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‘’I don’t think that it was their preferred option, Yasmina. They would not have fired warning shots then. They probably wanted to force our plane to go land in Israel.’’
‘’But, we are a commercial flight, not a warplane. Why would they want to do that?’’
‘’Probably to go through the passengers list, to find any person of interest aboard, like a Hezbollah official or Iranian military officer.’’
‘’That’s still an act of air piracy.’’ Exclaimed angrily the father of Yasmina, an import-export businessman. ‘’Those damn Israelis respect nothing.’’
‘’True, Mister Baktyar, but in this they are only following a well-established law in the Middle East.’’
‘’Oh? And which law would that be, miss?’’ Asked the intrigued Iranian man.
Nancy responded with a wry smile.
‘’The law of the strongest.’’
12:50 (Iran Time)
Arrival terminal
Mehrabad International Airport
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Despite her various powers, Nancy couldn’t help feel nervous as she left her plane and entered the arrival terminal in Tehran, even though she did her best to hide it.
The Iranian authorities would have every reason to be suspicious of her and could easily justify arresting her and jailing her, with little regards for her claims to be here as a simple reporter. In fact, just being a reporter in Iran was asking for trouble. When that reporter was also a foreigner from a country opposed to Iran, then trouble was next to assured. Unfortunately, being a Canadian would not help her here, contrary to most places: the present Canadian government was strongly pro-Israel, even though the Canadian public was questioning more and more such blind support. As expected, she was quickly targeted as soon as she presented herself at the customs and immigration booths after collecting her luggage, which was thankfully all accounted for. One look at her passport made the Iranian customs agent look sharply at her. Despite having slipped on a nice but conservative-looking robe with headscarf before landing, she still stood out by her sheer physical size. At least the Iranian authorities wouldn’t be able to accuse her of being indecently dressed. On a signal from the customs agent, two 374
policemen came forward, while the agent stamped Nancy’s passport and gave it back to her before speaking to her in a cold voice.
‘’Would you please follow these two gentlemen, Miss Laplante?’’
While polite, Nancy knew that this was not a simple request, thus took back her passport and thanked the agent before pushing her luggage cart and following the two stern-faced policemen down a side corridor behind the customs booths. Three more men, those ones in civilian suits, were waiting for her in what looked like a search and interrogation room, furnished only with two tables and a few chairs. Two of the men stood in separate corners, while the third one, a man in his thirties sporting a short beard and closed-cut hair, sat behind one of the tables. He looked coldly in silence at Nancy for a moment after the two policemen had introduced her in the room, then pointed the other table and spoke in English to her.
‘’Put your luggage on this table, Miss Laplante…or should I call you Captain Laplante?’’
‘’Simply call me Miss Laplante, mister: I am here as a reporter, and nothing more.’’ Replied Nancy in Farsi. The bearded man nodded his head at that.
‘’You do speak a good Farsi, miss, although it sounds a bit quaint.’’
Nancy could not of course tell him that her Farsi sounded quaint because she had learned it first as a slave and dancing girl in the 6th Century. She thus simply smiled politely and proceeded to lay her bags on the long table and opening them. The bearded man then got up and approached the table, looking in particular at her electronic equipment.
‘’Some quite sophisticated equipment indeed, miss.’’
‘’Only the best a professional war correspondent could have, mister.’’
She then proceeded on her own to describe in detail her electronic equipment, drawing a skeptical look from the Iranian official.
‘’And you say that you are here only as a reporter, and not as a spy?’’
‘’Well, I did enter this country openly and legally, plus I have a letter of introduction from Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Hezbollah. I would also have gladly shown you the Israeli arrest warrant with my name on it, but I couldn’t unfortunately get a copy of it before fleeing Israel through the Lebanon border. Sorry about that.’’
Whoever he was, the Iranian official at least proved to have some sense of humor and chuckled briefly at her choice of words before becoming serious again.
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‘’But you won’t deny being an officer in the Canadian military intelligence, miss.’’
‘’A reserve officer.’’ Corrected politely Nancy. ‘’Right now, however, I came to Iran as a war correspondent, and nothing more. I am fully ready to follow and respect any restrictions you may wish to put on my reporting, as I was planning only to secure officially interviews with various government representatives. You may even attach a minder to me if this could reassure you and your superiors, mister. I would just ask you then to get me a female minder: you wouldn’t want to torture one of your men with the evil temptations of the flesh, would you?’’
