“Rakoczy.”
“Rakoczy recognized it. If he hadn’t I wouldn’t have been any the wiser. Sorry.” Pettikin glanced across. “What’s he want with you?” “I don’t know but whatever it is, it’s for Soviet purposes.” Erikki cursed for a moment. “So we owe our lives to him too?”
After a moment Pettikin said, “Yes. Yes, I couldn’t have done it alone.” He glanced around. Rakoczy was totally alert, Azadeh dozing, shadows over her lovely face. He nodded briefly, then turned back. “Azadeh seems okay.” “No, Charlie, no, she’s not,” Erikki said, an ache inside him. “Today was terrible for her. She said she’d never been that close to villagers ever… I mean surrounded, bottled in. Today they got under her guard. Now she’s seen the real face of Iran, the reality of her people - that and the forcing of the chador.” Again a shiver went through him. “That was a rape - they raped her soul. Now I think everything will be different for her, for us. I think she’ll have to choose: family or me, Iran or exile. They don’t want us here. It’s time for us to leave, Charlie. All of us.”
“No, you’re wrong. Perhaps for you and Azadeh it’s different but they’ll still need oil so they’ll still need choppers. We’re good for a few more years, good years. With the Guerney contracts and all th - ” Pettikin stopped, feeling a tap on his shoulder, and he glanced around. Azadeh was awake now. He could not hear what Rakoczy said so he slipped one earphone off. “What?”
“Don’t use the radio, Captain, and be prepared to land on the outskirts where I’ll tell you.”
“I… I’ll have to get clearance.”
“Don’t be a fool! Clearance from whom? Everyone’s too busy down there. Tehran Airport’s under siege - so is Doshan Tappeh and so’s Galeg Morghi. Take my advice and make your landfall the small airport of Rudrama after you’ve dropped me.”
“I have to report in. The military insist.”
Rakoczy laughed sardonically. “Military? And what would you report? That you landed illegally near Qazvin, helped murder five or six civilians, and picked up two foreigners fleeing - fleeing from whom? From the People!” Grimly Pettikin turned back to make the call but Rakoczy leaned forward and shook him roughly. “Wake up! The military doesn’t exist anymore. The generals have conceded victory to Khomeini! The military doesn’t exist anymore - they’ve given in!”
They all stared at him blankly. The chopper lurched. Hastily Pettikin corrected. “What’re you talking about?”
“Late last night the generals ordered all troops back to their barracks. All services - all men. They’ve left the field to Khomeini and his revolution. Now there’s no army, no police, no gendarmes between Khomeini and total power - the People have conquered!”
“That’s not possible,” Pettikin said.
“No,” Azadeh said, frightened. “My father would have known.” “Ah, Abdollah the Great?” Rakoczy said with a sneer. “He’ll know by now - if he’s still alive.”
“It’s not true!”
“It’s… it’s possible, Azadeh,” Erikki said, shocked. “That’d explain why we saw no police or troops - why the mob was so hostile!” “The generals’d never do that,” she said shakily, then turned on Rakoczy. “It would be suicide, for them and thousands. Tell the truth, by Allah!” Rakoczy’s face mirrored his glee, delighted to twist words and sow dissension to unsettle them. “Now Iran’s in the hands of Khomeini, his mullahs, and his Revolutionary Guards.”
“It’s a lie.”
Pettikin said, “If that’s true Bakhtiar’s finished. He’ll nev - ” “That weak fool never even began!” Rakoczy started laughing. “Ayatollah Khomeini has frightened the balls off the generals and now he’ll cut their throats for good measure!”
“Then the war’s over.”
“Ah, the war,” Rakoczy said darkly. “It is. For some.”
“Yes,” Erikki said, baiting him. “And if what you say is true, it’s all over for you too - all the Tudeh and all Marxists. Khomeini will slaughter you all.”
“Oh, no, Captain. The Ayatollah was the sword to destroy the Shah, but the People wielded the sword.”
“He and his mullahs and the People will destroy you - he’s as anti-Communist as he is anti-American.”
