Waiting for her cousin Karim Peshadi to arrive - loving him, remembering their lovely times growing up, their families always intermingled, summers on their Caspian estates, swimming and sailing and, in the winter, skiing near Tehran, nothing but parties and dances and laughter, Karim tall like his father, the colonel commandant at Kowiss, and as fine. Always associating Karim with that first September evening she had seen the strange tall foreigner with the blue-gray eyes - eyes that had glowed with the heavenly fire the ancient poets wrote about, the instant he had seen her…
“Highness, His Excellency your cousin Captain Karim Peshadi requests permission to see you.”
Joyfully running to greet him. He was staring out of a window in the smaller of the reception rooms, the walls all small mirrors and windows set into an artistic Persian design, the only furniture the usual low, continuous sofa around the walls, a few inches off the close-sheared carpet, soft-padded and upholstered with the finest Persian fabric - like the backrest that was attached to the walls.
“Darling Karim, how wonder - ” She stopped. This was the first time she had seen him since the day, a week ago, when they had gone together to the riot of Doshan Tappeh, and now she was looking at a stranger - stretched skin over the high cheekbones, the dreadful pallor, dark rings around his eyes, stubbled beard, untidy clothes when usually he was impeccably dressed and groomed. “Oh, Karim, what is it?”
His lips moved but no sound came out. He tried again. “Father’s dead, shot for crimes against Islam, I’m suspect and suspended and may be arrested any moment,” he said bitterly. “Most of our friends are suspect, Colonel Jabani’s vanished, accused of treason - you remember him, the one who led the people against the Immortals and had most of his hand blown off…” Numbed, she sat listening, watching him. “… but there’s worse to come, darling Sharazad. Uncle… Uncle Valik and Annoush and little Jalal and Setarem are all dead, killed trying to escape to Iraq in a civilian 212…” Her heart seemed to stop and doom began. “… they were intercepted and shot down near the Iraqi border. I was at HQ today, waiting to answer our komiteh’s questions when the telex came in from our base at Abadan - those komiteh sons of dogs can’t read so they asked me to read it out, not knowing I had any connection with Valik, that we were related. The telex was marked secret and it said the traitors General Valik and a General Seladi had been identified in the 212’s wreckage from identity cards, along with others and… and a woman and two children… and asked us to check out the chopper, supposedly one of Tom’s company that’d been hijacked, EP-HBC…” She fainted.
When she came to, Jari was patting her forehead with a cold towel, other servants anxiously grouped around, Karim, white-faced and apologetic in the background. Blankly she stared at him. Then what he had said flooded back, what Erikki had said flooded back, and Tommy’s strangeness. And once again the three mixed, another wave of terror started to engulf her. “Has … has Excellency Meshang arrived yet?” she asked weakly.
“No, no, Princess. Let me help you to bed, you’ll feel bett - ” “I’m… no, thank you, Jari, I’m… I’m fine. Please leave us alone.” “But, Prin - ”
“Leave us alone!”
They obeyed. Karim was filled with anguish. “Please excuse me, darling Sharazad, I shouldn’t have worried you with all these problems, but I’m… I only discovered about… about Father this morning, I’m so sorry, Sharazad, it’s not a woman’s place to worry about wh - ”
“Karim, listen to me, I beg you,” she interrupted with growing desperation. “Whatever you do, don’t mention about Uncle Valik, don’t mention to Meshang about him and… and the others, not yet, please, not yet! Don’t mention about Valik!”
“But why?”
“Because… because …” Oh God oh God what do I do? she was thinking, wanting to cry out, I’m sure Tommy was flying HBC, oh God let me be wrong but I’m sure that’s what Erikki said when I asked him how long Tommy’d be away. Didn’t Erikki say: “Don’t worry, Tommy’s charter’s to Bandar Delam - HBC with spares - that shouldn’t take but a day or two.” Isn’t Bandar Delam beside Abadan that’s beside the border? Didn’t Uncle Valik come to see Tommy late at night, much too late unless the matter was very urgent, and then, after he’d left, wasn’t Tommy changed, in misery, staring into the fire? “Family must look after family,” wasn’t that what he muttered? Oh God help me…
“What is it, Sharazad, what is it?”
