On Wings Of Eagles (1990)

They reached the border at four o'clock on Thursday afternoon, having been on the road for twenty-four hours.

The border station was in the middle of nowhere. The guard post consisted of two wooden buildings. There was also a post office. Boulware wondered who the hell used it. Truck drivers, perhaps. Two hundred yards away, on the Iranian side, was a bigger cluster of buildings.

There was no sign of the Dirty Team.

Boulware felt angry. He had broken his neck to get here more or less on time: where the hell was Simons?

A guard came out of one of the huts and approached him, saying: "Are you looking for the Americans?"

Boulware was surprised. The whole thing was supposed to be top secret. It looked like security had gone all to hell. "Yes," he said. "I'm looking for the Americans."

"There's a phone call for you."

Boulware was even more surprised. "No kidding!" The timing was phenomenal. Who the hell knew he was here?

He followed the guard into the hut and picked up the phone. "Yes?"

"This is the American Consulate," said the voice. "What's your name?"

"Uh, what is this about?" Boulware said warily.

"Look, would you just tell me what you're doing there?"

"I don't know who you are and I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing."

"Okay, listen, I know who you are and I know what you're doing. If you have any problems, call me. Got a pencil?"

Boulware took down the number, thanked the man, and hung up, mystified. An hour ago I didn't know I was going to be here, he thought, so how could anyone else? Least of all the American Consulate. He thought again about Ilsman. Maybe Ilsman was in touch with his bosses, the Turkish MIT, who were in touch with the CIA, who were in touch with the Consulate. Ilsman could have asked somebody to make a call for him in Van, or even at the police station in Yuksekova.

He wondered whether it was good or bad that the Consulate knew what was happening. He recalled the "help" Paul and Bill had got from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran: with friends in the State Department a man had no need of enemies.

He pushed the Consulate to the back of his mind. The main problem now was, where was the Dirty Team?

He went back outside and looked across no-man's-land He decided to stroll across and talk to the Iranians. He called to Ilsman and Charlie Brown to come with him.

As he approached the Iranian side he could see that the frontier guards were not in uniform. Presumably they were revolutionaries who had taken over when the government fell.

He said to Charlie: "Ask them if they've heard anything about some American businessmen coming out in two jeeps."

Charlie did not need to translate the reply: the Iranians shook their heads vigorously.

An inquisitive tribesman, with a ragged headband and an ancient rifle, came up on the Iranian side. There was an exchange of some length; then Charlie said: "This man says he knows where the Americans are and he will take you to them if you pay."

Boulware wanted to know how much, but Ilsman did not want him to accept the offer at any price. Ilsman spoke forcefully to Charlie, and Charlie translated. "You're wearing a leather coat and leather gloves and a fine wristwatch."

Boulware, who was into watches, was wearing one Mary had given him when they got married. "So?"

"With clothes like that they think you're SAVAK. They hate SAVAK over there."

"I'll change my clothes. I have another coat in the car."

"No," Charlie said. "You have to understand. They just want to get you over there and blow your head off."

"All right," Boulware said.

They walked back to the Turkish side. Since there was a post office so conveniently nearby, he decided to call Istanbul and check in with Ross Perot. He went into the post office. He had to sign his name. The call would take some time to place, the clerk told him.

Boulware went back outside. The Turkish border guards were now getting edgy, Charlie told him. Some of the Iranians had wandered back with them, and the guards did not like people milling around in no-man's-land: it was disorderly.

Boulware thought: Well, I'm doing no good here.

He said: "Would these guys call us, if the team comes across while we're back in Yuksekova?"

Charlie asked them. The guards agreed. There was a hotel in the village, they said; they would call there.

Boulware, Ilsman, Charlie, and the two sons of Mr. Fish's cousin got into the two cars and drove back to Yuksekova.

There they checked into the worst hotel in the whole world. It had dirt floors. The bathroom was a hole in the ground under the stairs. All the beds were in one room. Charlie Brown ordered food, and it came wrapped in newspaper.