This time the official frankly laughed and smiled to her.
‘’You are true to your reputation, Miss Laplante: you are a gutsy and spirited woman indeed.’’
‘’Well, the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan had other words to describe me, mister.’’
The Iranian nodded in understanding.
‘’I suppose that being hated by those murderers of Shiites could constitute a reference here, miss. Still, you have a reputation as a very dangerous woman, on top of being a Canadian military officer. Your government has not been very nice lately with my government, either in words or in actions.’’
Nancy shrugged her shoulders at that.
‘’Would you say that all Iranian citizens agree with all that your government says, mister? If you say yes to that, then I would suggest that you are probably in the wrong business.’’
The official, who was starting to truly enjoy this oral jousting, nodded his head again.
‘’Touché! Well, there is still one procedure left for you to submit to, miss. If you could step through that door to my left. I promise you that there are no men in that room.’’
‘’That is truly appreciated, mister.’’ Replied Nancy before opening the said door and finding three stern-looking women in dark chadors waiting for her. Resigned to a body search, she closed the door behind her and smiled at the one who seemed to be the senior woman.
‘’Well, how do you want this? A one on one or a three on one?’’
The outraged look on the Iranian woman’s face was nearly priceless, while the youngest woman barely kept in a chuckle. The senior woman then pointed a small table in one corner and growled.
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‘’Remove all your clothes and put them on this table, then spread your legs and arms.’’
Not antagonizing the older woman further, Nancy obeyed, then let the younger woman bodily search her with a latex glove. When the Iranian shook her head, signifying to her superior that she had found nothing, the senior woman nodded sternly at Nancy.
‘’You may now get dressed and return in the other room.’’
Nancy obeyed again, but turned at the last moment before leaving the search room, smiling at the older woman.
‘’Nice to have known you, miss.’’
Nancy then went in the other room and closed the door as the senior woman turned red with irritation.
Major Hossein Mousavi, of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Intelligence Bureau, had a few minutes to think over Nancy’s case before she exited the search room. Potentially, she could represent a grave threat to Iran’s security if she wished so.
However, her recent and most publicized past reporting in Israel and in Lebanon had not escaped the notice of some very senior Iranian officials, who had also taken note of the Israeli attempt at painting her as a terrorist supporter. Some of those high level officials had suggested that she be used to Iran’s profit, rather than create an international incident by simply arresting her on arrival. Hossein had agreed with that suggestion, realizing too well that the Supreme Leader had been careful up to now for Iran not to get into a de facto war with the United States and Europe. On the personal level, Hossein had to confess that his initial impression of her had been quite positive. That she had suggested herself the use of a minder to escort her around actually reinforced Hossein’s opinion that she was really here only as a reporter. One of his men that had been at the arrival hall then entered the room and went immediately to him to speak in a low voice.
‘’Sir, the crew of the Airbus from Beirut has reported that two Israeli fighter jets tried to intercept and reroute it to Israel after departure from Beirut Airport, firing warning shots at our Airbus. Luckily, one of the Israeli fighters developed an engine problem during the interception and turned away with its wingman.’’
Mousavi gave the man a sharp look: this was quite significant, as it was the first time that the Israelis had tried to divert an Iranian commercial airliner since the start of the war.
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‘’Go through the passengers list and see if there was anybody on board that could have interested the Israelis enough to have caused them to attempt to hijack our plane.’’
‘’I already did that, sir, as soon as I learned of the Israeli attempted intercept.
There were no Hezbollah members or Iranian officials aboard the Airbus, just Iranian or Lebanese Shiite businessmen, family members and students. The only true foreigner on the plane was Laplante.’’
Mousavi nodded slowly his head while digesting that information.
‘’You did well to inform me of this. Good job, Reza. If you find anything else, come and see me right away.’’
‘’Yes
sir!’’
The man then left the room, seconds before Nancy walked out of the body search room.
Mousavi pointed one of the chairs to her.
‘’If you could please sit there and wait a bit, I have a phone call to make, miss. It shouldn’t be too long.’’
Encouraged by his polite tone and the lack of brutality up to now, Nancy simply obeyed without a word and sat down, doing her best to look relaxed. Mousavi then left the room, with his two men staying in the room to watch Laplante.
