Follett, Ken - On Wings of Eagles.txt

by On Wings of Eagles [lit]

  and Bill.

  Paul discussed this with Coburn. It contradicted what they were hearing

  from the U.S. Embassy. The Embassy's advice

  ON WINGS OF EAGLES 31

  was surely better than Bunny Fleischaker's, they agreed. They decided to

  take no action.

  Paul spent Christmas Day quietly, with a few colleagues, at the home of Pat

  Sculley, a young EDS manager who had volunteered to return to Tehran.

  Sculley's wife, Mary, had also come back, and she cooked Christmas dinner.

  Paul missed Ruthie and the children.

  Two days after Christmas the Embassy called. They had succeeded in setting

  up a meeting for Paul and Bill with Examining Magistrate Hosain Dadgar. The

  meeting was to take place the following morning, December 28, at the

  Ministry of Health building on Eisenhower Avenue.

  Bill Gaylord came into Paul's office a little after nine, carrying a cup of

  coffee, dressed in the EDS uniform: business suit, white shirt, quiet tie,

  black brogue shoes.

  Like Paul, Bill was thirty-nine, of middle height, and stocky; but there

  the resemblance ended. Paul had dark coloring, heavy eyebrows, deepset

  eyes, and a big nose: in casual clothes he was often mistaken for an

  Iranian until he opened his mouth and spoke English with a New York accent.

  Bill had a flat, round face and very white skin: nobody would take him for

  anything but an Anglo.

  They had a lot in common. Both were Roman Catholic, although Bill was more

  devout. They loved good food. Both had trained as systems engineers and

  joined EDS in the n-dd-sixties, Bill in 1965 and Paul in 1966. Both had had

  splendid careers with EDS, but although Paul had joined a year later he was

  now senior to Bill. Bill knew the health-care business inside out, and he

  was a first-class "people manager," but he was not as pushy and dynamic as

  Paul. Bill was a deep thinker and a careful organizer. Paul would never

  have to worry about Bill making an important presentation: Bill would have

  prepared every word.

  They worked together well. When Paul was hasty, Bill would make him pause

  and reflect. When Bill wanted to plan his way around every bump in the

  road, Paul would tell him just to get in and drive.

  They had been acquainted in the States but had got to know one another well

  in the last nine months. When Bill had arrived in Tehran, last March, he

  had lived at the Chiapparones' house until his wife, Emily, and the

  children came over. Paul felt almost protective toward him: it was a shame

  that Bill had had nothing but problems here in Iran.

  32 Ken Follett

  Bill was much more worried by the rioting and the shooting than most of the

  others-perhaps because he had not been here long, perhaps because he was

  more of a worrier by nature. He also took the passport problem more

  seriously than Paul. At one time he had even suggested that the two of them

  take a train to the northeast of Iran and cross the border into Russia, on

  the grounds that nobody would expect American businessmen to escape via the

  Soviet Union.

  Bill also missed Emily and the children badly, and Paul felt somewhat

  responsible, because he had asked Bill to come to Iran.

  Still, it was almost over. Today they would see Mr. Dadgar and get their

  passports back. Bill had a reservation on a plane out tomorrow. Emily was

  planning a welcome-home party for him on New Year's Eve. Soon all this

  would seem like a bad dream.

  Paul smiled at Bill. "Ready to go?"

  "Any time."

  "Let's get Abolhasan." Paul picked up the phone. Abolhasan was the most

  senior Iranian employee, and advised Paul on Iranian business methods. The

  son of a distinguished lawyer, he was married to an American woman, and

  spoke very good English. One of his jobs was translating EDS's contracts

  into Farsi. Today he would translate for Paul and Bill at their meeting

  with Dadgar.

  He came immediately to Paul's office and the three men left. They did not

  take a lawyer with them. According to the Embassy this meeting would be

  routine, the questioning informal. To take lawyers along would not only be

  pointless, but might antagonize Mr. Dadgar and lead him to suspect that

  Paul and Bill had something to hide. Paul would have liked to have a member

  of the Embassy staff present, but this idea also had been turned down by

  Lou Goelz: it was not normal procedure to send Embassy representatives to

  a meeting such as this. However, Goelz had advised Paul and Bill to take

  with them documents establishing when they had come to Iran, what their

  official positions were, and the scope of their responsibilities.

  As the car negotiated its way through the usual insane Tehran traffic, Paul

  felt depressed. He was glad to be going home, but he hated to admit

  failure. He had come to Iran to build up EDS's business here, and he found

  himself dismantling it. Whatever way you looked at it the company's first

  overseas venture had been a failure. It was not Paul's fault that the

  government of Iran

  ON WINGS OF EAGLES 33

  had run out of money, but that was small consolation: excuses did not make

  profits.

