On Wings of Eagles (30 page)

    funny as hell. After a few hours Cathy had come back from the hairdresser's

    or wherever she had been, and had taken the dog back; but Perot's mood

    remained black.

    There was a knock at Perot's door, and Taylor came in, carrying his usual

    drink. He was followed by John Howell, Rich Gallagher, and Bob Young. They

    all sat down.

    "Now," said Perot, "did you tell them that we'd guarantee to produce Paul

    and Bill for questioning anywhere in the U.S. or Europe, on thirty days'

    notice, at any time in the next two years?"

"They're not interested in that idea," said Howell.

"What do you mean, they're not interested?"

I 'I'm just telling you what they said-"

    "But if this is an investigation, rather than a blackmail attempt, all they

    need is to be sure that Paul and Bill will be available for questioning. 11

    "'Ibey're sure already. I guess they see no reason to make changes. "

    It was maddening. There seemed no way to reason with the Iranians, no way

    to reach them. "Did you suggest they release Paul and Bill into the custody

    of the U.S. Embassy?"

"They turned that down, too."

I.Why?"

"They didn't say."

"Did you ask diem?"

    "Ross, they don't have to give moons. They're in charge here, and they know

    it.9f

"But they're responsible for the safety of their prisoners."

184 Ken Folleu

    "It's a responsibility that doesn't seem to weigh too heavily on them. -

    Taylor said: "Ross, they're not playing by our rules. Putting two men in

    jail is not a big deal to them. Paul and Bill's safety is not a big deal--"

"So what rules are they playing by? Can you tell me that?"

    There was a knock at the door and Coburn walked in, wearing his Michelin

    Man coat and his black knit hat. Perot brightened: perhaps he would have

    good news. "Did you meet with Deep lbroat?"

"Sure did," said Coburn, taking off his coat.

"All right, let's have it."

    "He says he can get Paul and Bill released for six million dollars. The

    money would be paid into an escrow account in Switzerland and released when

    Paul and Bill leave Iran."

    "Hell, that ain't bad," said Perot. "We get out with fifty cents on the

    dollar. Under U.S. law it would even be legal-it's a ransom. What kind of

    guy is Deep Throat?"

"I don't trust the bastard," said Coburn.

.1)"Y?"

    Coburn shrugged. "I don't know, Ross . He's shifty, flaky ... A bullshitter

    ... I wouldn't give him sixty cents to go to the store and get me a pack of

    cigarettes. That's my gut feeling. "

    "But, listen, what do you expect?" Perot said. "This is bribery-pillars of

    the community don't get involved in this kind of thing."

    Howell said: "You said it. This is bribery." His deliberate, throaty voice

    was unusually passionate. "I don't like this one bit. "

    "I don't like it," Perot said. "But you've all been telling me that the

    Iranians aren't playing by our rules."

    "Yes, but listen," Howell said fervently. "The straw I've been clinging to

    all through this is that we've done nothing wrong-and someday, somehow,

    somewhere, somebody is going to recognize that, and then all this will

    evaporate ... I'd hate to give up that straw."

:'It hasn't got us far."

    'Ross, I believe that with time and patience we will succeed. But if we get

    involved in bribery we no longer have a case!"

    Perot turned to Coburn. "How do we know Deep Throat has a deal wired with

    Dadgar?9'

    ON WINGS OF EAGLES 185

    "We don't know," Coburn said. "His argument is, we don't pay until we get

    results, so what do we have to lose?"

    "Everything," Howell said. "Never mind what is legal in the United States,

    this could seal our fate in Iran. -

Taylor said: "It stinks. The whole thing stinks."

    Perot was surprised by their reactions. He, too, hated the idea of bribery,

    but he was prepared to compromise his principles to get Paul and Bill out

    of jail. The good name of EDS was precious to him, and he was loath to let

    it be associated with corruption, just as John Howell was; but Perot knew

    something Howell did not know: that Colonel Simons and the rescue team

    faced risks more grave than this.

    Perot said: "Our good name hasn't done Paul and Bill any good so far.' I

    "It's not just out good name," Howell persisted. "Dadgar must be pretty

    sure by now that we aren't guilty of corruptionbut if he could catch us in

    a bribe situation he could still save face. -

That was a point, Perot thought. "Could this be a trap?"

-Yes!"

    It made sense. Unable to get any evidence against Paul and Bill, Dadgar

    pretends to Deep Throat that he can be bribed, then-when Perot falls for

    it-announces to the world that EDS is, after all, corrupt. Then they would

    all be put in jail with Paul and Bill. And, being guilty, they would stay

    there.

    "All right," said Perot reluctantly. "Call Deep Throat and tell him no,

    thanks."

Coburn stood up. "Okay.

    It had been another fruitless day, Perot thought. The Iranians had him all

    ways. Political pressure they ignored. Bribery could make matters worse. If

    EDS paid the bail, Paul and Bill would still be kept in Iran.

Simons's team still looked like the best bet.

But he was not going to tell the negotiating team that.

'All right," he said. "We'll just try again tomorrow."

186 Ken Folku

    3

Tall Keane Taylor and short John Howell, like Batman and Robin, tried again

on January 17. They drove to the Ministry of Health budding on Eisenhower

Avenue, taking Abolhasan as interpreter, and met Dadgar at ten A.M. With

Dadgar were officials of the Social Security Organization, the department of

the Ministry that was ran by EDS's computers.

    Howell had decided to abandon his initial negotiating position, that EDS

    could not pay the bail because of American securities law. It was equally

    useless to demand to know the charges against Paul and Bill and what

    evidence there was: Dadgar could stonewall that approach by saying he was

    still investigating. But Howell did not have a new strategy to replace the

    old. He was playing poker with no cards in his hand. Perhaps Dadgar would

    deal him some today.

