Whiplash

22

For the Whiplash team, listening in on what was happening at Uncle Dpap’s headquarters, the hours following Danny’s visit passed slowly. Tilia’s description of her meeting with Colonel Zsar made it clear that he had not made any decision. The colonel had sent a message to his Iranian contact, but because it was sent from a town thirty miles away, the NSA net had failed to pick it up

The evening after Danny’s star turn as an arms dealer, Nuri went to bed thinking he would have to come up with a new idea. But when he woke, a new set of NSA intercepts from Sudan had been translated and forwarded to the team.

The headline on one made him forget how bad the coffee was:

The conversation had taken place in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. It lasted for barely a minute and was on the surface innocuous. The only reason it had been examined at all was the fact that it had been conducted in Farsi; an NSA computer had pulled it out and queued it for translation and inspection.

Nuri ran and got Danny.

“They’re talking about me?” Danny asked.

“Has to be. It’s in Farsi. which means—”

“It’s between two Iranians,” said Danny.

“Exactly. The Republican Guard has funneled some money to Colonel Zsar. Caller one must be a contact for Zsar, or somewhere in the chain.”

“Who is he?”

“I don’t know. There’s no ID here. The call wasn’t specifically targeted. That sat phone will be now, though. Sometimes they’re pretty clever about hiding identities. We may figure out who it is. We may not. He’ll be at the meeting, though.”

“You think this is Colonel Zsar?”

“The backgrounder says he doesn’t speak Farsi.” Nuri took a swig of his coffee. It was always bad, but this morning it was particularly bad. He decided that might be good luck. “Uncle Dpap will call soon. Set up the meeting as soon as you can.”

“Right.”

“While you’re there, I’ll try and get a better look at Colonel Zsar’s operations,” said Nuri. “I’ll put some bugs in, and find out what the Iranians have spent their money on.”

“Can you get into the fortress?”

“We’ll have to be invited in. I’d like to post a blimp nearby, cover the approaches.”

“OK.”

Nuri sat in front of the laptop and began looking at satellite photos of Colonel Zsar’s village. “Why do you think they have a guard on a barn?” he asked.

“Keep people from stealing the cows.”

“They don’t have guards on the other buildings they have in the village.”

“Got me,” said Danny.

“Hmmm,” said Nuri. “Guess I’ll take a look at that, too.”