Going one level up to one of the offices reserved for the use of intelligence and security personnel, Mousavi closed the door behind him and went to sit at the desk in the small room, picking up the receiver of the telephone and composing a number. The head of the IRGC Intelligence Bureau, Hossein Taeb, picked up his receiver after the second ring.
‘’Taeb
here!’’
‘’Sir, this is Major Hossein Mousavi, calling from the airport. Miss Laplante has arrived from Beirut half a hour ago and I had her and her baggage searched. There was nothing suspicious with her, except from some very sophisticated camera and satellite communications equipment. That equipment is however consistent with her claim to be a simple reporter for CNN. There is however something that came up.’’
Hossein then told Taeb about the attempt by the Israelis to forcibly reroute the Iranian Air Airbus and the lack of other persons of interest aboard, leaving Taeb to be silent for a few seconds. The head of the Intelligence Bureau then spoke again in a measured tone.
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‘’This actually fits with another piece of information that I just received, Major.
The arrest warrant that the Israelis had published against Laplante has just been upgraded with the claim that, apart from being a so-called terrorist supporter, she supposedly murdered two Israeli security officials before fleeing through the Lebanese border.’’
Mousavi was left stunned by surprise for a moment before he could reply.
‘’But, sir, that does not make sense. I can tell you that Laplante is a very intelligent and professional woman and that she would not have compromised her assignment as a reporter that way, unless she had very serious reasons to kill Israelis.
Could this be simply Israeli disinformation to justify her arrest, sir? Besides, why are the Israelis so hard on her trail? Canada is supposed to be a good ally of Israel and she is certainly no terrorist. I don’t understand their interest in her. If she was only being nosey while in Israel, then the Jews would have needed only to expel her, something they don’t shy from doing with unwanted foreigners.’’
‘’Quite true, Major. There is certainly a mystery about her here. What kind of attitude has she shown up to now?’’
‘’She has been very cooperative and most polite to date, sir. She stated that her visit here is meant to secure interviews with various government officials in Tehran. She even proposed by herself that we assign her a female minder as a close escort during her stay in Iran, which I would say would be a very good way to ensure that she does not spy on us. I also believe that she could be quite useful to us by doing her interviews under close supervision. The Israelis and Americans have been able to paint a one-sided portrait of us for too long, in my opinion. Laplante is a well known and respected war correspondent and could pass our messages to the Western public better than if we did it ourselves.’’
‘’Again, I agree, Major. I will send you a female agent that can be trusted completely within two hours, to be assigned as a minder for Laplante. Once she has arrived, let Laplante leave the airport with her, but keep close contact with our female agent. Consider Laplante your priority case from now on: there are too many weird things happening around her, while her work here could benefit us greatly politically and diplomatically. Report to me immediately if you learn something new about her and about the reasons why the Israelis are after her.’’
‘’I will certainly do that, sir.’’ Said Hossein before hanging up. He was thoughtful for a long moment, trying to figure out why the Israelis were so interested in her. Unable 379
to think of anything plausible, he then got up from behind the desk and left the office to return to the interrogation room.
He found Nancy still waiting patiently in her chair, apparently calm and unconcerned. He secretly admired her assurance and aplomb: up to now he couldn’t help like her, even though she could potentially be very dangerous. He had however read her file in detail and had seen in it a pattern consistent with what his first personal impression had told him of her. She had repeatedly proved to be a tolerant and honest woman who understood the subtleties of the Middle East better than most and who was not afraid to call things for what they were, even if it contradicted the views of her own government or of its allies. While that didn’t make her a friend of the Iranian regime, she had enough credibility with the international public and medias to be able to pass on Iranian official views without distorting them the way too many Western reporters did. In fact, her last known published article about the present conflict had been quite critical of Israeli actions and of the blind support Israel was getting from many American politicians and lobbying groups. She looked up at him with a questioning expression when he entered the room.
‘’So, Major, what do you have in store for me?’’
‘’Oh, nothing sinister, I assure you. A female minder should be here in a couple hours to escort you to a hotel. Then, you will be free to go around and do your things, as long as your minder approves of them. I will ask you to refrain from sending via satellite link or Internet any report until your minder has had a chance to vet them. You break that rule and we will be forced to expel you at once…or worse.’’
