On Wings Of Eagles (1990)

They strolled around the streets of Tehran. Rashid found himself talking about his family, his work at EDS, and his views on the psychology of the human being. They could hear continual shooting, and the streets were alive with people marching and chanting. Everywhere they saw the wreckage of past battles, overturned cars and burned-out buildings. "The Marxists smash up expensive cars and the Muslims trash the liquor stores," Rashid told Simons.

"Why is this happening?" Simons asked him.

"This is the time for Iranians to prove themselves, to accomplish their ideas, and to gain their freedom."

They found themselves in Gasr Square, facing the prison. Rashid said: "There are many Iranians in these jails simply because they ask for freedom."

Simons pointed at the crowd of women in chadors. "What are they doing?"

"Their husbands and sons are unjustly imprisoned, so they gather here, wailing and crying to the guards to let the prisoners go."

Simons said: "Well, I guess I feel the same about Paul and Bill as those women do about their men."

"Yes. I, too, am very concerned about Paul and Bill."

"But what are you doing about it?" Simons said.

Rashid was taken aback. "I am doing everything I can to help my American friends," he said. He thought of the dogs and cats. One of his tasks at the moment was to care for all the pets left behind by EDS evacuees--including four dogs and twelve cats. Rashid had never had pets and did not know how to deal with large, aggressive dogs. Every time he went to the apartment where the dogs were stashed to feed them, he had to hire two or three men off the streets to help him restrain the animals. Twice now he had taken them all to the airport in cages, having heard that there was a flight out that would accept them; and both times the flight had been canceled. He thought of telling Simons about this, but somehow he knew that Simons would not be impressed.

Simons was up to something, Rashid thought, and it was not a business matter. Simons struck him as an experienced man--you could see that just by looking at his face. Rashid did not believe in experience. He believed in fast education. Revolution, not evolution. He liked the inside track, short cuts, accelerated development, superchargers. Simons was different. He was a patient man, and Rashid--analyzing Simons's psychology--guessed that the patience came from a strong will. When he is ready, Rashid thought, he will let me know what he wants from me.

"Do you know anything about the French Revolution?" Simons asked.

"A little."

"This place reminds me of the Bastille--a symbol of oppression."

It was a good comparison, Rashid thought.

Simons went on: "The French revolutionaries stormed the Bastille and let all the prisoners out."

"I think the same will happen here. It's a possibility, at least."

Simons nodded. "If it happens, someone ought to be here to take care of Paul and Bill."

"Yes." That will be me, Rashid thought.

They stood together in Gasr Square, looking at the high walls and huge gates, and the wailing women in their black robes. Rashid recalled his principle: always do a little more than EDS asks of you. What if the mobs ignored Gasr Prison? Maybe he should make sure they did not. The mob was nothing but people like Rashid--young, discontented Iranian men who wanted to change their lives. He might not only join the mob--he might lead it. He might lead an attack on the prison. He, Rashid, might rescue Paul and Bill.

Nothing was impossible.

2____

Coburn did not know all that was going on in Simons's mind at this point. He had not been in on Simons's conversations with Perot and Rashid, and Simons did not volunteer much information. From what Coburn did know, the three possibilities--the trunk-of-a-car trick, the house-arrest-and-snatch routine, and the storming of the Bastille--seemed pretty vague. Furthermore, Simons was doing nothing to make it happen,but appeared content to sit around the Dvoranchik place discussing ever-more-detailed scenarios. Yet none of this made Coburn uneasy. He was an optimist anyway; and he--like Ross Perot--figured there was no point in second-guessing the world's greatest rescue expert.

While the three possibilities were simmering, Simons concentrated on routes out of Iran, the problem Coburn thought of as "Getting out of Dodge."