194: Chapter 175 Detonation

April 18, 1982, southern suburban firing range.

The first live-fire test of the Persian-5 began at 4:00 AM.

Reza, Fatima, and Galani stood behind the bunker; there was no one else.

On the launch pad, the missile looked thinner than the Persia-4 with a smaller warhead, but the angle of the tail fins was different. Fatima said this was to improve terminal maneuverability.

"Target settings?" Reza asked.

"Simulating a Scud Missile trajectory, speed 1.8 Mach, altitude 4,000 meters," Fatima said, "The target is three kilometers away."

"Launch."

The sound of the missile launching was quieter than Reza had expected, but it was faster than he had anticipated.

Three seconds.

An explosion came from the target location.

Fatima looked through the binoculars for a moment, lowered them, and said, "Direct hit, deviation is no more than two meters."

Galani did not speak, but his expression said everything.

Reza wrote a line in his notebook: April 18, Persian-5, first test, success.

Then he closed the notebook and said to Fatima, "When will the second one be finished?"

"Three days," Fatima said, "The components are already prepared."

"Good," Reza said, "Only the three of us know the results of this test. To the outside world, the test has not yet begun."

Fatima nodded.

On the road back to Ahvaz, Reza received a call from Karimi.

"Hosseini moved again last night," Karimi said, "This time it wasn't an alley; he went straight to a residential house in the east of the city and stayed inside for forty minutes."

"Whose house is it?"

"Found it," Karimi said, "The registered owner is an elderly person who has already passed away, but the actual resident is a man named Daoud Najjari, 38 years old, whose cover identity is a dispatcher for a freight company."

"A freight company," Reza repeated, "Which company?"

"Ahvaz United Freight, their main business is transporting goods between the provinces in southern Iran."

Reza thought for a moment. A freight company covering the southern provinces; this was an excellent channel for intelligence transmission. Trucks could travel across provinces, carry physical goods, and pass through checkpoints with legitimate reasons.

"Najjari," he said, "Investigate this man, check his freight records for the past six months, and focus on where his fleet has been and whether there are any routes close to the border."

"Yes."

"Also," Reza said, "Has there been any reaction to the second piece of fake intelligence Hosseini transmitted regarding the development progress of the Persian-5?"

"Yes," Karimi said, "Our informant in southern Iraq reported that over the past forty-eight hours, the Iraqi Scud Missile launchers have advanced another fifteen kilometers south."

Reza suppressed the number in his mind.

The fake intelligence transmitted by Hosseini, Iraq believed it. They thought the Persian-5 of Iran would take another six months, so they accelerated their deployment pace.

This was exactly what Reza wanted.

"Is the current position of the launchers within the range of the refinery area?"

"Just barely entered the edge of the range," Karimi said, "But it's not the optimal launch position yet."

"They will continue to advance," Reza said, "Once they reach the optimal position, we will know that the time of the attack is near."

The call ended.

In the morning, Kazemi's assistant, Tabari, arrived.

Reza personally received him and took him for a tour of the refinery area.

The newly purchased spare parts were neatly stacked in the warehouse, the entry records were clear, and the date was the day before yesterday. The workers were working normally, the equipment was running normally, and there was no sign of anything unusual.

Tabari looked around for an hour and didn't find anything to question.

Before leaving, he asked, "Lord Reza, I heard that a fleet has been entering and leaving the refinery area at night recently?"

"Transporting spare parts," Reza said, "Night transport is to avoid daytime traffic and reduce interference with normal production. This is standard procedure; Deputy Minister Kazemi should be very clear about that."

Tabari nodded and left.

In the afternoon, Reza put the fake document regarding the Persia-4 inventory into a routine report sent to the Ministry of Defense, as an attachment, marked with a "Confidential" level.

This report, according to the process, would pass through Kazemi's office.

Before sending it out, Reza made an extremely subtle mark on a certain number in the document, a handwriting habit only he knew. If the content of this document appeared in Iraqi intelligence, he would be able to confirm that Kazemi was the transmission channel.

The document was sent out.

In the evening, Galani entered.

"The second batch of transfers from the refinery area starts tonight," he said, "Tabari has left, Kazemi shouldn't have any actions for the time being."

"Good," Reza said, "For this transfer, the backup control system of the main substation has the highest priority."

"Understood."

Galani went out.

Karimi entered and placed a photo on the table.

"Najjari's freight records," he said, "Over the past six months, his fleet has passed through the border area between Khuzestan Province and Kermanshah four times. There is a small road there that can bypass the formal checkpoints."

Reza looked at that route on the map.

"He is transporting things for someone," Reza said, "Not intelligence, but physical objects."

"What kind of objects?"

"I don't know," Reza said, "But we need to know. Next time his fleet takes that road, I want to be waiting on the road."

"How to intercept?"

"Don't intercept," Reza said, "Follow, see where he delivers the things, and to whom."

Karimi nodded and went out.

Reza sat in his office, running through all of today's information in his mind.

The Persian-5 test was successful, the refinery area transfer continued, Hosseini's network extended to Najjari, Kazemi's fake intelligence was laid out, and the Iraqi launchers were advancing.

Every thread was tightening in the same direction.

He wrote a line in his notebook:

"The net has been cast. Now all that is needed is to wait for the fish to swim in."

Then he flipped to the next page and wrote down a new question: Are Kazemi and Hosseini part of the same network, or are they two independent channels?

If it is the same network, then the scale of this network is much larger than he imagined.

If they are two independent channels, then Iraq's layout within Iran is deeper than he imagined.

Both possibilities are not good news.

But both are better than not knowing.

He closed the notebook, picked up the phone, and sent a message to Walsh's middleman: Kazemi and Hosseini, do you know if there is any connection between them?

After the message was sent, Reza leaned back in his chair and waited.

Outside the window, the night in Ahvaz was as quiet as if nothing had happened.

But Reza knew that beneath this quiet, something was moving, approaching, waiting for a moment he had not yet fully seen clearly.

He did not intend to let that moment arrive first.