Follett, Ken - On Wings of Eagles.txt

by On Wings of Eagles [lit]

  Perot approached her. He handed over his passport and a yellow exit form.

  The form had his name at the top-

  The girl took the yellow sheet, opened his passport, stamped it, and handed

  it back without looking at him. She returned to her book immediately.

  Perot walked into the departure lounge.

  The flight was delayed.

  He sat down. He was on tenterhooks. At any moment the girl could finish her

  book, or just get bored with it, and start checking the stop list against

  the names on the yellow forms. Then, he imagined, they would come for him,

  the police or the military or Dadgar's investigators, and he would go to

  jail, and Margot would be like Ruthie and Emily, not knowing whether she

  would ever see her husband again.

  He checked the departures board every few seconds: it just said "Delayed. -

  He sat on the edge of his chair for the first hour.

  Then he began to feel resigned. If they were going to catch him they would,

  and there was nothing he could do about it. He started to read a magazine.

  Over the next hour he

  ON WINGS OF EAGLES 217

  read everything in his briefcase. Then he started talking to the man sitting

  next to him. Perot learned that the man was an English engineer working in

  Iran on a project for a large British company. They chatted for a while,

  then swapped magazines.

  In a few hours, Perot thought, r1l be in a beautiful hotel suite with

  Margot-.or in an Iranian jail. He pushed the thought from his mind.

  Lunchtime went by, and the afternoon wore on. He began to believe they were

  not going to come for him.

  The flight was finally called at six o'clock.

  Perot stood up. If they come for me now ...

  He joined the crowd and approached the departure gate. There was a security

  check. He was frisked, and waved through.

  I've almost made it, he thought as he boarded the plane. He sat between two

  fat people in an economy seat-it was an all-economy flight. I think I've

  made it.

  The doors were closed and the plane began to move.

  It taxied onto the runway and gathered speed.

  The plane took off.

  He had made it.

  He had always been lucky.

  His thoughts turned to Margot. She was handling this crisis the way she had

  handled the prisoners-of-war adventures: she understood her husband's

  concept of duty and she never complained. That was why he could stay

  focused on what he had to do, and block out negative thoughts that would

  excuse inaction. He was lucky to have her. He thought of all the lucky

  things that had happened to him: good parents, getting into the Naval

  Academy, meeting Margot, having such fine children, starting EDS, getting

  good people to work for him, brave people like the volunteers he had left

  behind in Iran ...

  He wondered superstitiously whether an individual had a certain limited

  quantity of luck in his life. He saw his luck as sand in an hourglass,

  slowly but steadily running out. What happens, he thought, when it's all

  gone?

  The plane descended toward Kuwait. He was out of Iranian airspace-he had

  escaped.

  While the plane was refueling he walked to the open door and stood there,

  breathing the fresh air and ignoring the stewardess who kept asking him to

  return to his seat. There was a nice

  218 Ken Follen

  breeze blowing across the tarmac, and it was a relief to get away from the

  fat people sitting on either side of him. The stewardess eventually gave

  up and went to do something else. He watched the sun go down. Luck, he

  thought; I wonder how much I've got left?

  EiGHT

  The rescue team in Tehran now consisted of Simons, Coburn, Pocht, Sculley,

  and Schwebach. Simons decided that Boulware, Davis, and Jackson would not

  come to Tehran. The idea of rescuing Paul and Bill by frontal assault was

  now dead, so he did not need such a big team. He sent Glenn Jackson to

  Kuwait, to investigate that end of the southerly route out of Iran. Boulware

  and Davis went back to the States to await further orders.

  Majid reported to Coburn that General Mohari , the man in charge of the

  Gasr Prison, was not easily corruptible, but had two daughtm at school in

  the United States. The team briefly discussed kidnappirig the girls and

  forcing Mohan to help Paul and Bill escape; but they rejected the idea.

  (Perot hit the roof when he learned they had even discussed it.) The idea

  of sneaking Paul and Bill out in the hunk of a car was put on the back

  burner for a while.

  For two or three days they concentrated on what they would do if Paul and

  Bill were released under house arrest. They went to look at the houses the

  two men had occupied before the arrest. The snatch would be easy unless

  Dadgar put Paul and Bill under surveillance. The team would use two cars,

  they decided. The first car would pick up Paul and Bill. The second,

  following at a distance, would contain Sculley and Schwebach , who would be

  responsible for elimmating anyone who tried to tail the first car. Once

  again, the deadly duo would do the killing.

  The two cars would keep in touch by shortwave radio, they decided. Coburn

  called Merv Stauffer in Dallas and ordered the equipment. Boulware would

  take the radios to London: Schwebach and Sculley went to London to meet him

  and pick them up. While in London, the deadly duo would try to get hold of

  some

  219

  220 Ken Follett

  good maps of Iran, for use during the escape from the country, should the

  team have to leave by road. (No good maps of the Fountry were to be found in

  Tehran, as the Jeep Club had learned in happier days: Gayden said Persian

  maps were at the "Turn left by the dead horse" level.)