‘’That is quite amenable to me, Major. This is a country at war and I can understand your concerns about Iranian security. I personally think that this war is quite an unnecessary one, and have said so publicly in my articles.’’
‘’I know and I thank you for your comprehension, miss. By the way, the Israelis seem to decidedly have little love for you: they upgraded their arrest warrant in your name, to include in it the charge that you murdered two of their security officials. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?’’
To the complete surprise of Hossein, who had expected her to vehemently deny the Israeli charge, she simply nodded once her head and made a wry smile.
‘’I suppose that it was to be expected. While I don’t wish that to be published widely, the Israelis actually kidnapped me soon after my arrival in Israel and brought me 380
to some kind of discreet safe house near Tel Aviv, where they were ready to torture me.
I was however able to escape, killing two of them in the process. The way they did their things clandestinely, I would say that they did not want my kidnapping to become public knowledge and probably planned to kill me and make me disappear afterwards. I acted purely in self-defense and would do the same again if need be. The Israelis will however never admit their acts publicly and will try to make me look as bad as they can to justify their actions against me.’’
‘’And may I ask why they kidnapped you and were ready to torture you, miss?’’
‘’Yes, you may, Major. Simply put, they seemed to truly believe, for some unknown reason, that I was involved with terrorists. Maybe they misinterpreted some of my past visits and interviews to various people around the World, or got a piece of incorrect information about me. I frankly couldn’t say right now for certain.’’
‘’You do realize that this only paints you more as some kind of intelligence agent, miss.’’ Remarked Hossein while his mind raced about the implications of this revelation.
She however scoffed at that.
‘’With the way I am known publicly around the World? I would make quite a poor secret agent indeed, Major. This is reality, not some kind of James Bond movie. An effective agent is an anonymous agent, not someone whose face is seen on television news reports.’’
‘’You said that they were ready to torture you, miss? Why did you think so?’’
That brought a sarcastic smile on her face.
‘’Well, the fact that I woke up naked and tied to a chair in some kind of basement was my first clue. The second clue was the battery and electrical wires in a corner of the room.’’
‘’And you still managed to kill two Israeli agents and escape, miss? That does sound like a James Bond movie.’’
‘’They simply were overconfident and underestimated me, Major, the same way the Taliban did in Afghanistan.’’
Hossein stared at her for a moment, while his two men exchanged befuddled looks.
This was decidedly a potentially very dangerous woman, but also one he liked more and more. He would have loved to have an agent as skilled as her in his service.
‘’Well, this changes things a bit, I would say. Excuse me again for a moment.’’
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This time, Hossein used a telephone at the nearby customs offices to call back his superior and tell him about Laplante’s confession. Taeb was left speechless for a moment by that.
‘’Decidedly, this woman is full of surprises. However, she could still be useful to us. That she has good reasons to be hostile to the Israelis can only be good for us. For your knowledge, I am sending you Lieutenant Farah Qalibaf as a minder for Laplante.
She is both very capable and utterly reliable. She may not be able to take down Laplante in a straight fight but I do not expect our Canadian guest to become combative with us.’’
‘’To be frank, sir, I doubt that any of our agents could take on Laplante in a fair fight: she can be a very dangerous woman indeed. However, I believe her when she says that she is here simply as a reporter.’’
‘’I am starting to believe that as well, Major. Lieutenant Qalibaf should show up at the airport in about one hour, time for her to go pack a suitcase for a hotel stay with Laplante.’’
‘’I will be waiting for her, sir.’’
Hossein then hung up, satisfied. He knew Farah Qalibaf and regarded her as a competent, effective agent. She also happened to be the daughter of an ex-senior IRGC
officer who was presently the Mayor of Tehran. As political reliability went, it was hard to do better than that.
Nancy was having a cup of tea with Mousavi, having been invited by him to go with her luggage to a personnel lounge, when a young woman dressed conservatively but in the Western style with jeans and a loose sweater showed up in the lounge, a small suitcase in one hand. She could have been said to be pretty but the severe, all business look on her face somewhat killed any attractiveness in her. Nancy’s first impression was that of a fanatic, something not surprising for a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. She still got up from her sofa out of simple courtesy, while Mousavi smiled to the newcomer and pointed Nancy to her.
