He followed the guard into the hut and picked up the phone. 'Yes?'
'This is the American Consulate,' said the voice. 'What's your name?'
'Uh, what is this about?' Boulware said warily.
'Look, would you just tell me what you're doing there?'
'I don't know who you are and I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing.'
'Okay, listen, I know who you are and I know what you're doing. If you have any problems, call me. Got a pencil?'
Boulware took down the number, thanked the man, and hung up, mystified. An hour ago I didn't know I was going to be here, he thought, so how could anyone else? Least of all the American Consulate. He thought again about Ilsman. Maybe Ilsman was in touch with his bosses, the Turkish MIT, who were in touch with the CIA, who were in touch with the Consulate. Ilsman could have asked somebody to make a call for him in Van, or even at the police station in Yuksekova.
He wondered whether it was good or bad that the Consulate knew what was happening. He recalled the 'help' Paul and Bill had got from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran: with friends in the State Department a man had no need of enemies.
He pushed the Consulate to the back of his mind. The main problem now was, where was the Dirty Team?
He went back outside and looked across no-man's-land He decided to stroll across and talk to the Iranians. He called to Ilsman and Charlie Brown to come with him.
As he approached the Iranian side he could see that the frontier guards were not in uniform. Presumably they were revolutionaries who had taken over when the government fell.
He said to Charlie: 'Ask them if they've heard anything about some American businessmen coming out in two jeeps.'
Charlie did not need to translate the reply: the Iranians shook their heads vigorously.
An inquisitive tribesman, with a ragged headband and an ancient rifle, came up on the Iranian side. There was an exchange of some length; then Charlie said: 'This man says he knows where the Americans are and he will take you to them if you pay.'
Boulware wanted to know how much, but Ilsman did not want him to accept the offer at any price. Ilsman spoke forcefully to Charlie, and Charlie translated. 'You're wearing a leather coat and leather gloves and a fine wristwatch.'
Boulware, who was into watches, was wearing one Mary had given him when they got married. 'So?'
'With clothes like that they think you're SAVAK. They hate SAVAK over there.'
'I'll change my clothes. I have another coat in the car.'
'No,' Charlie said. 'You have to understand. They just want to get you over there and blow your head off.'
'All right,' Boulware said.
They walked back to the Turkish side. Since there was a post office so conveniently nearby, he decided to call Istanbul and check in with Ross Perot. He went into the post office. He had to sign his name. The call would take some time to place, the clerk told him.
Boulware went back outside. The Turkish border guards were now getting edgy, Charlie told him. Some of the Iranians had wandered back with them, and the guards did not like people milling around in no-man's-land: it was disorderly.
Boulware thought: Well, I'm doing no good here.
He said: 'Would these guys call us, if the team comes across while we're back in Yuksekova?'
Charlie asked them. The guards agreed. There was a hotel in the village, they said; they would call there.
Boulware, Ilsman, Charlie, and the two sons of Mr. Fish's cousin got into the two cars and drove back to Yuksekova.
There they checked into the worst hotel in the whole world. It had dirt floors. The bathroom was a hole in the ground under the stairs. All the beds were in one room. Charlie Brown ordered food, and it came wrapped in newspaper.
Boulware was not sure he had made the right decision in leaving the border station. So many things could go wrong: the guards might not phone as they had promised. He decided to accept the offer of help from the American Consulate, and ask them to seek permission for him to stay at the border station. He called the number he had been given on the hotel's single ancient windup telephone. He got through, but the line was bad, and both parties had trouble making themselves understood. Eventually the man at the other end said something about calling back, and hung up.
Boulware stood by the fire, fretting. After a while he lost patience, and decided to return to the border without permission.
On the way they had a flat tire.
They all stood in the road while the sons changed the wheel. Ilsman appeared nervous. Charlie explained: 'He says this is a very dangerous place--the people are all murderers and bandits.'
Boulware was skeptical. Ilsman had agreed to do all this for a flat fee of eight thousand dollars, and Boulware now suspected the fat man was getting ready to up his price. 'Ask him how many people were killed on this road last month,' Boulware told Charlie.
He watched Ilsman' face as he replied. Charlie translated : 'Thirty-nine.'
Ilsman looked serious. Boulware thought: Shit, this guy's telling the goddam
3_______
In Rezaiyeh, Rashid took one of the Range Rovers and drove from the hotel back to the school that had been turned into revolutionary headquarters.
He wondered whether the deputy leader had called Tehran. Coburn had been unable to get a line the previous night: would the revolutionary leadership have the same problem? Rashid thought they probably would. Now, if the deputy could not get through, what would he want to do? He had only two options: hold the Americans, or let them go without checking. The man might feel foolish about letting them go without checking: he might not want Rashid to know that things were so loosely organized here. Rashid decided to act as if he assumed the call had been made and verification completed.
He went into the courtyard. The deputy leader was there, leaning against a Mercedes. Rashid started talking to him about the problem of bringing six thousand Americans through the town on the way to the border. How many people could be accommodated overnight in Rezaiyeh? What facilities were there at the Sero border station for processing them? He emphasized that the Ayatollah Khomeini had given instructions for Americans to be well treated as they left Iran, for the new government did not want to quarrel with the U.S.A. He got onto the subject of documentation: perhaps the Rezaiyeh committee should issue passes to the Americans authorizing them to go through Sero. He, Rashid, would certainly need such a pass today, to take these six Americans through. He suggested the deputy and he should go into the school and draft a pass.
The deputy agreed.
They went into the library.
Rashid found paper and pen and gave them to the deputy.
'What should we write?' said Rashid. 'Probably we should say, the person who carries this letter can take six Americans through Sero. No, say Barzagan or Sero, in case Sero is closed.'
The deputy wrote.
'Maybe we should say, um: It is expected that all guards will give their best cooperation and assistance, they are fully inspected and identified, and if necessary escort them.'
The deputy wrote it down.
Then he signed his name.
Rashid said: 'Maybe we should put, Islamic Revolution Commandant Committee.'
The deputy did so.
