Oscar Meyers
Part 2: Academia
By 
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2005

Chapter 10

Oscar settled into position on top of a building situated halfway 
down the street from the house occupied by the Chief of State. He 
waited for another fifteen minutes before he saw Ed and Penny 
take advantage of a sudden lull in foot traffic to enter the home. 
They didn't knock. Filled with tension, he expected to hear 
gunshots, but their entrance was greeted with silence. Almost at 
once, the street filled with men walking along the length of it. They 
weren't pedestrians, but guards and clerics protecting the 
Ayatollah. 

Over his earphones, Annette said, "They're in. No problems so 
far."

It was dawn and the town of Tehran was waking. The odors of 
people cooking their breakfasts tickled his nose, the noises of 
people preparing for the day rang in his ears, and the sun rising 
over the city assaulted his eyes. He could feel the desert air and it 
felt good despite the fact that he was in a very crowded city. 

Oscar could hardly believe that they had traveled so far through 
hostile territory without encountering resistance. Annette was 
absolutely amazing. Under her guidance they had landed in a 
downtown soccer field, driven through town in a stolen truck, and 
walked through one of the most heavily guarded neighborhoods 
without getting stopped a single time. She would tell them to stop; 
they would wait while someone would walk past; and then tell 
them to go. For all intents and purposes, they had glided through 
Tehran invisible.

"Beautiful morning isn't it?" asked Annette over his earphone. The 
suddenness of her comment and the apparent nearness of her voice 
startled Oscar. He should have been used to it since she had been 
making comments to him ever since they had reached Tehran. She 
had a pile of satellite telephones that allowed her to talk to 
everyone in the field. He wondered why she chose to talk to him so 
much, particularly since he couldn't answer her questions.

Oscar didn't move or answer, but kept his eyes on the street below. 
Ed was visiting the Ayatollah who held the post of Chief of State. 
He was the single most powerful man in all of Iran. He didn't need 
to be in the room to know what was happening. Ed was convincing 
him to bring the President, the twelve members of the Council of 
Guardians, and the more influential members of the Supreme 
National Security Council over to the house.

"Could you move a little so that I can locate you?" asked Annette. 
Her voice had a pleading tone to it.

Oliver rolled his eyes wondering when she was going to stop 
asking him to do that. A car pulled up to the house where Ed and 
Penny were located. A well-dressed man got out after the driver 
had opened his door. As he approached the house, the front door 
opened to let him in. Oscar caught a glimpse of a red robe through 
the open door. He wondered how it was that Penny managed to 
pull him in the house without drawing attention. 

He didn't want to guess how many more people would be showing 
up over the next half an hour.  Each time that door opened, it was 
another chance for someone to realize that something was wrong. 
Once things when wrong, then it would be up to Oscar to save 
them.

"Come on, Oscar. Please let me know where you are. How can I 
look out for you if I don't know where you are?" asked the voice in 
his ear. She was definitely begging and it was beginning to get 
irritating.

Extending his left hand away from his body while keeping it under 
his cloak, Oscar wrote his name in the dust. He moved his hand 
back pulling the cloak with it. It seemed as though the name 
appeared from nowhere. A screech of excitement blasted his ears 
as Annette said, "There you are. Wow, you really are good at 
blending into your surroundings."

Oscar had kept his attention of the house. Three more people had 
arrived and entered as a group. He didn't know if it was common 
for those people to be summoned to the Ayatollah's residence at 
that particular time of day, but no one acted as if it were something 
out of the ordinary. Oscar hoped they would be able to get all of 
the guests over to the house before something went wrong.

For the next thirty minutes, men arrived at the house and entered to 
be disarmed by Penny. Oscar watched from above hoping that he 
wouldn't have to act. His hopes fell when he watched a very large 
man march down the street to the house. There was something 
different about the way the man moved. His body language 
screamed that he was suspicious of the early morning call. The 
large man paused and talked to one of the guards in the street. The 
man resumed his trip down the street, but the guard went in the 
opposite direction.

Annette said, "Oscar, I don't like the looks of that big guy."

Despite his hopes otherwise, Oscar agreed with her assessment and 
picked up the control that would activate the claymore mines. 
More men entered the street and moved towards the house. 
Tension radiated from the street below. The big man walked up to 
the house with the last few steps being taken at a run. He crashed 
into the door with his pistol drawn followed by the guards.