“Better you wait and see and not further delude yourselves, eh? Khomeini’s a practical man and exults in power, whatever he says now.” Pettikin saw Azadeh whiten and he felt an equal chill. “And the Kurds?” he asked roughly, “What about them?”
Rakoczy leaned forward, his smile strange. “I am a Kurd whatever the Finn told you about Soviet and KGB. Can he prove what he says? Of course not. As to the Kurds, Khomeini will try to stamp us out - if he’s allowed to - with all tribal or religious minorities, and foreigners and the bourgeoisie, landowners, moneylenders, Shah supporters, and,” he added with a sneer, “and any and all people who will not accept his interpretation of the Koran - and he’ll spill rivers of blood in the Name of his Allah, his, not the real One God - if the bastard’s allowed to.” He glanced out of the window below, checking his bearings, then added even more sardonically, “This heretic Sword of God has served his purpose and now he’s going to be turned into a plowshare-and buried!”
“You mean murdered?” Erikki said.
“Buried” - again the laugh - “at the whim of the People.” Azadeh came to life and tried to claw his face, cursing him. He caught her easily and held her while she struggled. Erikki watched, gray-faced. There was nothing he could do. For the moment.
“Stop it!” Rakoczy said harshly. “You of all people should want this heretic gone - he’ll stamp out Abdollah Khan and all the Gorgons and you with them if he wins.” He shoved her away. “Behave, or I shall have to hurt you. It’s true, you of all people should want him dead.” He cocked the machine gun. “Turn around, both of you.”
They obeyed, hating the man and the gun. Ahead, the outskirts of Tehran were about ten miles away. They were paralleling the road and railway, the Elburz Mountains to their left, approaching the city from the west. Overhead the sky was overcast, the clouds heavy, and no sun showed through. “Captain, you see the stream where the railway crosses it? The bridge?” “Yes, I can see that,” Pettikin said, trying to make a plan to overcome him, as Erikki was also planning - wondering if he could whirl and grab him but he was on the wrong side.
“Land half a mile south, behind that outcrop. You see it?” Not far from this outcrop was a secondary road that headed for Tehran. A little traffic. “Yes. And then?”
“And then you’re dismissed. For the moment.” Rakoczy laughed and nudged the back of Pettikin’s neck with the barrel of the gun. “With my thanks. But don’t turn around anymore. Stay facing ahead, both of you, and keep your seat belts locked and know that I’m watching you both very closely. When you land, land firmly and cleanly and when I’m clear, take off. But don’t turn around or I may become frightened. Frightened men pull triggers. Understand?”
“Yes.” Pettikin studied the landing site. He adjusted his headset. “It look all right to you, Erikki?”
“Yes. Watch the snow dunes.” Erikki tried to keep the nervousness out of his voice.
“We should have a plan.”
“I think he’s… he’s too clever, Charlie.”
“Maybe he’ll make a mistake.”
“I only need one.”
The landing was clean and simple. Snow, whipped up by the idling blades, billowed alongside the windows. “Don’t turn around!”
Both men’s nerves were jagged. They heard the door open and felt the cold air. Then Azadeh screamed, “Erikkiiii!”
In spite of the order both craned around. Rakoczy was already out, dragging Azadeh after him, kicking and struggling and trying to hang on to the door, but he overpowered her easily. The gun was slung over his shoulder. Instantly Erikki jerked his door open and darted out, slid under the fuselage, and charged. But he was too late. A short burst at his feet stopped him. Ten yards away, clear of the rotors, Rakoczy had the gun leveled at them with one hand, the other firm in the neck of her chador. For a moment she was equally still, then she redoubled her efforts, shouting and screaming, flailing at him, catching him unawares. Erikki charged. Rakoczy grabbed her with both hands, shoved her violently at Erikki, breaking the charge and bringing Erikki down with her. At the same moment he leaped backward, turned, and raced away, whirled again, the gun ready, his finger tightening on the trigger. But there was no need to pull it, the Finn and the woman were still on their knees, half stunned. Beyond them the pilot was still in his seat. Then he saw Erikki come to his senses, and shove her behind him protectively,
