BOOK TWO                                            
JANUARY, 1953

GOLD SOVEREIGNS

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.


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