Andrew Kaplan - Scorpion Deception

“You’re not thinking. .” Zahra started, staring down at the distant lights below in horror.

“What’s to stop us from rolling down before we can get in the back?” Ghanbari asked.

“The brakes-and that,” Scorpion said, pointing to a roughly flat rock the size of a basketball. “Come on,” he said, putting his hands and chest against the front of the van. “And when you jump in, hang on for your life.”

He pushed as hard as he could with his entire body against the van to move it uphill. After a second Zahra and Ghanbari, slinging the MPT-9 over his shoulder, joined him.

At first the van didn’t budge. They heard the rattle of automatic gunfire from above. Scale. They heaved together and the van budged an inch. Legs and muscles straining, they moved the van moved another inch, then another, till they’d managed to push it almost a foot back up the slope.

“Hold it!” Scorpion shouted, grabbing the rock to wedge it just in front of the side of the right tire, about two centimeters of it acting as a stop, while Ghanbari and Zahra strained with every fiber to hold it till he got the rock in place. A bullet cracked through one of the cab windows. A second bullet tore through the side of the van.

“Now! Go! Go!” Scorpion shouted as he ran around and dived into the driver’s seat. “And hang on!”

As Ghanbari and Zahra ran around to the back and jumped into the van, Scorpion put on the seat belt, pulling it so tight he could scarcely breathe while stomping with all his weight on the brake. More automatic gunfire sounded. They were getting closer.

“Ready!” Ghanbari shouted from the back.

A bullet pinged off a corner of the windshield post.

Scorpion took his foot off the brake, put the transmission into Neutral, and turned the wheel sharply to the left, away from the outcropping and the rock wedged under the tire. For the briefest instant the van started to roll slowly, then quickly gathered momentum as it headed down the steep rocky slope. Multiple bursts of automatic fire sounded behind them as Scale and his men began to realize what was happening.

The van bounced and lurched over the rocky, uneven ground, going faster and faster. He was already over fifty kilometers per hour and the slope looked unbelievably steep. He pumped the brakes to try and control the descent without burning them out as the van went faster and faster down the slope. The automatic gunfire sounded fainter behind them. The lights of the village and the road were getting closer, but he was losing control as the van slewed and bounced over the rocky terrain. Over sixty-five kilometers per hour and it felt like he was driving blindly in the darkness almost straight down. He heard Zahra cry out in back, but there was no stopping now.

Eighty kilometers per hour, more than fifty mph down a mountain and still gathering speed, Scorpion hanging on for dear life. The force of bouncing around and the momentum pressed his body forward, straining against the seat belt. He had to use all of his strength to keep himself from slamming into the steering wheel.

Ninety kilometers per hour. Ghanbari shouting and Zahra screaming. Bouncing around like being trapped inside a washing machine. The force almost ripping the steering wheel from his hands and Scorpion standing almost upright on the brake to try to slow it.

One hundred kilometers per hour; sixty mph. He could see the road now and the houses in the village. He was hanging onto the wheel and pumping the brake like a jackhammer when suddenly he felt it slip and it was like pressing on air all the way to the floorboard. He pumped it a couple of times. Nothing.

The brakes were gone.

At 110 kilometers per hour the road came up fast. Scorpion hit a bump and the van flew into the air, crashing down and bouncing wildly He fought to regain control. They were nearly at the road, bordered by trees. If he tried to turn onto it at this speed they would flip over. There would be bodies from the back flying everywhere. The road was empty this time of night; at least he wouldn’t be killing anyone. He saw a single gap in the trees and across the road a two-story house in a stand of trees, and next to it a car.

Pick one, he told himself. The lights in the house were on. If he hit it he might kill someone. He aimed for the car-it looked like an Iranian Khodro-and braced himself straight-armed on the steering wheel, hoping the impact wouldn’t impale him on the steering column. Here it came.

They crashed head first into the car with a jarring smash that nearly tore his arms from his shoulder sockets. The seat belt dug deep into him. The van drove the car six or seven meters along the ground before coming to rest against a tree. From somewhere, a dog started frantically barking. Lights in the nearby houses came on.

Scorpion unclipped the seat belt, looking at it for a second. It had saved his life. Then he grabbed the MPT-9 from the floor and jumped out of the van. He ran around to the back and opened the rear cargo door. Zahra was trying to get up, her face bruised and bleeding from a cut on her forehead. Ghanbari, on the van floor, looked dazed.

“Come,” Scorpion said, helping Zahra out of the van. He half lifted Ghanbari to his feet and helped him out. A man came out of the house he had almost crashed into.

“Va’isin!” Scorpion shouted sharply in Farsi. Stop! Showing him the MPT-9. “Go back inside and don’t call anyone.”

The man hurriedly went back inside. Scorpion could hear him talking to someone. He looked around. A dark-colored Renault compact was parked in front of the next house. Motioning to Ghanbari and Zahra, he went over to it.

He was about to use the pick when he decided to try the door. It was unlocked. Before getting in, he glanced back up at the mountain. High up he could see headlights from two vehicles moving on the mountain road. Scale and his men had climbed back up to the road and were in pursuit. Ghanbari and Zahra came up beside him.

“That was the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me,” she gasped.

“We have to go,” Scorpion said. “They’re after us.”

“You saved us,” she said, coming so close the tip of her breast brushed his arm. He could smell her perfume. Behind her, Ghanbari nodded his agreement.

“Get in,” Scorpion said, motioning at her with the MPT-9. “On the way, you can tell us why you set us up.”

Ozgol,

Tehran, Iran

Racing 125 kilometers per hour down the Lashgarak Road; trying to get into the city before Scale could order a roadblock. Zahra beside him in the front passenger seat, Ghanbari in back, leaning forward to hear. Lonely highway lights and a metal barrier along the side of the road, and in the distance, a haze of lights from the city.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “What are you saying?”

“We don’t have time for these games,” Scorpion said through clenched teeth. “They knew who I was. They knew Ghanbari agha would be there. They knew how many men they’d need and exactly where and when to go in. The only way they could have done that is if you told them.”

“How could I? I didn’t know you were following me!” She turned on him. “How did you find me?”

“They probably followed you the same way I did-GPS-tracking your cell phone. Speaking of which,” he held out one hand as he drove, “give it to me.”

She hesitated a moment, then handed her phone to him. He put it in his pocket.

“You’re right,” he said. “They didn’t know I would be there. But Scale sure knew all about me. I was the icing on the cake. But they knew he’d be there,” indicating Ghanbari. “Why’d you do it?”