‘’Aah, Lieutenant Qalibaf! May I present you Miss Nancy Laplante, presently in Iran as a reporter on assignment for CNN?’’
Qalibaf gave a less than friendly look to Nancy before facing Mousavi again.
‘’I am ready to escort Miss Laplante to her hotel, sir.’’
‘’Good! Were you briefed about the latest developments about her?’’
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‘’Yes, Major.’’ Said the Iranian woman in a nearly dismissive tone. Not liking her attitude, Hossein got up on his feet and excused himself with Nancy before leading Qalibaf out of the lounge, cornering her in the hallway and speaking to her in a low, severe voice.
‘’Lieutenant, I understand that you may not like this Canadian woman for what she is but she could be useful to us to pass certain messages to the West. I would appreciate if you could at least try to be polite with her. Also, don’t be overconfident with her: she could easily break you in two if she decided to. Two Mossad agents did the same mistake that you were about to do and they are now dead.’’
Qalibaf gave him a nearly scandalized look.
‘’Aren’t we overestimating her, Major? I myself am highly trained in unarmed combat and pistol shooting…’’
‘’…and so are Mossad agents. Yet, if we can believe her, she killed two of them while tied up and naked. She is a highly experienced soldier and a World-class martial artist, so don’t presume too much about your own abilities. Besides, we need her good will, Lieutenant, so make an effort to be at least civil with her. Do you understand me?’’
Qalibaf hesitated for a moment but, seeing the warning look in Mousavi’s eyes, nodded her head once.
‘’Yes, Major, I understand. Do you have any special directive concerning her?’’
‘’Yes! She can film things around Tehran as she wishes but she is not to retransmit her video files or contact someone outside of Iran unless you have vetted them and are sure that she will not pass on classified or sensitive information. Filming daily life in Tehran or interviewing a government official is fine, but filming street protests against the regime or interviewing dissidents is of course a no-no. If you have any doubts about a report, contact me at once and withhold its transmission until I can make a decision about it. I however do not expect trouble of that kind from Miss Laplante.
She is a highly intelligent woman and I believe that she fully understands the precariousness of her present situation here. One last thing: our intent is to use her to our profit, not to try to entrap her, so explain to her honestly how to do things around here in a way that won’t get her arrested.’’
Mousavi could then see on her face that she didn’t particularly like that last directive but she nonetheless nodded her head again.
‘’I will do that, sir.’’
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‘’Good! You may now escort Miss Laplante to her hotel. She has already reserved a room at the Kowsar Hotel.’’
‘’I know it, sir.’’
‘’Then, I will let you with her. Send me at least one update per day about her activities, apart from reporting at once any significant event.’’
Mousavi then turned around and left Qalibaf to digest his directives. Sighing with contained frustration, the IRGC intelligence agent then went back in the lounge and looked down at Nancy, who was finishing her cup of tea.
‘’If you are ready, we can now go to your hotel, miss.’’
‘’And how would you like to be called by me? Miss Qalibaf or Lieutenant Qalibaf?’’
‘’Miss Qalibaf will do, Miss Laplante. I will lead you to the taxi stand.’’
Putting down her cup, Nancy then gathered her luggage and followed the Iranian woman out of the lounge.
The taxi drive to her downtown hotel was spent in silence, Qalibaf not being apparently inclined to exchange small talk with her. The trip was however useful to Nancy in that it gave her a glimpse of the daily life in Tehran. For one thing, car traffic was less dense than she had expected, which was quickly explained to her when she saw prominent signs at the gas stations she passed by and that reminded the citizens that fuel was rationed due to the war effort. In contrast, bicycle traffic was quite voluminous, with men and women of all ages pedaling around, often with a bag of groceries or other items tied to the rear rack of their bicycles. There were more signs in the storefronts of many shops, particularly grocery stores and supermarkets, that announced rationing on various food items, while long waiting lines often stood at the entrance of grocery stores. That reminded Nancy very much of London in 1940 ‘B’, when she was fighting World War Two on the British side. They finally arrived at the Kowsar Hotel, a six-storey building situated at the end of a quiet side street near one of the main city squares of downtown Tehran. It was an aging establishment but its personnel proved at once both competent and courteous, a young bellboy putting at once Nancy’s luggage on a cart and escorting her and Qalibaf to the reception desk, where a smiling man gree