Chapter 10

Oscar settled into position on top of a building situated halfway down the street from the house occupied by the Chief of State. He waited for another fifteen minutes before he saw Ed and Penny take advantage of a sudden lull in foot traffic to enter the home. They didn’t knock. Filled with tension, he expected to hear gunshots, but their entrance was greeted with silence. Almost at once, the street filled with men walking along the length of it. They weren’t pedestrians, but guards and clerics protecting the Ayatollah.

Over his earphones, Annette said, “They’re in. No problems so far.”

It was dawn and the town of Tehran was waking. The odors of people cooking their breakfasts tickled his nose, the noises of people preparing for the day rang in his ears, and the sun rising over the city assaulted his eyes. He could feel the desert air and it felt good despite the fact that he was in a very crowded city.

Oscar could hardly believe that they had traveled so far through hostile territory without encountering resistance. Annette was absolutely amazing. Under her guidance they had landed in a downtown soccer field, driven through town in a stolen truck, and walked through one of the most heavily guarded neighborhoods without getting stopped a single time. She would tell them to stop; they would wait while someone would walk past; and then tell them to go. For all intents and purposes, they had glided through Tehran invisibly.

“Beautiful morning isn’t it?” asked Annette over his earphone. The suddenness of her comment and the apparent nearness of her voice startled Oscar. He should have been used to it since she had been making comments to him ever since they had reached Tehran. She had a pile of satellite telephones that allowed her to talk to everyone in the field. He wondered why she chose to talk to him so much, particularly since he couldn’t answer her questions.

Oscar didn’t move or answer, but kept his eyes on the street below. Ed was visiting the Ayatollah who held the post of Chief of State. He was the single most powerful man in all of Iran. He didn’t need to be in the room to know what was happening. Ed was convincing him to bring the President, the twelve members of the Council of Guardians, and the more influential members of the Supreme National Security Council over to the house.

“Could you move a little so that I can locate you?” asked Annette. Her voice had a pleading tone to it.

Oliver rolled his eyes wondering when she was going to stop asking him to do that. A car pulled up to the house where Ed and Penny were located. A well-dressed man got out after the driver had opened his door. As he approached the house, the front door opened to let him in. Oscar caught a glimpse of a red robe through the open door. He wondered how it was that Penny managed to pull him in the house without drawing attention.

He didn’t want to guess how many more people would be showing up over the next half an hour. Each time that door opened, it was another chance for someone to realize that something was wrong. Once things went wrong, it would be up to Oscar to save them.

“Come on, Oscar. Please let me know where you are. How can I look out for you if I don’t know where you are?” asked the voice in his ear. She was definitely begging and it was beginning to get irritating.

Extending his left hand away from his body while keeping it under his cloak, Oscar wrote his name in the dust. He moved his hand back pulling the cloak with it. It seemed as though the name appeared from nowhere. A screech of excitement blasted his ears as Annette said, “There you are. Wow, you really are good at blending into your surroundings.”

Oscar had kept his attention of the house. Three more people had arrived and entered as a group. He didn’t know if it was common for those people to be summoned to the Ayatollah’s residence at that particular time of day, but no one acted as if it were something out of the ordinary. Oscar hoped they would be able to get all of the guests over to the house before something went wrong.

For the next thirty minutes, men arrived at the house and entered to be disarmed by Penny. Oscar watched from above hoping that he wouldn’t have to act. His hopes fell when he watched a very large man march down the street to the house. There was something different about the way the man moved. His body language screamed that he was suspicious of the early morning call. The large man paused and talked to one of the guards in the street. The man resumed his trip down the street, but the guard went in the opposite direction.

Annette said, “Oscar, I don’t like the looks of that big guy.”

Despite his hopes otherwise, Oscar agreed with her assessment and picked up the control that would activate the claymore mines. More men entered the street and moved towards the house. Tension radiated from the street below. The big man walked up to the house with the last few steps being taken at a run. He crashed into the door with his pistol drawn followed by the guards.