From within the house a shot was fired and a few seconds later the 
big man staggered out the door. At the same time the man hit the 
ground, Annette said, "It's hit the fans. Ed says it is time to start 
shooting."

The guards, weapons ready to use, had crowded together to rush 
the door. They were huddled against the outside wall of the house 
where they wouldn't be targets from the people inside. Oscar 
waited for a few stragglers to reach the site. Annette repeated, "Ed 
says to start firing."

Ignoring Annette, Oscar waited another few seconds before he 
flipped a switch on the radio controlling the claymore mines that 
he had placed in the gutters of the buildings under which the men 
were huddled. The result of the downward directed blast was 
devastating for the men gathered there. The explosion was 
deafening.

The sound of gunfire and then the explosion caused additional 
guards to come running up the street. Oscar fired a grenade into the 
middle of the crowd. The thump of the launcher drew every eye on 
the street in his direction, but they didn't remain looking at him for 
long. The explosion when the grenade reached its target turned the 
street into chaos. Oscar didn't know if it was intentional, but there 
was no cover for the men in the street to hide behind. 

Men with guns poured out of houses, thereby increasing the 
disarray. Oscar set off another half dozen claymore mines. The 
explosions drove the survivors into the buildings where they 
thought they would be safe. Oscar smiled as he prepared to change 
locations, knowing that the buildings only gave the impression of 
safety. 

Amidst the confusion, Oscar moved to another rooftop location. 
From the street, a handful of wounded guards were firing randomly 
towards the top of the building from which he had fired the 
grenade launcher. Men streamed onto the rooftops in search of 
him, searching the site he had been. Oscar fired, taking the ones 
furthest from him out first. Once the others noticed, they turned 
thinking that the shots were coming from behind. He took his time 
and eliminated the remaining men.

More men entered the street below. Now that his position was safe 
from attack from the roof, he turned his attention to the street. He 
launched another grenade into a cluster of men that were searching 
for cover. During the explosion, he moved to the other end of the 
roof.

He was about to set off another set of claymore mines when Ed's 
voice sounded in his ear. "Stop firing, Oscar."

Although unwilling to do as asked, Oscar stopped firing. He 
remained ready to resume if anyone made a threatening move. A 
few seconds later, calls echoed through the street below for the 
guards to stop firing. From his location Oscar couldn't see the 
Ayatollah, but he listened as the man called out, "Stop firing. I 
have sworn an oath that none of them are to be hurt. Stop firing. I 
have sworn that they are to leave here unharmed!"

Over the earphone, Ed explained, "He's agreed to help us. You can 
come out of hiding now. The Ayatollah has told them not to fire 
upon you."

"I don't trust him," said Oscar pushing the button on the 
microphone to the radio. 

"He swore on the Koran," replied Ed. He had heard the lie in the 
man's voice when he first agreed to a cease-fire and had forced the 
man to swear upon the Koran. The holy book had glowed as the 
Ayatollah swore. Ed knew that the man would not break his oath. 
Everyone in the room knew that it had been given in the presence 
of Allah. 

Accepting Ed's assurances, Oscar stood and walked to the edge of 
the roof. Holding the grenade launcher in his left hand and his rifle 
in his right, he presented himself as a man who was well-armed 
and ready to use his weapons. Looking down at the scene below, 
he could see that there were at least two dozen lifeless bodies and 
three times that many injured men scattered around the street. On 
the roof were another half dozen dead. 

The guards below were looking in the wrong direction for him. 
When Ed pointed, they turned and looked up at Oscar. From his 
position above the guards, Oscar could hear whispers of 'desert 
ghost' being passed from man to man. The term confused him until 
he heard Annette's explanation over the headset. "They call you the 
desert ghost because of your attacks on the terrorists in the desert."

Oscar had not been aware of this nickname and shrugged his 
shoulders. He touched the switch and said, "I didn't know that."

"Come down here," shouted Ed. He turned his attention to the 
Ayatollah who was talking to one of the guards in the street. He 
listened as the holy man gave very direct orders that the Druids 
were not to be harmed in any fashion. 

After the Ayatollah finished his conversation he turned to the street 
and shouted, "Hear me. I have sworn a most sacred oath that no 
harm will come to these Magi. Any man who harms one of them 
shall suffer the full wrath of Allah."