  They drove down the treelined Eisenhower Avenue, as -wide and straight as

  any American highway, and pulled into the courtyard of a square, ten-story

  building set back from the stieet and guarded by soldiers with automatic

  rifles. This was the Social Security Organization of the Ministry of Health

  and Social Welfare. It was to have been the powerhouse of the new Iranian

  welfare state: here, side by side, the Iranian government and EDS had

  worked to build a social-security system. EDS occupied the entire seventh

  floor-Bill's office was there.

  Paid, Bill, and Abolhasan showed their passes and went in. The corridors

  were duty and poorly decorated, and the building was cold: the heat was off

  again. They were directed to the office Mr. Dadgar was using.

  They found him in a small room with dirty walls, sitting behind an old gray

  steel desk. In front of him on the desk were a notebook and a pen. Through

  the window Paul could see the data center EDS was building next door.

  Abolhasan introduced everyone. There was an Iranian woman sitting on a

  chair beside Dadgar's desk: her name was Mrs. Nourbash, and she was

  Dadgar's interpreter.

  They all sat down on dilapidated metal chairs. Tea was served. Dadgar began

  to speak in Farsi. His voice was soft but rather deep, and his expression

  was blank. Paul studied him as he waited for the translation. Dadgar was a

  short, stocky man in his fifties, and for some reason he made Paul think of

  Archie Bunker. His complexion was dark and his hair was combed forward, as

  if to hide the fact that it was receding. He had a mustache and glasses,

  and he wore a sober suit.

  Dadgar finished speaking, and Abolhasan said: "He warns you that he has the

  power to arrest you if he finds your answers to his questions

  unsatisfactory. In case you did not realize this, he says you may postpone

  the interview to give your lawyers time to arrange bail

  Paul was surprised by this development, but he evaluated i
t fast, just like

  any other business decision. Okay, he thought, the worst thing that can

  happen is that he won't believe us and he will arrest us-but we're not

  murderers, we'll be out on bail in twenty-four hours. Then we might be

  confined to the country, and we would have to meet with our attorneys and

  try to work

  34 Ken FoIkU

  things out ... which is no worse than the situation we're in now.

  He looked at Bill. "What do you think?"

  Bill shrugged. "Goelz says this meeting is routine. The stuff about bad

  sounds like a formality--like reading you your rights. "

  Paul nodded. "And the last thing we want is a postponement."

  "Then let's get it over with."

  Paul turned to Mrs. Nourbash. "Please tell Mr. Dadgar that neither of us

  has committed a crune, and neither of us has any knowledge of anyone else

  committing a crime, so we are confident that no charges will be made

  against us, and we would like to get this finished up today so that we can

  go home.

  Mrs. Nourbash translated.

  Dadgar said he wanted first to interview Paul alone. Bill should come back

  in an hour.

  Bill left.

  Bill went up to his office on the seventh floor. He picked up the phone,

  called Bucharest, and reached Lloyd Briggs. Briggs was Number 3 in the

  hierarchy after Paul and Bill.

  "Dadgar says he has the power to arrest us," Bill told Briggs. "We might

  need to put up bail. Call the Iranian attorneys and find out what that

  means."

  "Sure," Briggs said. "Where are you?"

  "In my office here at the Ministry."

  "I'll get back to you."

  Bill hung up and waited. The idea of his being arrested was kind of

  ridiculous-4espite the widespread corruption of modem Iran, EDS had never

  paid bribes to get contacts. But even if bribes had been paid, Bill would

  not have paid them: his job was to deliver the product, not win the order.

  Briggs called back within a few minutes. "You've got nothing to worry

  about," he said. "Just last week a man accused of murder had his bail set

  at a million and a half rials. "

  Bill did a quick calculation: That was twenty thousand dollars. EDS could

  probably pay that in cash. For some weeks they had been keeping large

  arnounts of cash, both because of the bank strikes and for use during the

  evacuation. "How much do we have in the office safe?"

  "Around seven million rials, plus fifty thousand dollars."

  So, Bill thought, even if we are arrested, we'll be able to

  ON WINGS OF EAGLES 35

  post bail immediately. "Thanks," he said. "That makes me feel a lot better."

  Downstairs, Dadgar had written down Paul's full name, date and place of

  birth, schools attended, experience in computers, and qualifications; and he

  had carefully examined the document that officially named Paul as Country

  Manager for Electronic Data Systems Corporation Iran. Now he asked Paul to

  give an account of how EDS had secured its contract with the Ministry of

  Health.

  Paul took a deep breath. "First, I would like to point out that I was not

  working in Irari at the time the contract was negotiated and signed, so I

  do not have firsthand knowledge of this. However, I will tell you what I

  understand the procedure to have been."

  Mrs. Nourbash translated and Dadgar nodded.

  Paul continued, speaking slowly and rather formally to help the translator.

