by Doug Welch
“This is Sanjar's son. I vowed to not name him until Sanjar returned.” The tears started to flow from her eyes again and she sobbed. “Since he’ll never return, I leave it to you to name him.”
The blood rushed from Edwards head. He opened the bundle and stared at Sanjar’s son. The baby appeared thin and listless as though sharing in his mother’s grief. He struggled to think of a name. If the boy was to leave Iran and live in an English speaking country, he’d have to have an Anglo name, but what should it be? Then he remembered the first time he’d met Sanjar while riding in his motorcar.
“Sanjar, it means emperor in Farsi...”
Edward cleared his throat and looked at Sanjar’s yawning son. “Caesar.–I name you Caesar because it means emperor. I promise that I will be Godfather to you and help raise you to be a strong son, worthy to be the son of an honorable father.”
“You have another task,” Dorri said, “Shalizeh and I made a pact that neither of our children would be named until their fathers returned to us. Name your daughter, Edward.”
Now the feeling of finality, of embarking on a new path and setting a child in motion toward adulthood grew stronger. He held his daughter’s new life in his hands and the sense of responsibility weighed on him.
“I’d like to name her after you, sweetheart, but I feel that’s not wise. Can we name her after my mother, Elizabeth?”
Dorri smiled and nodded.
Ali stood. “We don’t have much time, Esmaeel. We need to leave.”
Edward reluctantly handed the two babies back to their mothers. “Ali’s right. Dorri you and Shalizeh pack essentials for the babies. You’ll need to wear full chadors with veils. Take your British passports but leave everything else here. We’ll buy new clothes when we reach Turkey.”
Shalizeh cast a strange look in Dorri’s direction. He could see a slight shake of Dorri’s head as they hurried from the common room toward the back of the apartment. Anxious, he wondered what meaning was contained in their wordless exchange but decided he’d ask later. The most important thing was to leave.
After a few minutes the sisters emerged from the back rooms dressed in chadors and carrying the babies. They had cloth bags draped at their sides, hung by a tie from their necks.
“We’re ready,” Dorri announced.
Ali led the way and they left the apartment. The slow pace was nerve wracking but necessary, as they tried to walk casually without attracting attention. As was customary, the women walked three paces behind them, an act which further increased Edward’s tension.
They reached the van and Ali opened the rear sliding door. He helped Shalizeh by holding the baby as she climbed into the back seat. Dorri stood swaying slightly and tugged at the tie of the bag that hung from her neck as though it choked her. She waited until Edward had entered the front passenger seat and Ali had settled behind the wheel then she threw the bag in the van and slammed the rear door shut.
Thrusting Elizabeth’s tiny form into Edward’s lap, she said, “Take care of our daughter, Edward. Raise her in freedom. I’ll always love you.”
She staggered back toward the apartments, screaming ‘help!’ as loud as she could.
At first they sat stunned. To Edward it seemed as though the whole world ran in slow motion. He heard Shalizeh in the back seat shout “Move, Ali!” Ali cursed, pressed on the accelerator and the tyres squealed against the pavement. The van fishtailed out of the side street and turned onto the main road.
A block away from the apartment, Edward recovered his wits.
“Stop the goddamned van, Ali. I’m going back for my wife.”
Ali licked his lips and looked nervously at him. Shalizeh’s sad voice issued from the rear. “No, Edward, Dorri wanted it this way. She can’t and won’t leave. She’s given me and our children a chance for the freedom she’ll never have and it would be a tragedy to throw it away.”
Tears stung his eyes. To be so close and have his life wrenched from his grasp caused an almost unbearable agony.
“Why, Shalizeh, why would she do it? Doesn’t she know how much it hurts?”
“She knows Edward, but she’s powerless to prevent it. While she was pregnant there was a rumor that the Canadian Embassy was smuggling out American and British subjects. She tried to reach the Embassy before it closed, but Behrouz found out and stopped her. After that, he had one of the House Adepts strengthen the pattern in her mind. Now she can’t leave her apartment building without collapsing and any prolonged absence will kill her.”