  Simons wanted also to prepare for the third possibility--4hat Paul and Bill

  would be released by a mob storming the prison. What should the team do in

  that eventuality? Coburn was continuously monitoring the situation in the

  city, calling his contacts in U.S. military intelligence and several

  trustworthy Iranian employees: if the prison were overrun he would know

  very quickly. What then? Someone would have to look for Paul and Bill and

  bring them to safety. But a bunch of Americans driving into the middle of

  a riot would be asking for trouble: Paul and Bill would be safer mingling

  inconspicuously with the crowd of escaping prisoners. Simons told Coburn to

  speak to Paul about this possibility the next time he visited the jail, and

  instruct Paul to head for the Hyatt Hotel.

  However, an Iranian could go looking for Paul and Bill in the riots. Simons

  asked Coburn to recommend an Iranian employee of EDS who was really

  street-smart.

  Coburn thought immediately of Rashid.

  He was a dark-skinned, rather good-looking twenty-three-yearold from an

  affluent Tehran family. He had completed EDS's training program for systems

  engineers. He was intelligent and resourceful, and he had bags of charm.

  Coburn recalled the last time Rashid had demonstrated his talent

  forimprovisation. Ministry of Health employees who were on partial strike

  h
ad refused to key the data for the payroll system, but Rashid had got all

  the input together, taken it down to Bank Omran, talked someone there into

  keying the data, then run the program on the Ministry computer. The trouble

  with Rashid was that you had to keep an eye on him, because he never

  consulted anyone before implementing his unconventional ideas. Getting the

  data keyed the way he had constituted strikebreaking, and might have got

  EDS into big trouble-indeed, when Bill had heard about it he had been more

  anxious than pleased. Rashid was excitable and impulsive, and his English

  was not so good, so he tended to dash off and do his own crazy thing

  without telling anyone-a tendency that made his managers nervous. But he

  always got away with it. He could talk his way into and out of anything. At

  the airport, meeting people or seeing them off, he always managed

  ON WINGS OF EAGLES 221

  to pass through all the "Passengers Only" barriers even though he never had

  a boarding card, ticket, or passport to show. Coburn knew him. well, and

  liked him enough to have brought him home for supper several times. Coburn

  also trusted him completely, especially since the strike, when Rashid had

  been one of Coburn's informants among the hostile Iranian employees.

  However, Simons would not trust Rashid on Coburn's say-so. Just as he had

  insisted on meeting Keane Taylor before letting him in on the secret, so he

  would want to talk to Rashid.

  So Coburn arranged a meeting.

  When Rashid was eight years old he had wanted to be President of the United

  States.

  At twenty-three he knew he could never be President, but he stili wanted to

  go to America, and EDS was going to be his ticket. He knew he had it in him

  to be a great businessman. He was a student of the psychology of the human

  being, and it had not taken him long to understand the mentality of EDS

  people. They wanted results, not excuses. If you were given a task, it was

  always better to do a little more than was expected. If for some reason the

  task was difficult, or even impossible, it was best not to say so: they

  hated to hear people whining about problems. You never said: "I can't do

  that because . You always said: "This is the progress I have made so far,

  and this is the problem I am working on right now . . ." It so happened

  that these attitudes suited Rashid perfectly. He had made himself useful to

  EDS, and he knew the company appreciated iL

  His greatest achievement had been installing computer terimnals in offices

  where the Iranian staff were suspicious and hostile. So great was the

  resistance that Pat Sculley had been able to install no more than two per

  month: Rashid had installed the remaining eighteen in two months. He had

  planned to capitalize on this. He had composed a letter to Ross Perot,

  who--he understood--was the head of EDS, asking to be allowed to complete

  his training in Dallas. He had intended to ask all the EDS managers in

  Tehran to sip the letter. but events had overtaken him, most of the

  managers had been evacuated, and EDS in Iran was falling to pieces; and he

  never mailed the letter. So he would think of something else.

  He could always find a way . Everything was possible for Rashid. He could

  do anything. He had even got out of the army. At a time when thousands of

  young middle-class Iranians were

  222 Ken FolkU

  spending fortunes in bribes to avoid military service, Rashid, after a few

  weeks in uniform, had convinced the doctors that he was incurably ill with

  a twitching disease. His comrades and the officers over him knew that he was

  in perfect health, but every time he saw the doctor he twitched

  uncontrollably. He went before medical boards and twitched for hours-an

  absolutely exhausting business, he discovered. Finally, so many doctors had

  certified him M that he got his discharge papers. It was crazy, ridiculous,

  impossible--but doing the impossible was Rashid's normal practice.

