The air in Shiraz reeked of the
sweet smell of Jasmine and tuber roses. No wonder the
ancients Persians had called it the "city of flowers,"
Darius thought. He carried with him a black attache
case as he made his way through the labyrinthine alleys
of the Dakil Bazaar. This bazaar had thrived since the
Zand dynasty, was probably's Iran oldest bazaar. Darius
prided himself on his collection of books on Iranian
history, which occupied three stories in his home in
Teheran. He had come to believe that Iran, as a nation,
rested on four legs: the mullahs, which controlled the
Islamic schools, the bazaars, which controlled the economy,
the military, which controlled the roads, and the Shah,
who controlled nothing but the Peacock throne. The Shah
provided, however, a crucial image: a unified nation
with ancient roots. Without that image, there would
be nothing to bind together the Persians, the Medes,
the Turks, the Zoastrians and the nomadic tribes. It
would fly apart, or be picked apart, by the British
and Russians.
He now had to depend on Raven, and his American friends
in the CIA, to keep this fourth leg in place. Camels
partly concealed the narrow entrance to the crumbling
Seray-e- Moshay caravanserai. For at least two thousand
years, caravans carrying silk and spices from China,
had refreshed themselves here. Inside, men, seated on
kilims, smoked narghilehs through brightly- colored
tubes. Numerous spits turned over a huge fire, vented
by a hole in the roof. There were dozens of lambs and
goats, in various stages of slaughter, in the kitchen
through which Darius proceeded.
Khan Dowat, in his Qashqai tribal robes, was waiting
for Darius in a private room behind the kitchen, guarded
by two young boys with World War I vintage rifles. Darius
greeted the Khan with the respect he deserved, a huge
bear hug. His grandfather, Khan Sowlat, had united all
the Turkish-speaking tribes in the south of Iran and defeated
the British-led South Persia Rifles, capturing all their
rifles. The Qashqai then were pastoral nomads who moved
with their herds between summer pastures in the higher
elevations of the Zagros south of Shiraz and winter pastures
at low elevations north of Shiraz. The Shah's father,
Reza, starved them into submission by having his army
block the narrow Zagros pass on their route from their
summer to winter pastures. The Qashqai revolted, after
Reza Shah was exiled and now were supporting Mossadeq,
who had promised them autonomy. But, as Darius knew, the
alliance had recently beccome uneasy with Mossadeq, taking
a leaf out of the Reza Shah's book, stationing a garrison
of Iranian troops in the Zagros pass. Darius and Khan
Dowat feasted on the lamb and drank date wine, which Qashqai
had insisted was permitted by the Koran. After the honeyed
dessert was served, and a cage of blind nightingales were
brought in to sing, Darius took from his attache case
one hundred gold sovereign coins, the currency of choice
in the Persian desert. He arranged them in ten equal stacks
in front of Khan Dowat. "The new Shah is a different
man from the Reza Shah..." Darius began. "Reza Shah was
a murderer." The Khan blamed Reza Shah for the murder
of both his grandfather and father. "The new Shah is
not. He wants to return the Zagros Pass to the Qashqai.
To you, Khan Dowat." "Then why does he have troops there,
with cannons and machine guns." "They are not the Shah's
soldiers. They belong to your ally, Mossadeq." Darius
reached his case and took out three more bags of gold
sovereign. He poured the contents before Khan Dowat.
"Why do you honor me with gold?" "You will need the gold
to honor the other Qashqai khans that will help you capture
Zagros pass." The Khan laughed. He raised up his Enfield
rifle, which was always at his side. "With what, Rifles
that belong in a museum?" "With machines guns, rocket
launchers and bazookas. A plane load of them." He explained
the details leisurely, as they ate honeyed pastries, of
how the Qashqai would receive the arms to carry out the
attack. Once prepared, they would then wait for his signal."
"We'll take Zagros with your guns," the Khan said. "It
has belonged to us for ten centuries." He reflected for
a moment, eying the gold sovereigns greedily. "But there
is one matter that I do not understand. Won't the attack
dishonor your Shah?" "The Shah will not be in the country.
It will be Mossadeq who will be dishonored," Darius answered,
adding "There will 1000 more gold sovereigns to honor
your victory." It was another proof of the Golden Rule,
Darius thought, as he left the caravanserai with his empty
attache case. |