“Well, she may have just sealed our doom,” Ali said. “It will take a long time to travel through Tehran and if she alerts the Revolutionary Guard we’ll be captured before we can escape to the mountains.”
“Don’t worry,” Shalizeh responded listlessly. “She was barely holding on to consciousness when we left. She’ll be unconscious for hours before they’re able to question her and then she plans to misdirect them. –My poor sister!” She began to sob.
Edward stared ahead as Ali drove. He felt numb at first and then an all-consuming rage shook him. If the Shadows truly existed, they’d just created an implacable enemy. He’d spend his life tracking them down and eliminating each one until the earth had its fill of them.
He felt Elizabeth stir in his arms and he peeked under the blanket. One tiny fist covered her mouth as she yawned as though content with the whole world and her place in it. Just like that, his anger evaporated, replaced by a wave of tenderness. His daughter remained a part of Dorri and he needed to live for her, but he vowed to not rest until he’d rescued Dorri from Iran.
Ali drove straight north, crossing the mountains and descending to the coast. He stopped once for petrol and at the station, distributed forged papers to both of them. The documents intended for Sanjar and Shalizeh, he burned.
“You’re posing as husband and wife, on a trip to visit family in Azerbaijan. Since Dorri’s not with us, Shalizeh, you’re now her. In the dark with your veil, the resemblance should be sufficient to pass. I’m pretending to be a friend who agreed to drive you and pick you up after your visit. Just follow my lead and we should have no difficulty. It’s too late in the day, Edward, to wear the glasses, so you’ll need to pretend to sleep when we reach the border.”
Edward doubted he’d need to pretend. The stress of the day had exhausted him. Elizabeth began to fret and he gave her to Shalizeh to feed.
“It appears you’re to be wet nurse to our daughter, Shalizeh.”
“I’ve done it before,” she replied calmly, tucking the baby under her chador, “Dorri doesn’t produce as much milk as I do.” Ali looked embarrassed and stared fixedly at the road.
Edward brooded over the loss of Dorri and didn’t feel like making conversation, so most of the trip back was conducted in silence.
Soon, Ali broke it. “We’re coming to the crossing. It’s changed since Khomeini created the Revolutionary Guard. If it were only soldiers guarding it, we might be able to cross with a well-placed bribe, but now I dare not try. Your papers should be good enough to pass but remember to act your roles. God willing we’ll make it through without incident.”
Ali stopped behind a large lorry. This late at night, most of the traffic seemed to consist of commercial vehicles and they waited while the border guards searched each one. The border was ablaze with floodlights that illuminated the scene as bright as day.
The line crept forward as each vehicle passed through. As they drew nearer, Edward’s unease increased until the tension caused him to sweat. Knowing that the guards would be able to see it and that it would arouse suspicion he asked Shalizeh to pass his daughter to him. Cradling Elizabeth’s softness in his arms calmed him.
Guards swarmed over the lorry in front of them, opening it and checking the interior. Apparently satisfied it contained no contraband, they allowed it to pass through. Ali allowed the van to creep to the crossing.
Edward noticed guards carrying M-16 and AK-47 assault rifles. The gate closing the road was a flimsy
affair. Any vehicle could crash it, but they would also face some significant fire power from the automatic weapons. Beyond the gate was a no-man’s land extending into the darkness beyond the lights and then a lighted border crossing at the far distance into Azerbaijan on the other side.
Abruptly, Shalizeh covered her mouth to stifle a scream and then moaned. “Behrouz! He’s here –here at the border!”
Edwards’s eyes rapidly flicked to each of the guards at the crossing. None seemed alert to anything out of the ordinary and some appeared bored, smoking cigarettes and laughing. Which one was Behrouz? Was Shalizeh simply being hysterical and seeing shadows where none existed?
“Which one of the guards is he? Can you point him out?”
“He’s not one of the guards Edward, he’s a Shadow. You can’t see him.”
Ali allowed the van to slow as it approached the guards. “What is he doing? Where is he standing?” He reached under the driver’s seat and removed a silenced automatic handgun.