    Dadgar began by explaining that the staff of the Social Secutity

    Organization wanted EDS to turn over to them what was known as the 125 Data

    Center.

    This small computer, Howell recalled, ran the payroll and pensions for the

    Social Security Organization staff. What these people wanted was to get

    their own wages, even while Iranians generally were not getting their

    social-security benefits.

    Keane Taylor said: "It's not that simple. Such a turnover would be a very

    complex operation needing many skilled staff Of course they am all back in

    the States."

Dadgar replied: "Then you should bring them back in."

"I'm not that stupid," Taylor said.

    Taylor's Marine Corps sensitivity training was operating, Howell thought.

Dadgar said: "if he speaks like this, he will go to jail.

    "Just as my staff would if I brought them back to Iran," said Taylor.

    Howell broke in: "Would you be able to give a legal guarantee that any

    returning staff would not be arrested or harassed in any wayT I

    .'I could not give a formal guarantee," Dadgar replied. "However, I would

    give my personal word of honor."

    ON WINGS OF EAGLES 187

    Howell darted an anxious glance at Taylor. Taylor did not speak, but his

    expression said he would not give two cents for Dadgar's word of honor. "We

    could certainly investigate ways of arranging the turnover," Howell said.

    Dadgar had at last given him something to bargain with, even though it was

    not much. "There would have to be safeguards, of course. For example, you

    would have to certify that the machinery was handed over to you in good

    condition-but perhaps we could employ independent experts to do that . . .-

    Howell was shadowboxing. If the data center was handed over, there would be

    a price: the release of Paul and Bill.

    Dadgar demolished that idea with his next sentence. "Every day new

    complaints are being made about your company to my investigators,

    complaints that would justify increases in the bail. However, if you

    cooperate in the winover of the 125 Data Center, I can in return ignore the

    new complaints and refrain from increasing the bail."

Taylor said: "Goddammit, this is nothing but blackmaill

    Howell realized that the 125 Data Center was a sideshow. Dadgar had raised

    the question, no doubt at the urging of these officials, but he did not

    care about it enough to offer serious concessions. So what did he care

    about?

    Howell thought of Lucio Randone, the former cellmate of Paul and Bill.

    Randone's offer of help had been followed up by EDS manager Paul Bucha, who

    had gone to Italy to talk to Randone's company, Condotti d'Acqua. Bucha

    reported that the company had been building apartment blocks in Tehran when

    their Iranian financiers ran out of money. The company naturally stopped

    building; but many Iramans; had already paid for apartments under

    construction. Given the present atmosphere, it was not surprising that the

    foreigners got blamed, and Randone had been jailed as a scapegoat. The

    company had found a new source of finance and resumed building, and Randone

    had got out of jail at the same time, in a package deal arranged by an

    Iranian lawyer, Ali Azmayesh. Bucha also reported that the Italians kept

    saying: "Remember, Inn will always be Iran, it never changes." He took this

    to be a hint that a bribe was part of the package deal. Howell also knew

    that a traditional channel for paying a bribe was a lawyer's fee: the

    lawyer would do, say, a thousand dollars' worth of work and pay a

    ten-thousand-dollar bribe, then charge his client eleven thousand dollars.

    This hint of corruption in&& Howell nervous, but despite that he had gone

    to see

188 Ken Follett

Azmayesh, who had advised him: -EDS does not have a legal problem, it has a

business problem." If EDS could come to a business arrangement with the

Ministry of Health, Dadgar would go away. Azmayesh had not mentioned

bribery.

    All this had started, Howell thought, as a business problem: the customer

    unable to pay, the supplier refusing to go on working. Might a compromise

    be possible, under which EDS would switch on the computers and the Ministry

    would pay at least some money? He decided to ask Dadgar directly.

    "Would it help if EDS were to renegotiate its contract with the Ministry of

    Health?"

    "This might be very helpful," Dadgar answered. "It would not be a legal

    solution to our problem, but it might be a practical solution. Otherwise,

    to waste all the work that has been done in computerizing the Ministry

    would be a pity. "

    Interesting, thought Howell. They want a modem social-security system--or

    their money back. Putting Paul and Bill in jail on thirteen million dollars

    bail was their way of giving EDS those two option&-and no others. We're

    getting straight talk, at last.

    He decided to be blunt. "Of course, it would be out of the question to

    begin negotiations while Chiapparone and Gaylord are still in jail."

    Dadgar replied: "Still, if you commit to good-faith negotiations, the

    Ministry will call me and the charges might be changed, the bad might be

    reduced, and Chiapparone and Gaylord might even be released on their

    personal guarantees."

    Nothing could be plainer than that, Howell thought. EDS had better go see

    the Minister of Health.

    Since the Ministry stopped paying its bills there had been two changes of

    government. Dr. Sheikholeslamizadeh, who was now in jail, had been replaced

    by a general; and then, when Bakhtiar became Prime Munster, the general had

    in turn been replaced by a now Minister of Health. Who, Howell wondered,

    was the new guy; and what was he like?

"Mr. Young, of the American company EDS, is calling you, Minister," said the

secretary.

    Dr. Razmara took a deep breath. "Tell hirn that American businessmen may no

    longer pick up the phone and call ministers of the Ionian government and

    expect to talk to us as if we were

    ON WINGS OF EAGLES 189

their employees," he said. He raised his voice. "Those days are over!' 9

Then he asked for the EDS file.

    Manuchehr Razmara had been in Paris over Christmas. Frencheducated-he was

    a cardiologist-and married to a Frenchwoman, he considered France his

    second home, and spoke fluent French. He was also a member of the Iranian