From within the house a shot was fired and a few seconds later the big man staggered out the door. At the same time the man hit the ground, Annette said, “It’s hit the fans. Ed says it is time to start shooting.”

The guards, weapons ready to use, had crowded together to rush the door. They were huddled against the outside wall of the house where they wouldn’t be targets from the people inside. Oscar waited for a few stragglers to reach the site. Annette repeated, “Ed says to start firing.”

Ignoring Annette, Oscar waited another few seconds before he flipped a switch on the radio controlling the claymore mines that he had placed in the gutters of the buildings under which the men were huddled. The result of the downward directed blast was devastating for the men gathered there. The explosion was deafening.

The sound of gunfire and then the explosion caused additional guards to come running up the street. Oscar fired a grenade into the middle of the crowd. The thump of the launcher drew every eye on the street in his direction, but they didn’t remain looking at him for long. The explosion when the grenade reached its target turned the street into chaos. Oscar didn’t know if it was intentional, but there was no cover for the men in the street to hide behind.

Men with guns poured out of houses, thereby increasing the disarray. Oscar set off another half dozen claymore mines. The explosions drove the survivors into the buildings where they thought they would be safe. Oscar smiled as he prepared to change locations, knowing that the buildings only gave the impression of safety.

Amidst the confusion, Oscar moved to another rooftop location. From the street, a handful of wounded guards were firing randomly towards the top of the building from which he had fired the grenade launcher. Men streamed onto the rooftops in search of him, searching the site he had been. Oscar fired, taking the ones furthest from him out first. Once the others noticed, they turned thinking that the shots were coming from behind. He took his time and eliminated the remaining men.

More men entered the street below. Now that his position was safe from attack from the roof, he turned his attention to the street. He launched another grenade into a cluster of men that were searching for cover. During the explosion, he moved to the other end of the roof.

He was about to set off another set of claymore mines when Ed’s voice sounded in his ear. “Stop firing, Oscar.”

Although unwilling to do as asked, Oscar stopped firing. He remained ready to resume if anyone made a threatening move. A few seconds later, calls echoed through the street below for the guards to stop firing. From his location Oscar couldn’t see the Ayatollah, but he listened as the man called out, “Stop firing. I have sworn an oath that none of them are to be hurt. Stop firing. I have sworn that they are to leave here unharmed!”

Over the earphone, Ed explained, “He’s agreed to help us. You can come out of hiding now. The Ayatollah has told them not to fire upon you.”

“I don’t trust him,” said Oscar pushing the button on the microphone to the radio.

“He swore on the Koran,” replied Ed. He had heard the lie in the man’s voice when he first agreed to a cease-fire and had forced the man to swear upon the Koran. The holy book had glowed as the Ayatollah swore. Ed knew that the man would not break his oath. Everyone in the room knew that it had been given in the presence of Allah.

Accepting Ed’s assurances, Oscar stood and walked to the edge of the roof. Holding the grenade launcher in his left hand and his rifle in his right, he presented himself as a man who was well-armed and ready to use his weapons. Looking down at the scene below, he could see that there were at least two dozen lifeless bodies and three times that many injured men scattered around the street. On the roof were another half dozen dead.

The guards below were looking in the wrong direction for him. When Ed pointed, they turned and looked up at Oscar. From his position above the guards, Oscar could hear whispers of ‘desert ghost’ being passed from man to man. The term confused him until he heard Annette’s explanation over the headset. “They call you the desert ghost because of your attacks on the terrorists in the desert.”

Oscar had not been aware of this nickname and shrugged his shoulders. He touched the switch and said, “I didn’t know that.”

“Come down here,” shouted Ed. He turned his attention to the Ayatollah who was talking to one of the guards in the street. He listened as the holy man gave very direct orders that the Druids were not to be harmed in any fashion.

After the Ayatollah finished his conversation he turned to the street and shouted, “Hear me. I have sworn a most sacred oath that no harm will come to these Magi. Any man who harms one of them shall suffer the full wrath of Allah.”

