On Wings of Eagles (62 page)

Ticketing and baggage check-in would be done at the Embassy overnight, and

they could leave on a Pan Am evacuation flight on Saturday morning.

    John Howell was nervous. He knew, from Abolhasan, that Dadgar was still

    active. He did not know what had happened to the Dirty Team. If Dadgar were

    to find out that Paul and Bill had gone, or if he were simply to give up on

    them and take a couple more hostages, the Clean Team would be arrested. And

    where better to make the arrests than at the anport, where everyone had to

    identify himself by showing his passport?

    He wondered whether it was wise for them to take the first -available

    flight: there would be a series of flights, according to Goelz. Maybe they

    should wait, and see what happened to the first batch of evacuees, whether

    there was any kind of search for EDS personnel. At least then they would

    know in advance what the procedures were.

    But so would the Iranians. The advantage of taking the first flight was

    that everything would probably be confused, and the confusion might help

    Howell and the Clean Team slip out unnoticed.

    In the end he decided the first flight was best, but he remained uneasy.

    Bob Young felt the same way. Although Young no longer worked for EDS in

    Iran---he was based in Kuwait-he had been here when the Ministry contract

    was first negotiated, he had met Dadgar face-to-face, and his name might be

    on some list in Dadgar's files.

Joe Poch6 also favored the first flight, although he did not say

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382 Ken Folku

much about it--he did not say much at all: Howell found him uncommunicative.

    Rich and Cathy Gallagher were not sum they wanted to leave Iran. They told

    Poch6 quite firmly that, regardless of what Colonel Simons had said, Pochf

    was not "in charge" of them, and they had the right to make their own

    decision. Poch6 agreed, but pointed out that if they decided to take their

    chances here with the Iranians, they should not rely on Perot sending

    another rescue team in for them if they got thrown in jail. In the end the

    Gallaghers also decided to go on the first flight.

    That aftemoon they all went through their documents and destroyed

    everything that referred to Paul and Bill.

    PocM gave each of them two thousand dollars, put five hundred dollars in

    his own pocket, and hid the rest of the money in his shoes, ten thousand

    dollars in each. He was wearing shoes borrowed from Gayden, a size too

    large, to accommodate the money. He also had in his pocket a million rials,

    which he planned to give to Lou Goelz for Abolhasan, who would use the

    money to pay the remaining lx~aman EDS employees their last wages.

    A few minutes before five, they were saying goodbye to Goelz's houseman

    when the phone rang.

    Poch6 took the call. It was Tom Walter. He said: "We have the people. Do

    you understand? We have the people.

"I understand," Pochi said.

    They all got into the car, Cathy carrying her poodle, Buffy. Pochd drove.

    He did not tell the others about his cryptic message from Tom Walter.

    They parked in a side street near the Embassy, and left the car: it would

    stay them until somebody decided to steal it. -

    There was no relief of tension for Howell as he walked into the Embassy

    compound. There were at least a thousand Americans milling about, but there

    were also scores of armed revolutionary guards. The Embassy was supposed to

    be American soil, inviolate; but clearly the Iranian revolutionaries did

    not take any notice of such diplomatic niceties.

The Clem Tearn was herded into a queue.

Tliey spent most of the night waiting in line.

    They queued to fill in forms, they queued to hand in their passports, and

    they queued for baggage checks. All the bags were put in a huge hall, then

    the evacuees had to find their own bags and put the claim checks on. Then

    they queued to open

    ON WINGS OF EAGLES 383

their bags so the revolutionaries could search them: every single piece was

opened.

    Howell learned that there would be two planes, both Pan Am 747s. One would

    go to Frankfurt, the other to Athens. The evacuees were organized by

    company, but the EDS people were included with Embassy personnel who were

    leaving. They would be on the Frankfurt flight.

    At seven o'clock on Saturday morning they were boarded on buses to go to

    the airport.

It was a hell of a ride.

    Two or three armed revolutionaries got on each bus. As they drove out of

    the Embassy gates, they saw a crowd of reporters and television crews: the

    hugans had decided that the flight of the humiliated Americans would be a

    world television event.

    The bus bumped along the road to the airport. Close to Pochd was a guard

    about fifteen years old. He stood in the aisle, swaying with the motion of

    the bus, his finger on the trigger of his rifle. Pochd noticed that the

    safety catch was off.

If he stumbled ...

    The streets were full of people and traffic. Everyone seemed to kriow that

    these buses contained Americans, and their hafted was palpable. They yelled

    and shook their fists. A truck pulled alongside, and the driver leaned out

    of his window and spat on the bus.

    The convoy was stopped several times. Different areas of the city seemed to

    be under the control of different revolutionary groups, and each group had

    to demonstrate its authority by stopping the buses and then giving them

    permission to proceed.

It took two hours to drive the six miles to the airport.

    Ile scene there was chaotic. There were more television cameras and

    reporters, plus hundreds of armed men running around, some wearing scraps

    of uniform, some directing traffic, all of them in charge, all having a

    different opinion on where the buses should go.

The Americans finally got inside the terminal at nine-thirty.

    Embassy personnel started distributing the passports they had collected

    during the night. Five were missing: those of Howell, Poch6, Young, and the

    Gallaghers.

    After Paul and Bill had given their passports to the Embassy for

    safekeeping back in November, the Embassy had refused to return them

    without informing the police. Would they pull the same trick now?