  "In 1975 an EDS executive, Paul Bucha, learned that the Ministry was

  looking for a data-processing company experienced in health insurance and

  social-security work. He came to Tehran, had meetings with Ministry

  officials, and deteriiiined the nature and scale of the work the Ministry

  wanted done. He was told that the Ministry had already received proposals

  for the project from Louis Berger and Company, Marsh & McClennan, ISIRAN,

  and UNIVAC, and that a fifth proposal was on its way from Cap Gemini

  Sogeti. He said that EDS was the leading data-processing company in the

  United States and that our company specialized in exactly this kind of

  health-care work. He offered the Ministry a free preliminary study. The

  offer was accepted."

  When he paused for translation, Paul noticed, Mrs. Nourbash seemed to say

  less than he had said; and what Dadgar wrote down was shorter still. He

  began to speak more slowly and to pause more often. "The Ministry obviously

  liked EDS's proposals, because they then asked us to perform a detailed

  study for two hundred thousand dollars. The results of our study were pre-

  sented in October 1975. The Ministry accepted our proposal and began

  contract negotiations. By August 1976 the contract was agreed upon."

  "Was everything above board?" Dadgar asked through Mrs. Nourbash.

  "Absolutely," Paul said. "It took another three months to go through the

  lengthy process of getting all the necessary approvals

  36 Ken Folktt

  from many government departments, including the Shah's court. None of these

  steps was omitted. The contract went into effect at the end of the year."

  "Was the contract price exorbitant?"

  "It showed a maximum expected pretax profit of twenty percent, which is in

  line with other contracts of this magnitude, both here and in other

  countries. "

  "And has EDS fulfilled its obligations under the contract?"

  This was something on which Paul did have firsthand knowledge. "Yes, we

  have."

  "Could you produce evidence?"

  "Certainly. The contract specifies that I should meet with Ministry

  officials at certain intervals to review progress: those meetings have

  taken place and the Ministry has the minutes of the meetings on file. The

  contract lays down a complaints procedure for the Ministry to use if EDS

  fails to fulfill its obligations: that procedure has never been used. "

  Mrs. Nourbash translated, but Dadgar did not write anything down. He must

  know all this anyway, Paul thought.

  He added: "Look out the window. There is our data center. Go and see it.

  There are computers in it. Touch them. They work. They produce information.

  Read the printouts. They are being used."

  Dadgar made a brief note. Paul wondered what he was really after.

  The next question was: "What is your relationship with the Mahvi group?"

  "When we first came to Iran we were told that we had to have Iranian

  partners in order to do business here. The Mahvi group are our partners.

  However, their main role is to supply us with Iranian staff. We meet with

  them periodically, but they have liWe to do with the running of our

  business."

  Dadgar asked why Dr. Towliati, a Ministry official, was on the EDS payroll.

  Was this not a conflict of interest?

  Here at last was a question that made sense. Paul could see how Towliati's

  role could appear irregular. However, it was easily explained. "In our

  contract we undertake to supply expert consultants to help the Ministry

  make the best use of the service we provide. Dr. Towliati is such a

  consultant. He has a dataprocessing background, and he is familiar with

  both Iranian and American business methods. He is paid by EDS, rather than
>
  by the Ministry, because Ministry salaries are too low to attract a

  ON WINGS OF EAGLES 37

  man of his caliber. However, the Ministry is obliged to reimburse us for his

  salary, as laid down in the contract; so he is not really paid by us."

  Once again Dadgar wrote down very little. He could have got all this

  information from the files, Paul thoughiq. perhaps he has.

  Dadgar asked: "But why does Dr. Towliati sign invoices?"

  "That's easy," Paul replied. "He does not, and never has. The closest he

  comes is this: he would inform the Minister that a certain task has been

  completed, where the specification of that task is too technical for

  verification by a layman." Paul smiled. "He takes his responsibility to the

  Ministry very seriously-4ie is easily our harshest critic, and he will

  characteristically ask a lot of tough questions before verifying completion

  of a task. I sometimes wish I did have him in my pocket."

  Mrs. Nourbash translated. Paul was thinking: What is Dadgar after? First he

  asks about the contract negotiations, which happened before my time; then

  about the Mahvi group and Dr. Towliati, as if they were sensationally

  important. Maybe Dadgar himself doesn't know what he's looking for-maybe

  he's just fishing, hoping to come up with evidence of something illegal.

  How long can this farce go on?

  Bill was outside in the corridor, wearing his topcoat to keep out the cold.

  Someone had brought him a glass of tea, and he warmed his hands on it while

  he sipped. The building was dark as well as cold.

  Dadgar had immediately struck Bill as being different from the average

  Iranian. He was cold, gruff, and inhospitable. The Embassy had said Dadgar

  was "favorably disposed" toward Bill and Paul, but that was not the

  impression Bill had.

  Bill wondered what game Dadgar was playing. Was he trying to intimidate

  them, or was he seriously considering arresting them? Either way, the

  meeting was not turning out the way the Embassy had anticipated. Their

  advice, to come without lawyers or Embassy representatives, now looked

  mistaken: perhaps they just did not want to get involved. Anyway, Paul and

  Bill were on their own now. It was not going to be a pleasant day. But at

  the end of it they would be able to go home.