  So he bjew that he would go to America. He did not know how, but careful

  and elaborate planning was not his style anyway. He was a

  spur-of-the-moment man, an unproviser, an opportunist. ths chance would

  come and he would seize it.

  Mr. Simons interested him. He was not like the other EDS managers. They

  were all in their thirties or forties, but Simons was nearer to sixty. His

  long hair and white whiskers and big nose seemed more Iranian than

  American. Finally, he did not come right out with whatever was on his mind.

  People like Sculley and Coburn would say: "This is the situation and this

  is what I want you to do and you need to have it done by tomorrow morning

  . . . " Simons just said: "Let's go for a walk."

  They strolled around the streets of Tehran. Rashid found himself talking

  about his family, his work at EDS, and his views on the psychology of the

  human being. They could hear continual shooting, and the streets were alive

  with people marching and chanting. Everywhere they saw the wreckage of past

  battles, overturned cars and burned-out buildings. "The Marxists smash up

  expensive cars and the Muslims trash the liquor stores,

  Rashid told Simons.

  "Why is this happening?" Simons asked him.

  "This is the time for Iranians to prove themselves, to accomplish tbeir

  ideas, and to gain their freedom."

  They found themselves in Gasr Square, facing the prison. Rashid said:

  "There are many Iranians in these jails simply because they ask for

  freedom. "

  Simons pointed at the crowd of women in chadors. "What are they doing?"

  "Their husbands and sons are unjustly imprisoned, so they gather here,

  wailing and crying to the guards to let the prisoners go. 91

  ON WINGS OF EAGLES 223

  Simons said: "Well, I guess I feel the same about Paul and Bill as those

  women do about their men."

  "Yes. I, too, am very concerned about Paul and Bill."

  "But what are you doing about it?" Simons said.

  Rashid was taken aback. "I am doing everything I can to help my American

  friends," he said. He thought of the dogs and cats. One of his tasks at the

  moment was to care for all the pets left behind by EDS evacuees-including

  four dogs and twelve cats. Rashid had never had pets and did not know how

  to deal with large, aggressive dogs. Every time he went to the apartment

  where the dogs were stashed to feed them, he had to hire two or three men

  off the streets to help him restrain the animals. Twice now he had taken

  them all to the airport in cages, having heard that there was a flight out

  that would accept them; and both times the flight had been canceled. He

  thought of telling Simons about this, but somehow he knew that Simons would

  not be impressed.

  Simons was up to something, Rashid thought, and it was not a business

  matter. Simons struck him as an experienced man-you could see that just by

  looking at his face. Rashid did not believe in experience. He believed in

  fast education. Revolution, not evolution. He liked the inside track, short

  cuts, accelerated development, superchargers. Simons was different. He was

  a patient man, and Rashid--analyzing Simons's psychol
ogyguessed that the

  patience came from a strong will. When he is ready, Rashid thought, he will

  let me know what he wants from

  `~-,Do you know anything about the French Revolution?" Simons asked.

  "A little."

  "This place reminds me of the Bastille-a symbol of oppression. 9'

  It was a good comparison, Rashid thought.

  Simons went on: "The French revolutionaries stormed the Bastille and let

  all the prisoners out."

  "I think the same will happen here. It's a possibility, at least."

  Simons nodded. "If it happens, someone ought to be here to take care of

  Paul and Bill."

  "Yes." That will be me, Rashid thought.

  They stood together in Gasr Square, looking at the high walls and huge

  gates, and the wailing women in their black robes. Rashid recalled his

  principle: always do a little more than EDS

  224 Ken FoUelt

  asks of you. What if the mobs ignored Gasr Prison? Maybe he should make

  sure they did not. The mob was nothing but people like Rashid-young,

  discontented Iranian men who wanted to change their lives. He might not

  only join the mob--he might lead it. He might lead an attack on the

  prison. He, Rashid, might rescue Paul and Bill.

  Nothing was impossible.

  2

  Coburn did not know all that was going on in Simons's mind at this point. He

  had not been in on Simons's conversations with Perot and Rashid, and Simons

  did not volunteer much information. From what Coburn did know, the three

  possibilities-4he trunkof-a-car trick, the house-arrest-and-snatch routine,

  and the storming of the Bastille---seemed pretty vague. Furthermore, Simons

  was doing nothing to make it happen, but appeared content to sit around the

  Dvoranchik place discussing ever-more-detailed scenarios. Yet none of this

  made Coburn uneasy. He was an optimist anyway; and he--like Ross

  Perot-figured there was no point in second-guessing the world's greatest

  rescue expert.

  While the dim possibilities were simmering, Simons concentrated on routes

  out of Iran, the problem Coburn thought of as

  Cietting out of Dodge. -

  Coburn looked for ways of flying Paid and Bill out. He poked around

  warehouses at the airport, toying with the idea of shipping Paul and Bill