by R G Ainslee
Azad hailed from the desert garden city of Shiraz, proud of his surname that echoed his heritage. He viewed himself as a perfect Persian, the inheritor of thousands of years of culture. He longed for his home city of Shiraz. The people on the Caspian coast spoke a different dialect and the region was far from his beloved Shiraz.
A devout Muslim, he managed the temptations of the West and the strict code of his religion. His faith gave comfort and stability as he worked among strangers. It had been a satisfying job, defending his country against the godless Communists. They stood for everything evil in the world, until now.
Three weeks before, the impossible happened. The Shah fled the country in the wake of increasing riots and protests. Azad had been sure the Americans would never let that happen. They did nothing. Two weeks later, American technicians abandoned the facility leaving the equipment running. Intercepts sent to a satellite. Khomeini returned from exile and a few days later took over the government. Azad, ever faithful, stayed on the job, his skills needed to keep the facility running. Without doubt, the new regime would want to be on guard against the Russians.
Five days ago, his worst fear came true. A delegation from the Committee of the Islamic Revolution showed up at the gate. The men were not Mazandarani from the local area, but an advance group from Tehran. They arrested the remaining local employees and took them away.
Azad pleaded with the leader, a young Mullah wearing a green armband, to spare him. Azad insisted he was from the south, a real Persian, not one of the locals. He was an electrical engineering graduate, they needed him to maintain the equipment. It worked. The leader of the group ordered him to stay at the facility and keep it running. Guards posted outside the main gate had orders to allow no one in or out.
A different faction returned the next day. They called themselves Basij-e Mostaz'afin, the Mobilization Resistance Force. A young Mullah led the group made up of rough characters, men from the street. Azad sensed danger.
The Mullah, an intense man wearing wire-rimmed glasses, asked questions. "Why did you work for the American Satan? Why did you work for the Shah against the Iranian people?"
Azad tried to explain: he was protecting the country against the godless Communists. He was a patriotic Iranian. They did not believe him.
The interrogation began. Azad told them what they wanted to hear, but to no avail. A large angry man administered a professional beating. Azad, at the edge of consciousness pleaded, told them he was a good Muslim and prayed five times a day. He worked for the Americans only to spy on them.
They demanded proof he was spying on the American Satan. Desperate, he told how the Americans sent their data back to the den of spies in Washington. The data transmitted to a satellite in space and beamed back to the United States for analysis. They drug him outside. He pointed out the satellite dish. A volley of bullets destroyed the last means of communication.
In the end, his job saved his life. They needed his unique skills to maintain the facility until the new regime decided what to do. The Mullah instructed Azad to stay and keep the equipment running. He did not tell them the automated collection system continued to run. Tapes collected intercepts, but no longer transmitted data.
Trapped, his future uncertain, Azad kept his established routine. Check the electrical circuits every two hours. Start the emergency generator daily. Wait for the unknown. It had been three days since they left, but he realized they would return. In his heart, he knew he was expendable.
He sank into a chair in the operations center, desperate for an idea. Anything that would save him from an uncertain fate.
Startled when a tape machine began recording, Azad eased over to the bank of equipment. He placed a hand on the lever intent on halting the process, hesitated for a moment, and looked back at the intercept operator's console. Although not a trained operator, he had seen the Americans in action.
The panoramic display flashed with the unmistakable signature of a Soviet missile launch. He knew that much for sure. Antennas focused on targets in Turkmenistan across the Caspian Sea monitored Soviet missile telemetry. His hand released the lever and hurried back to the console.
For a full five minutes, he stared at the display, pausing only to look back at the revolving tape reel. The germ of an idea began to form. The Americans always celebrated a successful intercept. It was an important occasion. This was a test they would never know about, unless Azad took the tape.
About the Author
The author served as a soldier on the front line of the Cold War. Trained as an ELINT specialist, he worked at sites on the East German border for the Army Security Agency during the years following the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In 1973, he traveled overland from Europe to Kathmandu, passing through pre-revolutionary Iran and Afghanistan. His time in Turkey coincided with the Yom Kippur War.
Four years later, he crossed the Sahara and rainforests of Central Africa on the way to Kenya. Along the way, he visited soon-to-be hot spots, such as Algeria, Niger, the Central African Republic, eastern Zaire (Now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Rwanda.
Following the four-month overland journey, he settled down in dollar a night hotel on Lamu Island, Kenya in search of a quiet restful haven. The Ogaden War between Somalia and Ethiopia was raging up the coast. In a moment of inspiration, he decided to write an action-adventure story of the Secret Cold War. That story became The Ethiopian Intercept.
He writes about the invisible war, often fought by proxy, long hidden behind a curtain of secrecy. The Secret Cold War series novels are set in Africa and Southern Asia, areas the author has traveled extensively. Some of the locations are included in his novels.
A word from RG Ainslee
Thank you for reading The Iranian Intercept, the third book in the Secret Cold War series. I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked what you read, would you please leave a short review on Amazon or Goodreads. Just a few lines would be great. Reviews are the highest compliment you can pay to an author. They also help other readers discover and make informed choices about buying books in today's crowded market.
More books are coming soon. The Raven-One Team's adventures continue in the next story, The Caspian Intercept, a follow-on book to The Iranian Intercept involving team members Amadeo Ruiz and Jack Richards.
If you would like to know when future editions become available, please sign up for my new release e-mail list at:
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