“Yes, I do.”
“Tosser,” said Silk Purse.
“Ok, I’d like to put one over on the Mullahs. You’ll have to pretend to be my wife, it’ll make it easier to get you in or if we’re checked. Be at the transport dock, west side at 10pm. I can’t call you Tosser.” She thought.
“Helen McDavid. I knew her at school.” He smiled.
“See you tonight Helen.” He got up and left.
Silk Purse gave her a hard stare.
“You’ve not been operational yet. Iran. We already have an experienced agent in jail there.”
“I’ve been in an Antarctic blizzard on this one. How old were you on your first op? Did they think you were ready? Don’t tell me, you fought hard to get yourself sent in, I know you Boss. Let’s get her out. Let’s kick the ragheads asses.”
Silk Purse shook her head. She remembered Libya, she’d faced resistance, it was hard and dangerous, but she’d done it. Her boss had resisted. But, the bastard was, it was now her call.
“I’ll say I snuck off and went myself. If it goes well, you can take the credit for knowing who to send and when. It’s a no-lose situation. Come on Silky, please”
“Ok, go and get Crutch out.” Tosser hugged her. “Thanks, thanks. I won’t let you down.”
She beamed and laughed. “Also, I get to be Josh’s wife, he isn’t bad looking, you never…”
Silk Purse smiled. “Sorry to disappoint you, but Crutch said he’s as bent as a barking snake.”
THAT NIGHT THEY LEFT on a fast power boat across the Gulf. Outside of Bandar Abbas they boarded a fishing boat. At dawn they pulled into a harbour, Josh was known to the harbourmaster. He passed over their passports, each with a twenty-dollar bill inside. The harbour master removed the bills and waved them through.
They walked up to a store where Josh bought a cell phone, he entered a number and handed it over. “I have business elsewhere, so I’ll leave you here. You can contact me on that cell, I’m Terri. It’ll make international calls too.”
“Give me a start Josh, where did she hang out here, at first?”
“I met her in the Eastern Horse Café off Pasdaran Boulevard on the far west of the city. Near the Gulf. Start there.”
“Ok write it down in Farsi.” He handed her a slip of paper. Tosser set off walking west. She looked around taking in the city. More westernised than she’d expected, the girls nearly wore headscarves. Some wore jeans. It was a busy bustling city. She had plenty of Iranian Rial, the British embassy in Dubai had issued them. She couldn’t believe it. I’m on an op, undercover in Iran. She had to make a start. Crutch was in jail, going through, she didn’t know what. She got a cab to the Eastern Horse. Walking in she looked around the cakes, and a gorgeous smell of cooking bread along with fresh coffee. She walked up to the young girl behind the counter.
“Coffee and cake.” She pointed to the display and a steaming coffee pot.
The girl smiled she passed them over and said in English, “Fifty Rials.”
She paid, then had an idea. She opened her wallet and took out a picture of Crutch and her. It had been taken on HMS Montrose off Antarctica.
“Do you know her?”
“Yes, it is Paniz. She my friend. Who you?”
“I’m her sister.” The Iranian girl frowned.
“I know we look different, but her family adopted me.”
The Iranian girl shrugged. It took a while to explain but she finally understood.
“You Mother and Father gone, dead?”
Tosser nodded.
“I not believe what paper write, Paniz not like that.”
“She’s in jail. Rannediff jail.”
“I know.”
“Can you see her? Tell them she’s your friend, she will have had no visitors.”
The Iranian girl looked down.
“They might, I will try to see her.”
“Great, here’s what I want you to say to her.” Tosser sat her down and made her memorize the words. She had her practice over and over.
“I can get you her words. Where do you stay?”
“I don’t know yet.”
The girl smiled. “You can stay at my apartment.”
“Ok, thanks.”
THAT NIGHT ANUPA WAS brought back to her cell after a toilet visit. Omar had let her wash herself with a sponge. As long as he could watch. She let him see her naked, you never know when you might need a favour, and he’d seen her that way anyway. There were camera’s in the room. He walked back into the room several minutes later.
“Paniz, you have a visitor.”
“What?” The girl from the Eastern Horse cafe walked in.
“Shabnam” They hugged.
Omar left them alone.
“I have a message for you, a girl with sand colored hair is here.” What? she thought.
“What’s the message Shabnam?”
In a near perfect Scottish accent, she repeated the message.
“Tell the ragheads they can get tae fuck. I’m here to save yer wee ass. Yer sister, T.”
Anupa was staggered.
“Tosser.”
The girl left, that night Anupa drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face. Tosser was here, she was inexperienced but she’d a pair of balls; for a girl.
WHEN SHABNAM GOT HOME Tosser was waiting.
“I told them her sister was here. I asked them to let you see her it’s only proper and the right thing to do. To show compassion to their captive.”
“And?”
“I think they will let you in to see her. She show me cameras and microphone. You cannot speak, you cannot I say speak free.”
“That’s ok.”
The following night both Shabnam and Tosser knocked on the door to the jail. They were let inside. A man appeared, young with a moustache.
“How can you be sister, you are white?”
“Her family adopted me, My real parents died. Ask her. Please let me see my sister, please.”
The man relented. He could listen, he may pick something up, he was getting nowhere with this woman. Tosser was led inside, she was very careful to remember every turn and corridor. She looked for cameras.
Eventually, she was led to a room and the door opened.
Anupa rushed over and hugged her.
“See, your sister Helen didn’t abandon you Anupa.” She passed on what she was calling herself. After the usual sisterly chat Tosser quizzed her about the layout without making it obvious.
“Do they let you out? What do you do all day? When do you get to do these things?
After some time Tosser got up. “I’ll be back tomorrow, I might have news from home, Antie Silk has been asking about you. She’s at the south shore now, probably in the sun it’s what she’d Do by.” Anupa nodded.
“See you tomorrow?”
So, thought Anupa, Silk Purse was on the south shore, in the sun. It’s what she’d Do by.
Silky was in Dubai on the south shore of the Gulf. Tosser was learning the prison layout. God, had it been good to see her. She grinned.
THAT NIGHT SHE CALLED a number in Dubai.
“Hi, call me back.” The cell rang almost right away.
“Hi Tosser, what’s happening? I’ve been worried.”
“I’ve been in to see her, she’s looked better but she’s ok. Look, I’ve been learning the layout of the place and I’m in again tomorrow. Give me a throwaway web email address. I’ll add a draft and attach a sketch that I’ll do in MS paint. They don’t let her out in the yard during the day. They’re not the best troops, but there’s a good number of armed guards. From what I see, we’ve only one realistic option.”
Tosser wrote down an address and password.
“I’ll draw it up in a cybercafé and get it to you as soon as I can. You call the keystone cops. I’ll call again in a couple of days.”