The Minders (17 page)

Jason walked the halls on B2, checking room after room. Looking for where Parvaresh had said the guests stayed. He opened yet another door, a new corridor to inspect. The lights automatically came on. He walked past a room with lockers, a small kitchen, and a small circular table with chairs. He went to the first room. Looking inside, it was empty, as were the next two. The third room had a person in the bed. He unlocked the door. Opening the door slowly, pointing a gun at the prisoner, he turned on the light. It was a girl. She was sound asleep. He closed the door and moved to the other rooms. They were all empty.

At the end of the hall were bi-directional swinging doors with large glass portals. He opened them into a small lobby resembling a hospital emergency facility. Surrounding the nurses’ station was a series of rooms. He started on the right checking each room. Someone occupied the third room. He walked in and, under the dim lights, counted six hospital beds. He turned on the lights, again pointing his gun as he moved forward. He heard a young man grunting.

“It’s too late for a visit, Mr. Parvaresh!” Bobby yelled, burying his head back in the pillow.

Jason immediately recognized the voice. He walked over to Bobby.

“Hey Pinchy, wake up, it’s time to go home,” he whispered in Bobby’s ear.

Bobby still groggy rolled over and continued in his deep slumber. Perhaps it was just another happy dream.

“Turn off the lights Mr. Parvaresh!” he said. Then suddenly and painfully, he sat up, looking around.

“Who said Pinchy?”

He was face to face with an unshaven, dusty looking man wearing local garb, and staring back at him.

“Uncle Jason!” He cried, reaching out for a hug.

“Ouch! My ribs!”

Jason wanted to hold him for a long time, but time was short. Leaving Bobby, he walked over to the other prisoner, asking him for his nickname.

“Why does everyone want to know my nickname?” the father said, followed by a soft whisper containing his nickname.

Ordering them both to get up, Jason explained the next steps, as briefly as he could. He started to drag them both out of bed, rushing them to get dressed and to put on their shoes. He had found his people. It was time to get out, quickly.

Jason escorted Bobby and the father down the hall to pick up the little girl, while Jason and Gideon’s man checked out the remaining rooms one last time. Bobby was in the locker room looking for his belongings. The father and daughter were also looking. They found all of their personal belongings in those lockers. Bobby grabbed his backpack and laptop.

“These are mine, bitches!” he said smiling.

They found the other carry-ons and brought them out. It was too much. Jason told the father to pack as little as he could in the smallest bag. The father took some clothes for his daughter and her favorite doll. He left all the rest behind. He stuffed the items in his daughter’s Mermaid Backpack and followed Jason. He needed to focus on carrying his daughter, if need be, and not any luggage. After a short visit at the surveillance booth, they left the floor, moving up to B1.

*  *  *

They walked up the stairwell to level B1, opening the door to what seemed like a scene out of a sci-fi movie, with sophisticated technology wall-to-wall. Gideon and his people were busy working. Gideon was placing explosives, while the other man was working on a computer.

“What are you guys doing? Let’s just blow the place and get out,” Jason yelled towards Gideon.

“We need to get as much intelligence as we can,” Gideon yelled back from the other side of the floor. Bobby stood behind the man on the computer and watched for a while. The man was clearly out of his league.

“Uncle Jason? Do you mind if I have a go?” Without waiting, Bobby walked around, passing all the data processing servers, looking for the data vaults. 

He found an HP x510 Data Vault sitting next to two dozen more. He knew they were all connected, and knew it was easier getting in from the back door versus the front door. He picked the first one and connected his computer to it. He started typing, running scripts, staring at his laptop monitor. Almost an hour went by with everyone nervously waiting. The father and daughter were inside the conference room, looking through the glass wall, clinging to each other. Jason was standing near Bobby looking at his watch. The rest of Gideon’s men were sending status reports via earpieces every ten minutes. Gideon planted all of his explosives, and was now hovering over his guy at the terminal.

“What’s the hold up?” he said nervously.

“This is all encrypted data, and massive in size. We can’t take it and we can’t send it anywhere!” Gideon’s tech guy replied in frustration.

“What are
you
doing?” Gideon sarcastically asked Bobby, walking in his direction.

“This is all encrypted data, and massive in size. We can’t take it and we can’t send it anywhere!” Bobby repeated, with equal sarcasm.

