been staying at EDS headquarters until all hours of the night, working on the Paul and Bill problem, when he was not dashing off to New York for meetings with Iranian lawyers there. On December 31 Howell had arrived home at breakfast time, after working all night at EDS, to find Angela and baby Michael, nine months old, huddled in front of a wood fire in a cold, dark house: the ice storm had caused a power failure. He had moved them into his sister's apartment and gone off to New York again.
Angela had had about as much as she could take, and when he announced he was going to Tehran again she had been upset. 'You
The trouble was, he did not have a simple answer to that question. It was not clear just what he was going to do in Tehran. He was going to work on the problem, but he did not know how. If he had been able to say, 'Look, this is what has to be done, and it's my responsibility, and I'm the only one who can do it,' she might have understood.
'John, we're a family. I need your help to take care of all this,' she had said, meaning the ice storm, the blackouts, and the baby.
'I'm sorry. Just do the best you can. I'll try to stay in touch,' Howell had said.
They were not the kind of married couple to express their feelings by yelling at each other. On the frequent occasions when he upset her by working late, leaving her to sit alone and eat the dinner she had fixed for him, a certain coolness was the closest they came to fighting. But this was worse than missing supper: he was abandoning her and the baby just when they needed him.
They had a long talk that evening. At the end of it Angela was no happier, but she was at least resigned.
He had called her several times since, from London and from Tehran. She was watching the riots on the TV news and worrying about him. She would have been even more worried if she had known what he was about to do now.
He pushed domestic concerns to the back of his mind and went to find Abolhasan.
Abolhasan was EDS's senior Iranian employee. When Lloyd Briggs had left for New York, Abolhasan had been in charge of EDS in Iran. (Rich Gallagher, the only American still there, was not a manager.) Then Keane Taylor had returned and assumed overall charge, and Abolhasan had been offended. Taylor was no diplomat. (Bill Gayden, the genial president of EDS World, had coined the sarcastic phrase 'Keane's Marine Corps sensitivity training.') There had been friction. But Howell got on fine with Abolhasan, who could translate not just the Farsi language but also Persian customs and methods for his American employers.
Dadgar knew Abolhasan's father, a distinguished lawyer, and had met Abolhasan himself at the interrogation of Paul and Bill; so this morning Abolhasan had been appointed liaison man with Dadgar's investigators, and had been instructed to make sure they had everything they asked for.
Howell said to Abolhasan: 'I've decided I should meet with Dadgar. What do you think?'
'Sure,' Abolhasan said. He had an American wife and spoke English with an American accent. 'I don't think that'll be a problem.'
'Okay. Let's go.'
Abolhasan led Howell to Paul Chiapparone's conference room. Dadgar and his assistants were sitting around the big table, going through EDS's financial records. Abolhasan asked Dadgar to step into the adjoining room, Paul's office; then he introduced Howell.
Dadgar gave a businesslike handshake.
They sat around the table in the corner of the office. Dadgar did not look to Howell like a monster: just a rather weary middle-aged man who was losing his hair.
Howell began by repeating to Dadgar what he had said to Dr. Kian: 'EDS is a reputable company that has done nothing wrong, and we are willing to cooperate with your investigation. However, we cannot tolerate having two senior executives in jail.'
Dadgar's answer--translated by Abolhasan--surprised him. 'If you have done nothing wrong, why have you not paid the bail?'
'There's no connection between the two,' Howell said. 'Bail is a guarantee that someone will appear for trial, not a sum to be forfeited if he is guilty. Bail is repaid as soon as the accused man appears in court, regardless of the verdict.' While Abolhasan translated. Howell wondered whether 'bail' was the correct English translation of whatever Farsi word Dadgar was using to describe the $12,750,000 he was demanding. And now Howell recalled something else that might be significant. On the day Paul and Bill were arrested, he had talked on the phone with Abolhasan, who reported that the $12,750,000 was, according to Dadgar, the total amount EDS had been paid to date by the Ministry of Health; and Dadgar's argument had been that if the contract had been corruptly awarded, then EDS was not entitled to that money. (Abolhasan had not translated this remark to Paul and Bill at the time.)
In fact, EDS had been paid a good deal more than thirteen million dollars, so the remark had not made much sense, and Howell had discounted it. Perhaps that had been a mistake: it might just be that Dadgar's arithmetic was wrong.
Abolhasan was translating Dadgar's reply. 'If the men are innocent, there is no reason why they should not appear for trial, so you would risk nothing by paying the bail.'
'An American corporation can't do that,' Howell said. He was not lying, but he was being deliberately deceitful. 'EDS is a publicly traded company, and under American securities laws it can only use its money for the benefit of its shareholders. Paul and Bill are free individuals: the company cannot guarantee that they will show up for trial. Consequently we cannot spend the company's money this way.'
This was the initial negotiating position Howell had previously formulated; but, as Abolhasan translated, he could see it was making little impression on Dadgar.
'Their families have to put up the bail,' he went on. 'Right now they are raising money in the States, but thirteen million dollars is out of the question. Now, if the bail were lowered to a more reasonable figure, they might be able to pay it.' This was all lies, of course: Ross Perot was going to pay the bail, if he had to, and if Tom Walter could find a way to get the money into Iran.
It was Dadgar's turn to be surprised. 'Is it true that you could not force your men to appear for trial?'
'Sure it's true,' Howell said. 'What are we going to do, lock them in chains? We're not a police force. You see, you're holding
Dadgar's reply was: 'No, they are in jail for what they have done personally.'
'Which is?'
'They obtained money from the Ministry of Health by means of false progress reports.'
'This obviously cannot apply to Bill Gaylord, because the Ministry has paid none of the bills presented since he arrived in Tehran--so what is he accused of?'
'He falsified reports, and I will not be cross-examined by you, Mr. Howell.'
Howell suddenly remembered that Dadgar could put him in jail.
Dadgar went on: 'I am conducting an investigation. When it is complete, I will either release your clients or prosecute them.'
Howell said: 'We're willing to cooperate with your investigation. In the meantime, what can we do to get Paul and Bill released?'
'Pay the bail.'
'And if they are released on bail, will they be permitted to leave Iran?'
'No.'
2___
Jay Coburn walked through the double sliding glass doors into the lobby of the Sheraton. On his right was the long registration desk. To his left were the hotel shops. In the center of the lobby was a couch.
In accordance with his instructions, he bought a copy of