Standing in the middle of the street, the Ayatollah looked around to see if anyone even considered harming them. The threat of suffering the full wrath of Allah would be realized only after suffering the full wrath of the Ayatollah. Every man on the street knew that. After a full minute, he appeared satisfied and turned to face the house. He grasped Ed’s arm and led him into the house.

It took Oscar several minutes to join Penny in front of the house. Although she looked relaxed, it was easy to see that she was guarding the door with her weapon ready to use. Oscar stood beside her and watched the crowd of people staring at them. Neither one relaxed their grip on their guns despite the fact that the crowd acted as though they were the ones outnumbered.

Watching the tops of the buildings, Oscar said, “Tell me about Annette.”

“She was blind until she met the Two-Sided One years ago. He gave her the gift of far-sight and now she can see anything that is far away. It doesn’t matter if something is half way around the world and hidden inside of a building, she can see it. The strange thing is that she’s still blind when it comes to things that are nearby,” replied Penny.

“What’s she like,” asked Oscar. He had tried to imagine what the woman looked like based on her voice, but had been able to construct a mental image.

“She’s probably the sloppiest looking person I’ve ever met. Doesn’t worry about combing her hair, she doesn’t wear makeup, and her robe is always rumpled. She’s always rocking from side to side. Apparently, that allows her to judge distances somehow. She tried to explain it to me once, but I didn’t understand it.”

“Sloppy?” asked Oscar thinking that it was very unusual for a Druid to be sloppy.

“Yes, sloppy. I thought she wasn’t aware that she looks like hell, but she knows and doesn’t care,” answered Penny shrugging her shoulders.

Puzzled, Oscar said, “I’ve met one blind woman and she was very particular about her appearance. She took extra care when eating so that she wouldn’t mess up her clothes. All of her clothes had special labels that would allow her to color co-ordinate her outfit. There was nothing messy about her.”

“Annette used to be very careful about her appearance, but that was before she became a Druid. Claims she’s a worse than a television junky and doesn’t want to interrupt watching the world to take care of that kind of trivial stuff. She’s become a couch potato and won’t move out of her house.”

Almost as if on cue, Annette’s voice rang in Oscar’s ear as she said, “Oh, I wish you could see what I see. There is such beauty in this world that it takes my breath away.”

Oscar looked down from the buildings and turned on his microphone. He asked, “What are you looking at? Why aren’t you watching what’s going on here?”

“Don’t get your panties in a bind. I’m watching what’s going on there. I’m also watching the sun set over the Rocky Mountains,” answered Annette. She sighed and said, “So much beauty in this world.”

“Well, I’d appreciate it if you’d pay a bit more attention here. If you hadn’t noticed, we’re surrounded by a bunch of people who have a good reason to be hostile,” said Oscar returning his gaze to the rooftops. His eyes never stopped moving as he sought out any sign of aggression.

After letting loose a snort, Annette said, “There’s a couple about to have sex in the sixth building over to your right. That’s the most interesting thing happening where you are right now and that isn’t all that interesting. Oh jeez, he’s already done. What a dick head. He’s already heading to the shower to wash himself.”

Curious by her sudden digression, he asked, “Do you watch people having sex all that often?”

“There are over six and a half billion people on this planet. At any given minute, a million of them are having sex. It’s almost impossible to see anything in this world without having someone in the area fucking,” answered Annette.

“I never thought about it like that,” answered Oscar.

“Ah, something is happening with one of the hostages. Talk to you later.”

Oscar reached up and flicked his microphone off. He said, “She seems to be able to watch a lot of places at the same time.”

Laughing at the raised eyebrow he had given her when making his comment, Penny said, “Yeah, it’s kind of scary when you think about it.”

Ed stepped out of the building and looked around. Speaking to the two Druids, he said, “Come inside. We’re going to stay here until everything is under control.”

Oscar and Penny entered the building. Oscar paused to look around. Considering the importance of the man who lived within, it was a rather unpretentious dwelling. There were carpets on the floor, pillows upon which they could sit, and mosaics on the wall. Half the houses in Tehran could boast the same furnishings.