Standing in the middle of the street, the Ayatollah looked around to 
see if anyone even considered harming them. The threat of 
suffering the full wrath of Allah would be realized only after 
suffering the full wrath of the Ayatollah. Every man on the street 
knew that. After a full minute, he appeared satisfied and turned to 
face the house. He grasped Ed's arm and led him into the house.

It took Oscar several minutes to join Penny in front of the house. 
Although she looked relaxed, it was easy to see that she was 
guarding the door with her weapon ready to use. Oscar stood 
beside her and watched the crowd of people staring at them. 
Neither one relaxed their grip on their guns despite the fact that the 
crowd acted as though they were the ones outnumbered. 

Watching the tops of the buildings, Oscar said, "Tell me about 
Annette."

"She was blind until she met the Two-Sided One years ago. He 
gave her the gift of far-sight and now she can see anything that is 
far away. It doesn't matter if something is half way around the 
world and hidden inside of a building, she can see it. The strange 
thing is that she's still blind when it comes to things that are 
nearby," replied Penny. 

"What's she like," asked Oscar. He had tried to imagine what the 
woman looked like based on her voice, but had been able to 
construct a mental image.

"She's probably the sloppiest looking person I've ever met. Doesn't 
worry about combing her hair, she doesn't wear makeup, and her 
robe is always rumpled. She's always rocking from side to side. 
Apparently, that allows her to judge distances somehow. She tried 
to explain it to me once, but I didn't understand it."

"Sloppy?" asked Oscar thinking that it was very unusual for a 
Druid to be sloppy.

"Yes, sloppy. I thought she wasn't aware that she looks like hell, 
but she knows and doesn't care," answered Penny shrugging her 
shoulders. 

Puzzled, Oscar said, "I've met one blind woman and she was very 
particular about her appearance. She took extra care when eating 
so that she wouldn’t mess up her clothes. All of her clothes had 
special labels that would allow her to color co-ordinate her outfit. 
There was nothing messy about her."

"Annette used to be very careful about her appearance, but that 
was before she became a Druid. Claims she's a worse than a 
television junky and doesn't want to interrupt watching the world 
to take care of that kind of trivial stuff. She's become a couch 
potato and won't move out of her house."

Almost as if on cue, Annette's voice rang in Oscar's ear as she said, 
"Oh, I wish you could see what I see. There is such beauty in this 
world that it takes my breath away."

Oscar looked down from the buildings and turned on his 
microphone. He asked, "What are you looking at? Why aren't you 
watching what's going on here?"

"Don't get your panties in a bind. I'm watching what's going on 
there. I'm also watching the sun set over the Rocky Mountains," 
answered Annette. She sighed and said, "So much beauty in this 
world."

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you'd pay a bit more attention here. If you 
hadn't noticed, we're surrounded by a bunch of people who have a 
good reason to be hostile," said Oscar returning his gaze to the 
rooftops. His eyes never stopped moving as he sought out any sign 
of aggression.

After letting loose a snort, Annette said, "There's a couple about to 
have sex in the sixth building over to your right. That's the most 
interesting thing happening where you are right now and that isn't 
all that interesting. Oh jeez, he's already done. What a dick head. 
He's already heading to the shower to wash himself."

Curious by her sudden digression, he asked, "Do you watch people 
having sex all that often?"

"There are over six and a half billion people on this planet. At any 
given minute, a million of them are having sex. It's almost 
impossible to see anything in this world without having someone 
in the area fucking," answered Annette.

"I never thought about it like that," answered Oscar.

"Ah, something is happening with one of the hostages. Talk to you 
later."

Oscar reached up and flicked his microphone off. He said, "She 
seems to be able to watch a lot of places at the same time."

Laughing at the raised eyebrow he had given her when making his 
comment, Penny said, "Yeah, it's kind of scary when you think 
about it."

Ed stepped out of the building and looked around. Speaking to the 
two Druids, he said, "Come inside. We're going to stay here until 
everything is under control."

Oscar and Penny entered the building. Oscar paused to look 
around. Considering the importance of the man who lived within, it 
was a rather unpretentious dwelling. There were carpets on the 
floor, pillows upon which they could sit, and mosaics on the wall. 
Half the houses in Tehran could boast the same furnishings.