“But, I’ve solved the problem,” he said, closing his computer and packing up.

“Let’s go Uncle Jason. I’m done.”

“We have our people and we’re off,” Jason told Gideon. He thanked him and insisted he too leave as quickly as he could.

“You guys take off. We have some work to do before we leave. Be safe,” Gideon replied.

Jason started shoving Bobby towards the conference room, waving for the father and daughter to join them. They all started walking towards the staircase. Bobby slung his backpack over both shoulders, and painfully picked up the little girl, smiling at the dad.

“I’ll carry her for a while. You can do the next shift.”

The father picked up the Mermaid backpack, kissed his daughter with an approving smile, and they all followed Jason.

They quickly worked their way towards the employee entrance. Jason stepped out to look around. Smoke filled the distant sky, with a glimmer of orange on the horizon from the still burning mosque. He looked around. Seeing no one, they all ran to the gate. Jason swiped the magnetic card, from the now dead Parvaresh, to open the gate. Looking across the street, he saw the idling delivery truck. Erdal flashed a light, three times. Jason looked around once more.

“Our ride is here.” Grabbing and shoving people, he moved the group to the idling truck.

“We have Bobby, plus two more,” Jason said pointing to the father and little girl, while shoving them into the truck.

“What happened? Was there a sale?” Erdal smiled as he shifted gears and drove off, with all five crammed into the front cab.

Within seconds, they were blocks away and well on their way to the warehouse. Unbeknownst to them, there was a pizza delivery scooter close behind and a car with four men further behind that.

*  *  *

Gideon and his crew placed their explosives and were on the way out. The data breech was unsuccessful, so the next best thing was to destroy what they found. They soon reached the employee entrance and parking lot. They detonated the explosives on the gate hinges, dropping the door with a massive crash. They then ran out of the parking lot and around the corner to their car.

They drove less than a block before stopping. They first blew all of the communication systems, on and off premise, followed by triggering all internal explosives. The building explosives included enough power to bring the five thousand gallon external gas tank crashing into level B1, gushing flammables all over the data center floor. Moments later, came the final gas implosion. It brought down the entire building. Fully satisfied, Gideon tapped the driver on the shoulder and they peeled away.

*  *  *

A group was following them too, close, and very well.

The explosions brought more fire trucks and emergency units to the neighborhood. It seemed to be a bad night all around. Fire engines, the police, and a cadre of agents from The Center itself surrounded The Center. Added to the mix were the revolutionary guards, the military, and hundreds of onlookers. Bystanders tried to help, reminiscent of days when Saddam would volley surface-to-surface missiles towards Tehran, during their long ten-year war. This time around, the military and revolution guards were busy keeping everyone away from the building, given its sensitive nature. They told the people that it was a gas tank explosion. The heat and fire would not allow anyone to get close or go inside the building.

The only calm people in the group surrounding the burning building were The Center agents. They were fully prepared for such an event and knew exactly what the next steps were. They were angry, but kept their cool. They did not expect such total destruction, but they were prepared for this Black Swan event.

Their great training kept them professional and on task. With their equipment and systems in ruin, The Center agents had to reestablish communications. They needed to contact all assets, both locally and those on assignment. They needed to notify them of the attack and implement the emergency protocols. Most protocol changes triggered automatically when communications were broken. However, in some instances, a direct and immediate contact was necessary. The very first step was to deploy all mobile command centers and to redeploy agents to those mobile units.

*  *  *

Jason and the delivery truck were deep in the city’s industrial zone, followed by three cars and a collection of motorcycles and delivery scooters, with excellent street craft all around. Although the followers switched, drove by and took opposite turns, they neglected to change their license plates. Jason was memorizing each plate as they crossed paths. Jason had them all tagged in his mind.

“We’re being followed.” Jason softly mentioned to Erdal.

“How many? How long? Where?” Erdal asked as he looked back from his side mirrors.

“From the very start, and they’re too many for us to handle. I think they want to see where we end up.”

Erdal made a couple of careful turns and got back on a main stretch of road back to a different part of the industrial zone.

“I have a plan,” he said, after calling his brothers.

“We’re going to an abandoned store we own with a locked and gated driveway. We will park inside, close the gate, and quickly move to the tunnel system that will take us to the opposite block. You, Jason, will have to man the tunnel entrance and slow them down just a little.” Erdal handed Jason some keys, telling him which to use for the gate.