384 Ken Folleu

    Suddenly Pochd came pushing through the crowd with five passports in his

    hand. "I found them on a shelf behind a counter," he said. "I guess they

    got put there by accident."

    Bob Young saw two Americans holding photographs and scanning the crowd. To

    his horror, they started to approach the EDS people. They walked up to Rich

    and Cathy Gallagher.

Surely Dadgar would not take Cathy hostage?

    The people smiled and said they had some of the Gallaghers' luggage.

Young relaxed.

    Friends of the Gallaghers had salvaged some of the bags from the Hyatt, and

    had asked these two Americans to bring them to the airport and try to give

    them to the Gallaghers. The people had agreed, but they did not know the

    Gallaghers--hence, the photographs-

    It had been a false alarm, but if anything, it increased their anxiety.

    Joe Pochi decided to see what he could find out. He went off and located a

    Pan Am ticket agent. "I work for EDS,- Pochd told the agent. "Are the

    Manians looking for anyone?"

    "Yes, they're looking pretty hard for two people," said the agent.

    Anybody else?"

"No. And the stop list is several weeks old."

    Tbanks. "

Poch6 went back and told the others.

    The evacuees were starting to go from the check-in concourse through to the

    departure lounge.

    PocM said: "I suggest we split up. That way we won't look like a group, and

    if one or two of you get into trouble, the others may still get through.

    I'll be last, so if anyone has to stay behind, IT stay, too."

    Bob Young looked at his suitcase and saw that it bore a luggage tag saying:

    "William D. Gaylord."

    He suffered a moment of panic. If the Iranians saw that, they would think

    he was Bill and arrest him.

    He knew how it had happened. His own suitcases had been destroyed at the

    Hyatt by the revolutionaries who had shot up the rooms. However, one or two

    cases had been left more or less undamaged, and Young had borrowed one.

    This was it.

    He tore the luggage tag off and stuffed it into his pocket, intending to

    get rid of it at the firv opportunity.

    ON WINGS OF EAGLES 385

They all went through the "Passengers Only" gate.

    Next they had to pay the airport tax. This amused Poch6: the

    revolutionaries must have decided that airport tax was the one good thing

    the Shah introduced, he thought.

The next queue was for passport control.

Howell reached the desk at noon.

    The guard checked his exit documentation thoroughly, and stamped it. Next

    he looked at the picture in the passport, then looked hard at Howell's

    face. Finally he checked the name in the passport against a list he had on

    his desk.

Howell held his breath.

The guard handed him his passport and waved him through.

    Joe Pochd went through passport control last. The guard looked extra hard

    at him, comparing the face with the photograph, for Poch6 now had a red

    beard. But eventually he, too, was allowed through-

    The Clean Team was in a jovial mood in the departure lounge: it was all

    over, Howell thought, now that they had come through passport control.

    At two in the afternoon they began to pass through the gates. At this point

    there was normally a security check. This time, as well as searching for

    weapons, the guards were confiscating maps, photographs of Tehran, and

    large sums of money. None of the Clean Team lost their money, however; the

    guards did not look in Pocht's shoes.

    Outside the gates, some of the baggage was lined up on the tarmac.

    Passengers had to check whether any of theirs was there, and if so to open

    it for searching before it was loaded onto the plane. None of the Clean

    Team's bags had been picked out for this special treatment.

    They boarded buses and were driven across the runway to where two 747s were

    waiting. Once again, the television cameras were there.

    At the foot of the ladder there was yet another passport check. Howell

    joined the queue of five hundred people waiting to board the Frankfurt

    plane. He was less worried than he had been: nobody was looking for him, it

    seemed.

    He got on the plane and found a seat. There were several armed

    revolutionaries on board, both in the passenger cabin and on the flight

    deck. The scene became confused as people who were supposed to go to Athens

    realized they were on the Frank-

    386 Ken Folteu

furt plane, and vice versa. All the seats filled up, then the crew seats,

and still there were people without seats.

    The captain turned on the public-address system and asked for everyone's

    attention. The plane became quieter. "Would passengers Paul John and

    William Deming please identify themselves," he said,

Howell went cold.

John was the middle name of Paul Chiapparone.

Deming was the middle name of Bill Gaylord.

Tley were still searching for Paul and Bill.

    Clearly it was not merely a question of names on a list at the airport.

    Dadgar was firmly in control here, and his people were relentlessly

    determined to find Paul and Bill.

    Ten minutes later the captain came on the loudspeakers again. "Ladies and

    gentlemen, we still have not located Paul John or William Deming. We have

    been informed that we cannot take off until these two people have been

    located. If anyone on board knows their whereabouts, will you please let us

    know.

Will I hell, thought Howell.

    Bob Young suddenly remembered the luggage tag in his pocket marked "William

    D. Gaylord." He went to the bathroom and threw it into the toilet.

The revolutionaries came down the aisle again, asking for

passports. They checked each one carefully, comparing the photograph with

the face of the owner.

    John Howell took out a paperback book he had brought from the Dvoranchik

    place and tried to read it, in an effort to look unconcerned. It was Dubai,

    Robin Moore's thriller about intrigue in the Middle East. He could not

    concentrate on a paperback thriller: he was living a real one. Soon, he

    thought, Dadgar must realize that Paul and Bill are not on this plane.

And what will he do then?

He's so determined.

    Clever, too. What a perfect way to do a passport check--on the plane, when

    all the passengers are in their seats and no one can hide!