Ed went to the front of the room to sit beside the Ayatollah. Seeing 
where Ed sat, Oscar and Penny decided to sit at the other end of 
the room along opposite walls facing each other. That gave them 
the best position to watch the other men gathered in the room. 
Oscar noticed a bloodstain on one of the carpets and asked, "What 
happened there?"

The Ayatollah answered, "A dog tried to violate my oath."

"Ah," remarked Oscar as he leaned back against the wall. He 
watched as Ed carefully adjusted his robe so that the soles of his 
feet were not visible. A small adjustment to his robe assured that 
Oscar wouldn't offend either. 

Ed and the Ayatollah began to debate the religious righteousness of 
the terrorists. The Ayatollah maintained an absolute belief in the 
righteousness of Jihad. Oscar listened to the discussion with 
interest since he had been involved on the side attempting to end 
the terrorist Jihad. It was clear that on the topic of Jihad that there 
was a marked difference of opinion between the Druids and 
Muslims. 

The key point of contention was the terrorists' agenda. Ed 
maintained that the leadership of the terrorists didn't actually 
believe in their cause, but used it as a means to recruit others to 
their army for the purpose of increasing their power. The Ayatollah 
maintained that Muslims would not do such a thing. 

It was four hours later that the discussion was interrupted when Ed 
received an announcement from Annette. After listening to the 
details, he said, "I just got news about the situation in Turkey. 
Three of the hostages have been rescued and they are unharmed. 
The headquarters, two training camps, and five arms caches have 
been destroyed. Operations are underway in Iraq and should 
conclude within twenty minutes."

"You are just as ruthless as they are," declared the Ayatollah. 

"We limit our actions to those who are actively harming the weak. 
We do not attack innocent civilians, particularly those who are 
trying to help others in the middle of a disaster," countered Ed with 
more than a little anger in his voice.

The Ayatollah glared at Ed as if he had missed the whole point of 
Jihad. Ed looked back at him as he recalled something that William 
had said several months earlier. He pushed down his anger a little. 
In a conversational tone, he said, "My son says that everything is 
going to change in a few years. He says that there will never be 
another Jihad."

The Ayatollah barked a laugh and said, "You westerners know 
nothing. You think that all men are created equal when we know 
that a man's status in life is Allah's will. You don't know how to 
treat your women and the whole culture of the west is degenerate."

Ed smiled at the criticisms wondering how the Ayatollah would 
react to his group marriage. He replied, "I do know one thing that's 
important to this discussion."

"What's that?"

"My son is never wrong," answered Ed with a grin. 

Oscar looked over at Penny and watched as she performed a 
personal inventory. She hadn't fired much during the firefight, but 
she did take stock of what resources she had used. 

One of the men from the security council watched her work for 
several minutes. Gesturing at her, he said, "You're the Devil 
Woman, aren't you? You're the one that walks through walls."

Looking over at him with a smile at the use of her nickname in the 
region, Penny replied, "That's what people say."

"How did you destroy my research facility?"

"It was easy. I walked in and blew it up," she answered knowing 
exactly which research facility was being discussed. She made a 
little gesture with her hands suggestive of an explosion. The look 
on the man's face almost made her burst out laughing. 

The man had been in charge of security at the facility. He'd been 
livid when he learned that it had been destroyed. His first thought 
had been that the Israeli Air Force had bombed it with some sort of 
secret bunker buster bomb. When he had learned that a woman had 
been filmed walking through the facility, he'd been astonished. 
Indignant at being told that it was easy, he said, "No one could just 
walk in."

"It was easier to get in there than it was to get in here," commented 
Penny as she gestured to the room in which they were sitting. Her 
statement reminded everyone in the room that they had walked 
through a heavily guarded street and entered the house without 
challenge. The reminder was met with silence. Penny went back to 
her work.

One of the other men pointed at Oscar and asked, "Who are you?"

"Oscar."

"I know about her, but not about you. What do you do?" he asked 
deciding that if they were going to be stuck there, that he might as 
well get more information about these Druids.

"I go to school," answered Oscar giving the literal answer while 
watching the growing frustration on the man's face. He knew what 
the man wanted to find out and was going to make him come out 
and say it.

"Are you famous in any way?"