I daren’t tell you, Karim, even though I’d trust you with my life, I’ve got to protect Tommy… if Meshang finds out about Tommy that’ll be the end of us, the end of everything! He’ll denounce him, he won’t risk any more trouble… or crimes against God! I can’t oppose the family, Meshang will make me
627 divorce. God help me, what shall I do? Without Tommy I’ll… I’ll die, I know I will, I’ll… what was it Tommy said about taking a helicopter on a ferry? A ferry to Al Shargaz? Was it there or to Nigeria? I daren’t tell you, Karim, I daren’t…
But when her eyes saw the enormity of his concern, her mouth opened, and she blurted out everything that she had not dared to tell.
“But it’s impossible,” he stuttered, “impossible, the telex said there were no survivors, impossible he should be flying it.”
“Yes, but he was he was, I’m sure of it, I’m sure of it. Oh, Karim, what am I going to do? Please help me, please, I beg you, please help meeeeee!” The tears were running down her cheeks and he held her, trying to comfort her. “Please don’t tell Meshang, please help me, if my Tommy … I’d die.” “But Meshang’s bound to find out! He’s got to know.” “Please help me. There must be something you can do, there must be som - ”
The door opened and Meshang hurried in, Zarah with him. “Sharazad, my dear, Jari said you fainted, what happened, are you all right? Karim, how are you?” Meshang stopped, astonished at Karim’s ill-kempt appearance and pallor. “What on earth’s happened?”
In the silence Sharazad put her hand to her mouth, petrified she would blurt everything out again. She saw Karim hesitating. The silence worsened, then she heard him say in a rush, “I’ve terrible news. First… first about my… my father. He’s been shot, shot for… for crimes against Islam…” Meshang burst out. “That’s not possible! The hero of Dhofar? You must be mistaken!”
“Excellency Jared Bakravan wasn’t possible but he’s dead and Father’s dead like him, and there’s other news, all bad…”
Helplessly Sharazad began to cry, Zarah put her arms around her, and Karim’s heart went out to her and he buried Valik and his wife and children for others to bring forth.
“Insha’Allah,” he said, loathing the excuse that he could no longer accept for blasphemous crimes committed by men in the Name of God that such men would never know. The Ayatollah’s truly a gift from God. We need only to follow him to cleanse Islam of these foul blasphemers, he thought. God will punish them after death as we, the living, must punish them into death. “My news is all bad, I’m suspect, most of my friends, the air force’s being put on trial. Foolishly I told Sharazad… I wanted you to know, Meshang, but foolishly I told her and that was the reason she… she fainted. Please excuse me, I’m so sorry, I won’t stay, I can’t, I’ve got to… got to get back. I just came to tell you about… I had to tell someone…”
AT MCIVER’S OFFICE: 10:20 P.M. McIver was alone in the penthouse offices, sitting in his creaking chair, feet comfortably on his desk, reading - the light good and the room warm thanks to their generator. The telex was on, and the HF. It was late but there was no point in going home yet where it was cold and damp and no Genny. He looked up. Footsteps were hurrying up the outside stairs. The knock was nervous. “Who is it?”
“Captain McIver? It’s me, Captain Peshadi, Karim Peshadi.” Astonished, McIver unlocked the door, knowing the young man quite well, both as a helicopter student and favored cousin of Sharazad. He stuck out his hand, covering his further surprise at the youth’s appearance. “Come in, Karim, what can I do for you? I was terribly sorry to hear about your father’s arrest.”
“He was shot two days ago.”
“Oh, Christ!”
“Yes. Sorry, none of this is going to be pleasant.” Hurriedly Karim closed the door and dropped his voice. “Sorry, but I’ve got to hurry, I’m already hours overdue but I’ve just come from Sharazad - I went to your apartment but Captain Pettikin said you were here. Tonight I read a secret telex from our base in Abadan.” He told him what it said.
McIver was appalled and tried to cover it. “Did you tell Captain Pettikin?” “No, no, I thought I should tell only you.”
“Far as we know HBC was hijacked. None of our pilots were invol - ” “I’m not here officially, I just came to tell you because Tom’s not here. I didn’t know what else to do. I saw Sharazad tonight and found out, also quite by