“He’s standing, looking at the van,” Shalizeh whispered. “He’s near the border between the road and the grass, to the right of the rightmost guard. –Edward, I see something in his hand. It looks like a gun.”
A prickling sensation flowed from Edward’s neck down to his spine, feeling like the hair rose on the back of his neck. Despite his skepticism regarding the Shadows, Shalizeh’s certainty made him fearful and wary. Ali slid the gun onto his seat, glanced at it and then looked at Edward with his eyes narrowed.
“Surely you can’t expect me to use that with the children in the car,” he hissed furiously.
Ali calmly appraised him. “She says he’s to the right of the van, clearly you have the best shot and it’s silenced.”
“He’s coming to the van,” Shalizeh whispered. “Edward I think he’s recognized us and he’s pointing the gun at you.”
The next few seconds seemed to flash by with horrific speed. Edward removed Elizabeth from his lap and placed her on the floor just as the window on the passenger side shattered. He sat up and grabbed the gun, looking for the source of the shot. At the sound of another ‘pop’ and a grunt from Ali, he instinctively fired the gun to the left of the muzzle flash and watched amazed as a figure emerged in his sight clutching its stomach. He saw a man drop to the pavement in an area which had been empty space before. Blood spurted through the man’s fingers.
He saw the guards frozen, apparently unsure of what had just happened, and then glanced at Ali who groaned, clutching his shoulder, blood seeping through his fingers. Coming to a quick decision, he shouted, “Shalizeh! Lay the baby on the floor!”
He jammed the accelerator pedal of the van to the floor and grabbed the steering wheel. The tyres screamed on the pavement and the van crashed through the gate, careening down the roadway and past the floodlights. When Ali had approached the border he’d turned off the van’s headlights so he drove blindly in the dark, aiming for the border lights at the other end.
In a few more seconds, he heard the sound of automatic weapons and bullets hammered the back of the van as though someone pounded on it with a hammer.
Stirring, Ali apparently saw that he was about to drive off the road so he grabbed the wheel.
“Let me drive, Edward. I know the road better than you.”
Edward relinquished the wheel and removed his foot from the accelerator. Both Elizabeth and Caesar howled from all the rough handling they’d endured and he looked in the dark back seat at Shalizeh’s form, made darker by the black chador. She seemed to slump.
As soon as the van stopped at the Azerbaijan border the guards pointed guns at them and motioned them out of the van. Edward grabbed Elizabeth and opened the back door to assist Shalizeh, while Ali, sitting beside the road clutching his bleeding shoulder, conferred with the guards.
His hand gripped Shalizeh’s chador and he felt something wet.
“Please help me, Edward,” Shalizeh moaned, “I think I’ve been shot.”
Chapter 16
Turkey – Fall 1980
Edward sat holding Shalizeh’s hand as she lay in a hospital bed.
Both of their children were in the care of a Turkish nanny at the present as Edward waited for her to recover from the operation to repair her hip. Two of the bullets from the assault rifles had penetrated the back seat, shattering her pelvis and causing a large loss of blood. Fortunately the seat had absorbed much of the momentum or she might not have made it.
He relived the hazy moments of their flight from Iran and the sight of Behrouz suddenly appearing right in front of him. No longer doubting the existence of the Shadows, he’d vowed to help the Shadow network in any way he could.
The door to Shalizeh’s room opened and Ali walked in. His upper arm and shoulder was encased in a cast and lay nestled in a sling, courtesy of the bullet from Behrouz’ gun.
“How is she doing? I heard the operation went well.”
Edward sighed. “She’ll be in a body cast for a while and in a lot of pain, but they think she’ll walk again.”
Ali nodded. “Well, I just wanted to check. I’m going back to Azerbaijan to recuperate, then it’s back to spying for the KGB. Take care, Edward.” He turned to leave.
“Wait,” Edward said, “Is Ali your true name?”
Ali smiled. “No, Edward, it’s not. Maybe we’ll meet again some day and I’ll tell you.” He winked and walked out of the room.
