To Nina’s alarm, headlights were intermittently visible through the trees behind the shore. ‘I thought nobody would be around?’
‘It’s a highway,’ Zane replied, unconcerned. ‘No one driving along it will be able to see us.’ The pilot brought them in until breaking waves began to rock them, at which point Zane and another Mossad operative jumped out, dragging the craft ashore. The second boat came in alongside. The other occupants disembarked, and the agents picked up the empty vessels and carried them across the sand into the trees. Grubby tarpaulins were draped over them, the coverings weighed down with rocks.
‘That’s how you’re hiding them?’ Nina asked. ‘What if someone looks under the tarps and finds two super-high-tech stealth boats?’
‘Trust me, nobody will look,’ said Zane, scooping up a handful of dirt and tossing it over one of the tarpaulins. The other got the same treatment. ‘Tourists who come here either walk on the beach or go into the forest on the far side of the highway. Even if they see these, they just look like ordinary boats when they’re covered — nothing worth paying attention to. I told you, we’ve done this before.’
‘Yeah, hiding something in plain sight by making it look really boring does actually work,’ Eddie told his wife. ‘Did it a few times in the SAS: we’d park up in a rusty old van to bag someone and nobody’d give us a second look. Well, except that time some little scrote opened the back door to see if there was anything he could nick. Blew the op, but it was worth it for the look on his face when he saw us all pointing guns at him. I think he genuinely shat himself.’
‘Lovely,’ she said, still unconvinced. But the Israelis were satisfied by the boats’ new low-tech camouflage and set off through the woods.
It did not take long for the group to reach a dirt track cutting through the strip of forest between the beach and the highway. A van lurked in the darkness. Two of the Mossad agents drew their weapons and moved into the trees to cover it.
‘Is that Hafez’s?’ Nina whispered.
Zane regarded it through the goggles. ‘I can’t tell if there’s anyone inside.’
‘I can,’ said Eddie. Before anyone could object, he advanced on the van, whistling loudly and tunelessly.
The Israeli made an aggrieved noise. ‘He’s being subtle again. That worked out so well last time!’
The driver’s door opened, a cloud of smoke wafting out. The lurking Israelis’ guns snapped on to the bearded man who emerged. ‘Oi, Hafez!’ Eddie called. ‘You really ought to stop smoking — it gives away that you’re in there when it leaks out of the windows.’
Hafez Marradejan took a long, mocking drag on his cigarette. ‘You used to smoke too, Eddie!’ he rasped.
‘Yeah, but that was a long time ago. I’ve sorted myself out since then.’ He embraced the older man. ‘Glad to see you again.’
‘And you. Six years, I think it has been?’
‘About that, yeah. Did you have any trouble getting here?’
‘Only from my wife! She was not pleased when I told her I was going to drive across half the country to see an old friend.’ A cackle, which turned into a cough, then Hafez peered past the Englishman. ‘So, where are the others?’
‘In the woods.’ Eddie turned and waved. ‘It’s okay, come on out.’
Nina was first to leave the trees, Zane and most of the other Mossad operatives following more cautiously. The two men keeping watch remained in the shadows, wary of deception or ambush.
But there was neither. ‘Hafez!’ said Nina. ‘Hi, remember me?’
‘Yes, of course!’ he replied, clasping her hand and shaking it. ‘You have become famous since then, no?’
‘Or infamous. And married, too.’ She took hold of Eddie’s arm.
The Iranian grinned. ‘Ah, so he did not sort himself out. I thought so!’
‘Are you okay? The last time I saw you, you’d been shot in the leg.’
‘An old wound now,’ he said dismissively, before giving the other men a quizzical look. ‘And these are…?’
‘Jared Zane,’ said Eddie, introducing the Israeli, ‘and his… associates. Probably best that you don’t ask where they’re from.’
Hafez finished his cigarette and ground it under his foot. ‘Pfft. I know Israeli special forces when I see them. Or Mossad, but the two are almost one these days.’ Ignoring Zane’s surprise, he went on: ‘You have vouched for them, Eddie, so that is good enough for me. And from what you told me, their business here is not with the people of Iran.’
‘No,’ Zane said. ‘At least not today.’
Eddie sighed as Hafez narrowed his eyes. ‘He doesn’t like the Iranian government any more than you do,’ he told the younger man, ‘so don’t even start waving your cock around.’
Hafez opened the rear doors. ‘It is big enough for all of you. Including the two men in the trees.’ Again Zane was caught by surprise; the Iranian gave him a yellow-toothed grin.
‘I keep telling this kid how useful experience is, but he won’t bloody listen,’ said Eddie, smirking. Zane shook his head, then signalled for the pair to join the others.
‘So, I am taking you into the Alborz mountains?’ asked Hafez as the Israelis clambered into the van.
‘Yeah,’ replied Nina. ‘The only problem is, I don’t know exactly where. I’ve narrowed it down to a fairly small area near one of the passes, but we’ll still have to search when we get there.’
‘I will get you as close as I can.’ With all the Mossad agents now squeezed inside, he closed the doors. ‘Oh, even though I will take the back roads, you will still need to wear a headscarf,’ he told Nina apologetically. ‘Red hair, it stands out — and with a truck full of spies, I do not want to attract attention!’
‘That’s okay,’ she said, touching her bedraggled ponytail. ‘The state my hair’s in, I’m happy to keep it under wraps.’
Hafez smiled. ‘There is one in the front. Okay, now we can go.’ He opened the passenger door for her and Eddie, then returned to the driver’s seat. There was a packet of Winston cigarettes on the dashboard; he flicked out one of the white cylinders with an almost automatic movement and put it in his mouth, then hesitated. ‘You think I smoke too much?’ Eddie nodded. ‘If you can give up, then bah, so can I.’ He returned the unlit cigarette to its home. ‘For one day, at least.’
Nina fastened a black scarf around her head as the Iranian started the engine. ‘You don’t appreciate your health until you lose it,’ she told him, with a sad look at her husband.
The target area was only some sixty miles from the landing site as the crow flew, but the journey was considerably more circuitous. Hafez was being extra cautious, avoiding major settlements and not wanting to draw the slightest interest from anyone they passed, be they civilian, police or military. By the time they left the coastal plain and began to ascend into the long east — west range of the Alborz, it was after eleven o’clock.
Nina’s prior visit to Iran had taken her to its dry and dusty western region, so the landscape came as a surprise. The mountains trapped clouds rolling in from the Caspian, resulting in a thick verdant carpet of forest covering the entire northern flank of the peaks. ‘Beautiful, yes?’ said Hafez as the van cruised up a tree-lined road winding deeper into the wilderness.
‘It is,’ she agreed. ‘But finding what we’re looking for in these woods might be harder than I thought.’
‘Hopefully Kroll and his lot’ll have the same problem,’ said Eddie.
‘Guess we’ll find out soon.’ There was a satnav on the dash; it showed that they were only a few kilometres from their destination — or at least the start of their search.
Minutes passed, the Iranian swinging the van around a series of hairpin bends as the potholed road ascended the pass. The clouds thickened the higher they climbed, casting a gloomy pall over both the scenery and Nina’s mood. She had barely escaped with her life from the Nazis… but now she was likely to face them again.