144: Chapter 141 Reality and Illusion

October 28, 1981, Basra.

Karim received a strange phone call.

The voice was unfamiliar, with a Baghdad accent, claiming to be a business partner of Farouk in Baghdad who wanted to discuss a deal with Karim. The business was simple: the other party wanted to know the specific quantity and arrival time of a batch of construction materials recently imported by the port.

Karim was in his office at the time. He did not directly refuse or agree, simply saying he would check the records before hanging up.

He did not tell anyone about this call.

But Reza knew.

Rajai's surveillance team had installed a bug in the port customs office three months ago, which had not been used until now. This phone call was their first real harvest.

"They are probing," Reza said to Karimi after listening to the recording, "probing to see if Karim can really provide information about the port."

"Do we need to have Karim cooperate?" Karimi asked.

"No," Reza said. "Karim doesn't know he's being monitored; his current reaction is genuine. Let him continue in this state."

"Then what do we do?"

"We provide information," Reza said, "but not real information."

He wrote a list on a piece of paper: a batch of "anti-aircraft missile components," with a quantity of fifty tons, an estimated arrival time of November 15th, a Kuwaiti registry, and the ship name "Desert Star."

"This information is all fake," Reza said. "The components don't exist, and the ship doesn't exist. But Iraq will believe it."

"Why?"

"Because this information comes from their own informant," Reza said, "from a channel they spent a long time establishing that seems very reliable. People are always more inclined to believe information from internal sources because it seems more real."

Karimi understood. This was the beginning of a countermeasure.

"How do we let Karim know this information?"

"Through Farouk," Reza said. "Farouk will come to Basra again, and this time he will bring a new contact person. This contact will tell Karim that the Iraqi intelligence department wants information about the port and is willing to pay for it. Karim will agree because he needs money, or he has already been persuaded by some ideology. Then Karim will provide this information."

"Will Karim believe this information?"

"No," Reza said, "but he doesn't need to believe it. He only needs to pass it on. Iraq will believe it because this information comes from their informant."

This was a subtle trap. Using the enemy's own established information channels to pass false information to them. The enemy would believe it because of the source of the information, not because of the truth of the information itself.

"When does it start?" Karimi asked.

"November 5th," Reza said. "Farouk will return to Basra on that day."

Karimi took note and left.

Reza sat in his office, looking at Ahvaz outside the window.

This plan had multiple layers. On the surface, Iraq would make incorrect military deployments because of this false information, wasting resources to defend against a non-existent threat. But the deeper purpose was that once Iraq discovered this information was fake, they would start to doubt all information coming from this channel. This would undermine the credibility of their intelligence system, causing them to react slowly when a real threat appeared.

Moreover, this plan had a third layer. Reza wanted to see how Iraq would respond to this false information. Would they send people to the port to investigate? Would they strengthen surveillance of the port? Would they try to arrest Karim? Every reaction would expose Iraq's way of thinking and pattern of action.

This was a textbook case of information warfare.

On the same day, in the desert south of Kermanshah.

Fatima was conducting the third tracking test of the Persian-4 Missile.

This time, the parameters of the target missile were changed. The speed was faster, the maneuvers were more aggressive, and the altitude changes were more drastic. This was a simulation of the flight trajectory of a Scud missile on a real battlefield.

The missile lifted off, and the tracking began.

The two lines on the screen danced in the air, like two dancers performing a deadly waltz.

The target missile made a rapid climb, rising from 1,000 meters to 3,000 meters, with a speed of 100 meters per second.

The missile followed the climb, but a delay appeared; this time, the delay was 0.5 seconds.

The target missile did a roll at an altitude of 3,000 meters and then descended rapidly.

The missile's tracking was completely lost at the moment of the roll.

The missile trajectory line on the screen turned into a straight line, losing the target.

Fatima immediately pressed the interception command, but it was already too late.

The target missile had already flown out of the missile's effective interception range.

The test failed.

Hassan looked at the screen, his expression very grim.

"This is not a chip problem," Fatima said. "This is a design problem with the seeker. When the seeker processes high-speed rolling maneuvers, the signal processing algorithm cannot keep up."

"Can it be fixed!?"

"Yes, but it will take time," Fatima said. "I need to redesign the seeker's signal processing module."

"How much time is left!?"

Fatima fell silent. She knew what Hassan was asking. The chips wouldn't arrive for another two months, but if there was a problem with the seeker's design, the chips would be useless when they arrived.

"One month," she said. "I need one month to redesign and test."

"And after one month!?"

"After one month, we can conduct the fourth test with the new seeker design. If that one is successful, we can wait for the chips to arrive and then conduct the final integration test."

Hassan picked up the radio and sent a message to Reza.

This time the message was longer:

The third test failed. The seeker lost tracking capability during high-speed rolling. The signal processing module of the seeker needs to be redesigned, which is expected to take one month.

Reza's reply was quick: Continue. Do not stop.

Just those two words.

But Fatima knew the weight of those two words. It meant that Reza believed in her, believed in this project, and believed that before the final deadline, the Persian-4 Missile would succeed.

She walked out of the control room and into the desert night.

The October desert was very cold, and when the wind blew, it could cut through clothes.

Fatima stood in the desert, looking at the stars in the distance.

She was wondering what would happen if this missile failed. Iran would lose an important air defense weapon and would be in a more passive position in air combat. But more importantly, she would lose an opportunity to prove herself.

She was never someone who worked for the country. She worked for herself. To prove her ability, to prove her worth, to prove that she was not someone who could be easily defeated.

The missile must succeed.

Not for Iran, but for herself.

Baghdad, Iraqi General Staff Intelligence Department.

Saddam Hussein's intelligence chief, Hassan Rajab, was looking at a report.

The report was from an informant in Basra, and the content was about a batch of anti-aircraft missile components imported by Iran at the port.

After reading the report, Hassan Rajab frowned.

Anti-aircraft missile components? Iran was importing anti-aircraft missile components at the port?

What did this mean?

It meant that Iran was developing a new air defense system. It meant that Iran was preparing for some kind of aerial threat.

But what aerial threat? The Iraqi air force had been flying over Iran for more than a year, and Iran's air defense system had always been weak. Why would Iran suddenly want to import anti-aircraft missile components now?

Unless Iran was developing a new, more advanced anti-aircraft missile.

Hassan Rajab told Saddam Hussein this thought.

After listening, Saddam Hussein was silent for a long time.

"Confirm this information," he finally said. "I want to know the specific quantity, model, and arrival time of this batch of components."

"It is already being confirmed," Hassan Rajab said. "The informant said that this batch of components is expected to arrive at the port on November 15th, the quantity is fifty tons, and the ship name is 'Desert Star'."

Saddam Hussein paced back and forth in his office.

Fifty tons of components. That was a large quantity. If these components were truly anti-aircraft missile components, then Iran might be preparing to produce a new anti-aircraft missile system.

"Send people to the port," Saddam Hussein said. "I want to know everything about this shipment. If possible, I want to know the final destination of this shipment."

"Yes," Hassan Rajab said.

But he had a question in his heart. This information came from an informant in Basra, an informant who had already been proven reliable. But was this information too timely? Too complete?

A good informant usually would not provide such complete information. They usually could only provide fragmented, incomplete information. But the information provided by this informant included the quantity, model, arrival time, and even the ship name.

This did not look like information an informant could obtain.

This looked more like information someone wanted Iraq to know.

But Hassan Rajab did not voice this doubt. In Saddam Hussein's regime, raising questions was a dangerous thing.