Edward resumed his watch by Shalizeh‘s bed. She woke once and then seeing him there, went back to sleep. Presently, she roused again and asked for water.
Wetting her mouth she croaked, “How are our babies?”
“You needn’t worry sister. They’re being taken care of.”
She sighed, apparently satisfied. “And how is their father?”
At first her words didn’t make sense, but then he realized that he was now the father to two children.
“Their father is worried about their mother, hoping that she gets well and the family can leave Turkey.”
“Just where will the family live?”
“In Scotland with my mother. I’ve made arrangements, but we’ll have to pose as husband and wife and the children can never know the truth. Can you live with that?”
She nodded. “As long as we’re together, that’s all that counts. I think Dorri will be safe in Iran and maybe once the turmoil subsides, we can bring her home.”
The pain of Dorri’s absence suddenly gripped his throat and his words came out raspy. “We can only hope, Shalizeh.”
Epilogue
Paris sat at Edward’s bedside listening to him talk.
“Shalizeh died seven years later, never having seen her sister again. They said that it was the complications of cervical cancer and the gunshot wound which had never properly healed, but I suspect she lost her will to live and longed to meet Sanjar again. Shadoe smuggled messages and sometimes money to Dorri, but he used the threat of the circumstances of Caesar and Elizabeth’s birth as a club to make me do as he wished. When I realized that you two intended to marry both of them, I stopped cooperating but by then it was apparently too late.”
Paris sat back in the hospital chair. “It’s an extraordinary story, Edward. I almost lost Elizabeth so I can sympathize, but I think your spying days are over, don’t you?”
Edward laughed. “Golf for me from now on, since I’ve gained a new heart.”
Paris’ cell phone rang. He raised it to his ear and listened.
Dan’s voice issued from the earpiece, “She’s here.”
“Okay,” he said, “Is everything ready?”
“All set,” he replied.
“Good, bring them in.”
The door to Edward's room opened. A string of doctors and nurses rolling a crash cart entered the room and stood at the side of Edward’s bed. Edward glanced nervously at them and then looked at Paris.
“What’s this?”
“Just a precaution, Elizabeth insisted on it.” He bent down and whispered in his ear. “You
know, Edward, having a son-in-law who’s also a Shadow Adept does come with perks.”
In a moment, four people entered the room, in the center an attractive, older, gray-haired woman flanked on either side by Elizabeth and Caesar with Alex trailing them.
Paris saw the heart monitor at Edward’s beside speed up and his choked voice whispered one word. “Dorri?”
The petite woman rushed to his bedside and buried her head against his arm, sobbing.
Paris rose to give her the chair, and joined Elizabeth Caesar and Alex. Elizabeth cocked her head to one side and stared at him.
“Do I even need to know how you did this?”
“With a lot of help from my friends. We owe Bertram Chandler and the Council big time and I suspect they’ll want payback.” He glanced at the hospital bed. “But I think the results were worth it, don’t you? Grieg Pearson and Tony helped. We couldn’t remove the pattern from her mind entirely, the Adepts in Iran are too powerful for that, but we managed to change the focus and the severity. Now, all she’ll feel is a mild anxiety if she’s not by Edward’s side.” He cupped Elizabeth’s cheek and matched her stare. “So how are you feeling?”
She placed her hand atop his. “To tell you the truth, I haven’t assimilated it all yet. My true mother and father are kissing over there on a hospital bed and it seems unreal.” She looked at Caesar. “I imagine Caesar’s feeling the same because he’s learned the truth about our Shadow heritage and the fact that father was more than just an adoptive parent. You should have seen her when she first met us, she couldn’t stop touching and hugging us, and we felt the same about her. We have over thirty years of catch-up to accomplish.”
Paris nodded and caressed her soft hair. “Look at it from my perspective. I’ve just acquired a new mother-in-law and the Family’s become a lot larger and closer. I just hope life becomes simpler, although with the babies on the way, I doubt it. By the way Doctor Fox, no one will ever be able to challenge your or Caesar’s citizenship again. I’ve made sure of it.”