Within twenty minutes, they were at the abandoned storefront. Jason jumped out, unlocking and opening the gate, while the others got ready to exit the truck. Erdal pulled in and parked. They all got out. Erdal handed Jason an AK-47 machine gun, giving him some final instructions. They both closed the gate, locking it from the inside.

Leaving Jason at the gate, Erdal directed the rest through a broken side door, towards the tearoom, with a tunnel entrance under a carpet in the middle of the room. Once the trap door was open, he whistled towards Jason, starting the five-minute timer. Jason kept a close eye on the road through the gate bars, seeing only two cars and a motorcycle visible in the distance. They were stopped, idling, and steadfast. Five minutes were up. Several more cars had joined Jason’s main tail, with no one moving any closer to the store.

Jason shored up the gate as best as he could, moving the truck against it. He then ran towards the tearoom. He placed the carpet over the tunnel door so that upon closing it covered the entrance as before. Any slowdown was a good thing. He climbed down the ladder and into the tunnel. It was dark and musty, the air thick with dust. Apart from that, it was well-built, and surely the last time Baba’s family would ever use that tunnel. Jason ran down the tunnel guiding himself by feeling the sidewalls, feeling the foundation beams every five feet. A good hundred yards away, the end of the tunnel became visible, lit by the opposite opening. As he got closer, he started yelling, as instructed.

“Hello Dolly! Hello Dolly!” It was either that or be shot by Erdal. Apparently, Erdal loved American musicals. Soon enough, he was at the other end of the tunnel.

“Welcome.” Erdal greeted him as he pulled him out of a fake manhole at the end of a short dead-end side street. They were now on the opposite side of a very long block of buildings. Erdal quickly replaced the cover as they ran to the waiting car half a block away.

“I didn’t hear any gun shots. Did they not come in?” Erdal asked.

“No. they were just waiting at the end of the road.”

“Good. I suppose they wanted to gather their tactical group and assault the place properly. We have lots of time now.” He smiled as they both jumped into the back of a waiting taxi, driven by Erdal’s brother. The father and daughter were in the front seat, the other three were in the back seat.

“How many cars a day do you guys steal?” Jason joked.

“As many as we need,” Erdal and his brother replied in harmony.

The father looked at his daughter and clarified that they are not stealing but just borrowing, and will return it later.

“So! Why ‘Hello Dolly’?” Jason asked Erdal, as the taxi moved towards safety.

“Oh, no reason, I just thought it would be funny to hear you yell that as you ran,” Erdal replied with a big smile on his face, as his brother shook his head, laughing.

*  *  *

Halfway across town, Center agents surrounded Gideon’s safe house. The assault teams were in place. They found the building manager and the building blueprints, as well as the roster of tenants. They discussed the roster in detail with the manager, breaking down the possibilities into two apartments, #408 and #209. The assault team split into groups. The orders were to capture them alive.

Back at the abandoned store, that assault team too was ready to move in. All three places were on a synchronized, timed assault. Watches were marked. Thirty seconds left to go.

It was well into an hour since both locations had been found, with assault teams in place, and ready for the take down. Fifteen seconds left. The store and two apartments were seconds away from a full assault, with concussion grenades and entry battering rams in hand. Three. Two. One.

*  *  *

A truck pulled the store gate off its hinges. A Center agent tossed concussion grenades through the already broken windows. Seconds later, seven fully masked and protected assault members rushed in, rifles pointing forward at the ready. The place was empty. They searched for back doors, windows, and all exits. There were no other exits. They initiated a more detailed search.

Doors to apartment #209 and #408 were battered open, concussion grenades tossed in, followed by similar teams rushing through the door. They cleared apartment #209, after a thirty-minute search and interrogation. It housed three brothers, local men, who worked at nearby shops.

Apartment #408 turned out to be a gold mine. Gideon and his three colleagues were taken in, with one shot, but not fatally. The others were just slightly bruised and injured. They prepared them for a move to the Revolutionary Guard facilities at the heart of Tehran, while another group of agents remained behind to collect all the evidence left in the apartment.

*  *  *

Leaving the apartment, agents in several carloads drove to the Revolutionary Guard Headquarters, while Jason’s car elsewhere in town, drove to safety.