A twinkle came to Ed's gray eyes as he chuckled. Penny laughed at 
the question knowing that there were a hundred different ways to 
answer it that would frustrate the inquisitor. Oscar answered, 
"Famous? I'm not a movie star or anything like that."

The man snorted realizing that Oscar was just pretending to be 
dense. He hated these Druids. Taking a more direct approach, he 
said, "You are a red robe. That makes you a warrior. So where 
have you fought?"

"Afghanistan and here," answered Oscar with a grin. Deciding to 
put the man out of his misery, he leaned forward and said, "I 
started a little training camp in Afghanistan."

The expressions on the faces of all the men there reflected the fact 
that they knew exactly who he was. The Ayatollah said, "So, you 
are the desert ghost."

"I guess so," replied Oscar. 

"You've killed a lot of good Muslims serving Jihad."

"Good? No. I didn't kill a single good man. I killed animals that 
murdered, tortured, and raped under a false claim of serving Islam. 
They were serving their own sick agenda," replied Oscar staring at 
the Ayatollah.

"It must bother you that they died as Martyrs and have been richly 
rewarded in heaven," said the Ayatollah.

"I know better than that," replied Oscar. He pointed to the Koran 
that the Ayatollah held in his hand and added, "Allah is sickened 
by their actions. You should be ashamed rather than proud of them. 
Their existence sullies the name of your God."

"It is Jihad."

"It is garbage," replied Oscar.

The Ayatollah raised his voice as he said, "You don't serve Allah. I 
serve Allah and understand his will far better than you."

Ed interrupted the discussion when he announced, "They've 
rescued the three hostages in Iraq. Eighteen terrorist cells have 
been destroyed. We should be hearing something about the 
activities here in Iran soon."

Almost as soon as he had finished speaking, a telephone rang. The 
Ayatollah answered it and listened for a minute. With a long face, 
he hung up the phone and turned to face everyone in the room. 
Sadly, he announced, "It is over. The four hostages have been 
released and are on the way to the airport under guard."

Ed looked at the Ayatollah for a minute before he said, "Tell them 
the rest of it."

"Over three thousand Martyrs," said the Ayatollah glaring at Ed. 

"Tell them the rest," said Ed.

"The Israelis bombed the headquarters in Syria and destroyed a 
training facility in Lebanon. A thousand Martyrs were at that 
training facility."

Shaking his head, Ed said, "The training facility was taken out by 
one of our people. It is safe to say that the terrorist organization 
responsible for kidnapping the Fusion Foundation workers no 
longer exists."

The men in the room groaned at the news. It hurt to think that they 
had contributed to the deaths of so many men who they considered 
to be acting in good faith. One of the men asked, "Do you really 
think that you can get out of here alive?"

Ed was about to mention the oath, but Oscar interrupted, "Yes. 
Quite easily."

"What?"

"It might require that I create another three thousand Martyrs, but 
that won't be a real problem. It would slow us down by about ten 
minutes," answered Oscar as he stroked the barrel of his AK-47. 

Penny looked over at him and grinned until she realized that he 
was serious. It took her a full minute to recall the claymores. He 
had brought two backpacks filled with mines along with him and 
had used less than ten of them. She had no idea how many were 
still out there. Glancing over at the men, she said, "You've got the 
whole area mined."

"You bet," answered Oscar. "I also liberated some RPGs and set up 
a couple of caches where they would be handy."

"When did you do all that?"

"I had four hours," answered Oscar with a shrug. 

After the significance of what Oscar had said finally sank in, the 
Ayatollah said, "I gave an oath that you would leave unharmed."

Nodding, Ed said, "Oscar. Penny. Why don't you wait outside?"

Both Oscar and Penny went from sitting to standing almost faster 
than the eye could follow. Pointing to the door, Oscar said, "Allow 
me to go first and draw their fire if they are so inclined."

"Be my guest," replied Penny wondering if that would really be a 
good idea. She'd rather follow him out of Iran than lead them 
because he was injured. 

The pair went out side and took positions on each side of the door 
into the building. Once there, Oscar said, "The troops look a little 
frightened."

"They should be considering everything you've done," commented 
Penny. After a moment of thought, she realized that he had never 
taken an inventory of his ammunition. She asked, "How much 
ammo have you got left?"

