CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
December 15
2:15 a.m. (6:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on December 14)
Amir Abad Neighborhood
Tehran, Iran
“The man’s real name is Siavash Zadeh,” Trudy’s voice said in his ear. “Prominent nuclear physicist turned religious authority. Seventy-four years old.”
Luke sat on the floor of a narrow stone balcony, his back against the brickwork. He was invisible here, pressed into a corner in the dark, two stories above a narrow alleyway lined with shabby tenements, the last vestiges of old Tehran.
The night was quiet. The temperature had dropped, and the last of the snow was drifting down in big fat flakes. The balcony was an inch deep in ice.
“Okay,” Luke whispered. No one knew he was here. No sense jeopardizing that arrangement.
“His mosque is called Jameh Mosque o
