juice. Granny May had been that way. She’d skewer you with her don’t-screw-with-me stare and you’d be babbling out a confession before the cookie crumbs had dried on your lips.
“I’m from America,” I told him. “My friends and I have come to save your life.”
I don’t know how I thought he’d react. Maybe like Cole, who squawked in my ear. Or Vayl, who whispered, “You must be joking.” But I certainly didn’t expect him to lean his head sideways and say, “May I deliver my speech first? These people have risked a great deal to hear me. And I hate to disappoint them.”
I found myself nodding. “Okay.” I cocked my head at him as his eyes began to twinkle, reminding me oddly of Cam. “Who
are
you?”
He stuck his hands in his pockets. “Do you know how they say the worst kinds of reformers are those who have sinned themselves?”
“You mean, like former smokers are the most rabid antismoking fanatics on earth?”
“Exactly.” The twinkle dimmed. “When I was a young man I joined the Ministry of Intelligence.” He looked me right in the eye, accepting my shock and disgust as he said, “I have done unspeakable things for which I may never be forgiven. I have scarred my people and my country. This is the only way I can think of to put it right again.”
“That must’ve been one hell of an epiphany,” I said.
Still meeting my eyes, his brightened as the memory played through his mind. “You have no idea how the birth of a child will change a man.”
I thought of my father, who’d been out of the country the day Dave and I were born. “No,” I said, “I don’t.”
“Then listen,” he said. He went to a table near the center of the room and stood on the closest chair. He didn’t even have to hold up his arms for quiet. People just stopped and listened.
Holy crap
, my stunned little brain thought,
he’d be great in an E.F. Hutton commercial
.
His message shocked me too. It was so — well — reasonable. Not something I’d expect to hear from a crowd pleaser in the capital city of Iran. As he spoke I studied the faces of his audience. Rapt. Optimistic. Peaceful. Not one of them looked prepared to end his life. These were some true-blue converts. Since I couldn’t find the threat in my area of influence, I moved to another spot in the room, occasionally pausing to check on my partners or tune into the talk.
“We must not concede our country to bullies and bandits,” FarjAd insisted at one point. “Their club is fear. And they beat us with it constantly. We become like abused women. Convinced we deserve our fates and hoping for nothing better. Content to let our children become inured to the continuous spewing of hatred for free lands from teachers, priests, and government-controlled media. Accepting of the ridiculous notion that our sons and brothers must destroy themselves in order to kill two or three or ten enemy men in the name of some far-flung outrage.”
Murmurs of agreement from the crowd. FarjAd held his hands out to them, his eyes wide with passion. “We must stand tall again. We are a blessed people. These are the laws we must live by again: love, forgiveness, fairness, generosity to those who are less fortunate.” He lapsed into Farsi.
“Cole,” I hissed. “What’s he saying?”
“He’s quoting a famous Persian poet named Sadi,” Cole replied. “I’m not good enough to translate the rhyme. But basically Sadi said all human beings are connected to each other. And therefore, we can’t stand idly by while even one of us suffers.”
FarjAd had a lot more to say, but I stopped listening. Too distracting for me to be of any use if something violent went down. I retreated to a corner and, using the menu on my nifty glasses, called Asha. “Anything?”
“Just more mahghul,” he said. “How about you?”
“Nothing so far. But this guy. Eloquent doesn’t even come close to his speaking ability. They’re enthralled!”
“His potential to lead this country into peace and prosperity is — how you put it — off the charts. The greatest I have seen in fifty years. You
must
keep him safe.”
Asha’s urgency fueled my own. How was I supposed to protect him when all I could come up with was a general sense of menace? I hung up, looking at FarjAd with new eyes. Yesterday I’d been planning to kill him. Now I thought maybe he was the leader these people needed to enact the change they were looking for, and I was deeply afraid he wouldn’t live through the night.
“Anything, Vayl?” I asked, meeting his eyes across the room. He stood near the bathroom door, leaning against the wall as he surveyed the crowd. “Nothing.”
“How about you, Cole?”
He sat at an abandoned Internet station, his back to the computer. “Naw. These people seem pretty stoked for FarjAd. If we were at a pep rally they’d all be cheering like horny teenagers.”
You know what? Maybe this is all just coincidence. The mahghul are here because one of these couples is going to get in a huge fight later tonight and end up killing each other. The end.
Still I waited. And watched. And when his speech was over, and FarjAd jumped down from the chair, I began
