. After breakfast, they went downstairs and loaded into the SUV.
Leila drove them to the hospital. From the hospital parking lot, they entered a side entrance to the main building and passed a handful of armed Revolutionary Guards milling among the crowd of patients and staff. The Revolutionary Guards stared at John, then Alex. The SEALs and Leila stepped into the elevator and the door closed. Pancho pressed the button to the tenth floor. The four of them put on their surgical masks. On the tenth floor, they stepped out and walked down the stairs to the eighth floor, where their target was. Riding the elevator up was easier than walking up stairs, and getting off on the wrong floor tricked anyone who might be watching.
They walked down the hallway. Outside their target’s door, two Revolutionary Guards stood with their AKMs, modern versions of the AK-47 rifle, slung on their shoulders. One Guard’s uniform was wrinkled and his hair was uncombed. The other Guard had an ironed uniform and his appearance was neat—they looked like the odd couple. When Alex’s crew neared the Guards, they became rigid and alert.
Alex led his posse into the room two doors before the target’s room and waited for the odd couple to relax a bit. Inside the room, a patient lay asleep, another sat reading a book, and another lay in bed staring at Alex. Alex pulled the curtain, so the patients couldn’t ogle him and his crew. Because their target would be checking out at 1700, doing the hit at night was no longer an option. They could wait for another day, but that day might never come. Alex led them out the door.
The four walked down the middle of the hallway. The odd couple was alert but not rigid as the two watched Alex and his team. Good. Alex took one step in front of the odd couple then turned sharply, walked between them, and proceeded into the target’s room. Alex reached into his right pocket, which had been cut out, and pulled his sound-suppressed Zoaf pistol from its holster. Behind him, the odd couple chattered loudly in Farsi. Alex trusted Pancho and John to protect him—if the odd couple went for their weapons, Pancho and John would dispatch them.
Inside the room, a sleepy Revolutionary Guard sat in his chair. His AKM leaned against the wall. The Guard reached over and grabbed his rifle. Alex aimed and shot him twice in the upper torso and once in the head. The Guard tumbled out of his chair and onto the floor. Alex continued forward into the room. Two of the three beds were empty. Alex recognized the middle-aged woman in the third bed as his target, Dr. Sheema Khamenei. Alex wheeled his pistol around in the scientist’s direction.
Eyes wide open, Dr. Khamenei babbled in Farsi. Alex didn’t understand it, but her lips slurred like she’d been drugged.
Alex aimed his pistol at Dr. Khamenei’s forehead and squeezed the trigger. Click. Alex’s pistol malfunctioned. Alex tapped the magazine on the bottom and racked the slide to fix the malfunction, but the slide didn’t return forward properly. Probably two rounds had tried to enter the firing chamber at the same time—a double feed. Damn!
Dr. Khamenei’s voice rose in pitch, volume, and speed.
Leila had followed Alex into the room. “She says there is another biological weapons lab,” Leila translated. “More secret than the one near Abadi Abad, but in another location, and close to launching an attack on the United States.”
Alex pressed his magazine ejection button and pulled out the magazine. He racked his slide again. Then again. The jammed bullet popped out and the weapon was clear.
Dr. Khamenei’s voice squealed louder and faster. She looked at the ceiling and cried out. Alex recognized only one word: Allah.
“Dr. Khamenei says a Russian, a North Korean, and Iranian scientists are at the top-secret lab,” Leila translated. “Dr. Khamenei didn’t want to do this job, but the Iranian government is holding her husband hostage. God save me.”
Alex reloaded his magazine, tapped the bottom of it with his hand, and racked the slide. He aimed at Dr. Khamenei’s forehead. “Where is the lab?”
“You must rescue my husband first,” Dr. Khamenei said in English. “Then I will tell you where it is. I will even take you there, if you want.”
“You’re not in a position to negotiate,” Alex growled.
“Let Allah’s will be done. I can’t continue living this hell while I know my husband is dying in prison. If it’s my time to die, I will die.”
“Shit!” Alex exclaimed. He turned to see what happened to Pancho, John, and the odd couple outside the room. Pancho and John had already dispatched the Guards and were putting them in two patient beds. There was a puddle of blood on the floor and blood spatter on the wall. Alex had been so focused on the Guard he shot, his weapon malfunction, and the target that he didn’t even hear Pancho and John fire their pistols. Pancho covered the bodies with bedsheets while John guarded the door. “Guys, we’re taking the doctor alive,” Alex said. “She’s going to lead us to another lab.”
Pancho took off his bloodstained white jacket, strapped on one of the Guards’ AKMs, and put on his jacket again. Then Pancho relieved John at the door. Alex and John armed themselves with the remaining AKMs and concealed their weapons with their white coats. Now Alex and his team had to get Dr. Khamenei out of the hospital. And out of Iran.