The silence had come upon Alexis Ferguson calling to Crocker, "Tehran Station, update on Coldwitch," all activity ceasing instantly, all movement, all motion, coming to a stop. Crocker felt the weight of every gaze in the room as he crossed the floor, took the offered headset, and pressed it to his ear.
"D-Ops," Crocker said, and then he listened, aware that the room was listening with him, to him, as Lee Barnett in Tehran told him that everything he had feared had been true, that he had been right all along. He took it all in, staring at a point beneath the toes of his shoes, and when Barnett concluded, he asked the one question that hadn't been answered already. "Minder One?"
"No idea, sir," Barnett said. "Lewis thinks she's still at large, but believes she may be injured. He confirms it was Youness Shirazi who came to the safehouse, which has to mean that VEVAK is all over this, they'll be turning out the Sepah, the Basij, everyone and everything."
"But it means they haven't caught her yet."
"I'd think it's only a matter of time."
Crocker considered, looking up at the map, the clock above it reading the current time in Iran. To his left, he heard Nicky Poole speak, asking for maps of northern Iran, times of the next available flights, and that broke the silence, the death-watch, and the room came alive again even as Crocker continued staring at the map on the wall.
"Sir?"
"Find out what the hell happened, Lee," Crocker said. "And see if we can't get confirmation on Minder One, if she is wounded, if they've taken her."
"Working on it, sir."
"Notify immediately with any new information, no matter how small. I'm handing you back to MCO. Keep the line open."
"Understood."
Crocker handed the headset back to Lex. "Open line."
"No matter how small, yes, sir."
Crocker strode across the room, heading for Duty Ops. "Ron, call C at her home and inform her that Coldwitch has gone bust. Tell her that we have reason to believe Minder One is running in the open, still at liberty, but no word on disposition of Falcon. Soon as she arrives in the building, I want to know. And someone get me a line to Grosvenor Square."
"Yes, sir. Here, sir."
"Julian?"
"What's our status?"
"We've been fucked," Crocker said. "Best guess right now is that Hossein was bait all along. No confirmations, but we've reason to believe Chace is still at liberty, though she may be wounded."
"Falcon?"
"Not a word, no idea. Is USGS still en route to the RZ?"
"Last I heard. You want me to tell them to abort?"
"Not if there's a chance in hell of Chace making it in time."
"Is there?"
"Again, no idea. Can you beat the bushes on the Iraqi side of the border, see if your lot has intercepted any traffic, anything that can put light on this? We're in the dark."
"I'll get on it now. You want me to come over?"
The question threw him, Crocker uncertain if Seale was simply offering professional courtesy or something more, something that might approach sympathy. The question was enough to make him think of Chace, of Tamsin, and of the visit he would have to make if Coldwitch had really become the nightmare it appeared to be. That Coldwitch had failed was already understood, but until Seale had offered company, Crocker hadn't allowed himself to believe Minder One was lost.
"Your choice," Crocker said.
"Fifteen minutes," Seale told him, hanging up. "Just how bad is it?" C demanded.
The question was one that Crocker had spent much, if not all, of the last eight minutes pondering, while waiting for C's arrival, and although he'd begun to describe the edges of understanding, he'd yet to reach its center.
"You want the worst-case scenario?" he asked.
"No, Paul, what I want are facts." She shrugged the coat off her shoulders, let it fall onto her chair as she turned to face him from behind her desk. The haste and the hour, Crocker thought, both were telling on Alison Gordon-Palmer's face. "Speculation later, for now, what do we know?"
"Very little. According to the Station Number Two-lad named Caleb Lewis-he and one of our Security personnel, Adrian MacIntyre, dispatched Chace with Falcon to the exfil point directly as ordered."
"They were supposed to go out tomorrow night, weren't they?" She took her chair, indicated for Crocker to take one for himself.
"Initially, but weather in zone made that unviable."
"Continue."
Crocker sat, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. "Lewis reports that shortly after he and MacIntyre completed their sterilization of the safehouse, they heard helicopters making overflight, and within a minute of that a team of VEVAK security personnel presented themselves at the location and demanded entry. They claimed they were seeking a foreign agent and had reason to believe that agent was in the house."
C's eyes narrowed. "They knew the location of the safehouse."
"Gets better-or worse, depending on your point of view. Lewis reports that the team was led by Youness Shirazi."
"I don't know the name."
"Not surprising; we don't have much on him."
"Significance?"
"Shirazi is the director of VEVAK's counterintelligence group. Lewis reports that Shirazi addressed him by name, made the request to enter and search. Lewis refused, citing diplomatic grounds."
"Did he just?" C managed a bare smile. "A stance on principle?"
"Perhaps. It was only Lewis and MacIntyre in the house. Shirazi pressed the issue, Lewis said he could not make the decision to allow them entry, Shirazi in turn told him to speak to someone who could. Lewis rang up the Station Number One-"
" 'Budgie' Barnett, yes."
"Barnett told him to grant entry. Lewis made to allow Shirazi and his men to search the premises, but instead found them in the process of departing. The conclusion that Lewis reached, and with which I agree, is that between him contacting Barnett and relaying permission to enter, Shirazi got a lead on Chace in another location, and was able to discount the safehouse. It was around this time that Lewis overheard enough conversation between Shirazi and his deputy to ascertain that Chace may have been wounded."
"And no mention of Falcon at all?"
"None whatsoever."
"Yet every indication that a manhunt is under way for Chace as we speak."
"Yes, ma'am."
C gazed at him thoughtfully, then closed her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose between forefinger and thumb. Her brow creased, and Crocker had to wonder if her head was hurting as much as his now was. For fully half a minute she remained silent before speaking again.
"So you were correct, Paul. We were set up."
"I'm not certain," Crocker said.
Her eyes opened in surprise. "Chace was ambushed at the exfil point with Falcon. She managed to escape, Falcon told… Shirazi, is it?… told Shirazi the location of the safehouse."
"But why wait?" Crocker asked. "If it was a setup, they were tracking Falcon. Why wait? Why not take him at the safehouse?"
"Mr. Lewis' excuse. Diplomatic privilege at the site."
Crocker grimaced, shook his head slightly. "But they could have taken everybody at the house, there were only four of them there. Arrest our three and what would we say? You can't do that, that's our safehouse? Lewis could only claim embassy involvement after the fact."
"Paul," C said slowly. "What are you getting at?"
"I don't know." Crocker shook his head again. "It's not… something's not right. Shirazi was on the ground in Noshahr. The Head of Counterintelligence doesn't go into the field, he has a deputy for that, he has men for that. Why was he there?"
"I think it's clear," C said. "Your initial assessment of the situation was the correct one. Falcon was never more than bait, the object of the exercise was to lure and then capture an SIS officer. The object of the exercise was to capture Chace."
"But there were other opportunities. When she made the pickup in Karaj, for instance. The safehouse. Anywhere along the Karaj-Chalus highway. If they were watching Falcon, they could've picked their moment. Why did they wait?"
"You're overcomplicating it, Paul." C rose, picking up her coat. "And now I have to go and brief the Prime Minister. They'll need to begin formulating a response."
Crocker stood, waited until C had donned her coat. "Which will be?"
"Denial," C said bluntly. "We'll deny all of it."
"Even Chace?"
C stopped, looked at him. "Will she let them take her alive, do you think?"
"If she's been wounded, she may not have a choice."
"Hmm." C turned away, opening the door. "Unfortunate. It would make things much easier for us if she died."