"More than I came with. I liberated some from the dead fellows on 
the roof when I made my way down here," answered Oscar. 
Noticing the look on her face, he said, "That's how I fight. I collect 
and use the enemies' resources against them."

Penny didn't say word. She leaned against the wall waiting for 
something to happen. It didn't matter to her what might happen, 
she felt that she was ready for anything. After glancing at Oscar, 
she mentally corrected herself -- he was ready for anything.

Fifteen minutes later, a tired Ed stepped out of the door and looked 
around. In a soft voice, he said, "It's time for us to go."

"Success?" asked Penny glancing through the door before it closed 
behind Ed.

"Yes," answered Ed. He had taken the opportunity to have the 
Ayatollah touch his medallion. The atmosphere inside the house 
had changed significantly after that. He reached down to the switch 
on his microphone and said, "Annette, we're ready to go."

"Not yet," Annette replied, "Caesar arranged for a car to take you 
back to the copters. He says that it will be there in five minutes, but 
it looks to me like it will take ten minutes based on the traffic."

Not realizing that he hadn't turned off the microphone, he turned to 
Penny and said, "Let's walk down to the end of the street."

Annette said, "Stay were you are. You get out of that area before 
the car comes, you'll have to make your own way back."

"I feel stupid standing here for ten minutes doing nothing," said Ed 
looking around at the men in the street. He felt doubly stupid once 
he realized that microphone was still on. He reached down and 
thumbed it off.

Oscar smiled as he said, "Don't worry. I'll take care of that."

"How?"

Rather than answer, Oscar gestured to one of the men who 
appeared to be in charge of the forces watching them. The man 
slowly came over to where they stood. When he was within five 
feet, Oscar gestured for him to stop. In perfect Farsi, Oscar said, 
"We thought it would be a good idea for you to return some of the 
explosives that I've placed around this street before we left."

That man glanced around the street looking for signs of explosives. 
Deciding that it would be good to get some American explosives, 
he said, "I don't see them."

Oscar laughed and replied, "They wouldn't have done me any good 
if you could have seen them."

At least the man had the grace to look embarrassed. Oscar, 
pointing as he spoke, said, "The gutters on those four buildings 
have mines in them spaced about five meters apart. There are 
mines under the doorsteps of all eight of those buildings."

The man stared at one of the buildings at which Oscar had pointed. 
He had taken refuge inside that building and realized that if he had 
tried to attack from the door, then he would have been dead. He 
swallowed before he asked, "Anything else?"

"I placed mines over the doors giving access to the roof on those 
two buildings over there," answered Oscar. With a wry grin, he 
said, "Task a couple of men to gather the mines and bring them 
over here. There are eighteen of them. I hate leaving unexploded 
ordnance behind."

The man walked off and talked to a couple of guards. Judging by 
their reactions, they were just as surprised by the quantity of mines 
as their commander had been. Oscar pulled out the two empty 
backpacks and set them on the ground at his feet. Seeing that they 
were empty, Penny said, "I didn't think you would use them all."

Oscar smiled as he considered that he had used more than he had 
brought. He said, "We'll stop and pick up the rest on our way out."

Watching the guards as they removed the claymore mines from 
under the doorsteps, Penny couldn't believe that he had managed to 
move up and down the street planting mines without being noticed. 
She asked, "So when did you place all of those mines?"

"While you and Ed were waiting at the end of the street," answered 
Oscar with a grin. 

The trio waited without talking while the guards gathered together 
the mines. It took the guards more than ten minutes to collect them. 
When the man brought them over to Oscar, Oscar counted them 
aloud and found that two were missing. Frowning, he said, "You're 
missing two."

"That's all there were," answered the man.

Noticing the grimace on Ed's face, Oscar knew the man was lying. 
Shrugging, he said, "In that case, I guess I'll have to explode the 
rest of them where they are."

"The rest?" asked the man. 

"Yeah. I had a bunch. Close to thirty of them hidden here and 
there. I won't tell you where the rest are until the missing two 
mines show up here."

"Hold on. My men may have missed them," said the man as he 
raced off. 

Oscar watched the man scurry over to a couple of guards. Turning 
to Ed, he said, "I was so hoping to blow up that weapons depot 
they have the next block over. Annette was so kind to tell me 
where it was."

Penny frowned at the comment and then said, "You're kind of 
scary. You know that, right?"