Chapter 73: "Nuclear Revelations"

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"Your dad knew Grand chief Sulaiman?!" Salma's eyes widened with excitement.

"Yes, he did but I meant your other granddad," Jason replied.

"My other --?"

"Rahman Agha Hi," Jason continued. "My dad ran into him on pure chance at some global leaders' convention for shaping sustainable development policy."

"Oh!" Salma said as it dawned on her. Her paternal Grandfather Rahman Agha Ji was naturalist. He ran a wolf conservatory. It only made sense that Jason's dad ran into him at the convention. Two scientists trying to prolong the planet's life in their own capacity. Made sense.

"Your grandpa being the sharp man that he was, realized who he was talking too," Jason said. "Although US government had been doing their best to keep 'Eden' a secret, several intelligence agencies had found out. Word was that the man whose hand Rahman Agha ji was shaking could potentially build an anti-nuclear shield around an entire country. Rahman Agha Ji decided to test the waters. He casually told my dad, 'If only there was a way to protect the world from complete destruction.' My father also tried his luck and conveyed to your grandfather a message in Morse."

"Agha Ji Baba understood Morse?!" Salma asked, surprised.

"Of course he did," Jason replied as if it was common knowledge. "The man was sharp as a knife with eyes and ears on everything."

"That's interesting," Salma murmured. "I've only met him a couple of times so I don't know much. He used to take me to see the wolves. I recall him being a very friendly and loving old man."

"You should thank your stars!" Jason cried. "He's known to have a stricter side and it's frightening! Commander Rahman has a similar bifurcation of extreme personalities. When he's calm, he's the fatherliest father. When he's mad, run for the hills!"

Salma chuckled.

"So what was the message?"

"Kidishi."

"What?!"

"That's it! That's all he did."

"Wow!

"A one worded reply to his comment, to let him know it was possible, while he smiled and said, 'Every sane man does.'"

"And the people spying on him didn't pick on it?" Salma asked, her eyes becoming saucers of interest.

"From what I've heard, your grandpa was holding my dad's hands. My dad is supposed to have codded the message by alternating on how much pressure he applied on his hand. Your grandpa understood the assignment. He figured there was people watching my dad and that he could not talk openly.

"Your grandpa put him on the radar of the premier of Sthooriya, Grand Chief Sulaiman. He was known for his campaign for Nuclear disarmament. My father could not find a better person to help him. Grand Chief Sulaiman did not waste time in installing several Green Coats and informants around the scientist. The chef, the janitor, the agent watching him for the government; he suddenly had a lot of people passing him messages. My dad got scared of a ploy by the government. As intelligent as he was, he was super suspicious of everyone. He thought the people pretending to be Grand Chief Sulaiman's people were actually U.S agents trying to see if he was making contact with anyone. However, his worries were eased when he was asked to attend the 'Global Nuclear Disarmament Summit' being held in Hiroshima by the government and met Grand Chief Sulaiman on the sidelines."

"Why would the government ask him to attend a summit like that?" Salma asked.

"They were hoping to inspire him to try to make the shield work," Jason said. "They thought he needed to be reminded of the kind of destruction he could stop. Only problem was, he did not trust them to use it to stop that destruction. He figured the shield would upset the fragile deterrence the world had. It would only give the US the necessary reassurance that in case they wanted to, they could survive a repeat of Hiroshima."

"But he trusted Grand Chief Sulaiman?" Salma raised a brow. For a man with so many trust issues, it was a little hard to believe he would trust a foreign government more than his own.

"Yes, somehow he did," Jason replied. "Your Grandpa had a very strong and consistent reputation of trying to convince the nuclear powers to give that genocidal weapon up. He was funding a lot of these programs to spread awareness and slap some sense into people. My dad thought he was the guy to trust with such tech, or at least his life and his choice to not share that tech with the world. So when he met him in Japan, they had a few seconds of privacy while visiting the Genbaku Dome and he asked for help. Grand Chief Sulaiman just made a casual comment about one of his body guards who seemed deeply disturbed by the sight of the nuclear shadows.

"My dad did not know what he meant until later that evening, when the same body guard appeared in his hotel as the room service guy. Arrangements were made, and when my dad was out and about in Tokyo, the plans were executed by multiple decoys creating enough distractions to smuggle my dad out."

"How did they do that?!" Salma asked.

"I was told he was sneaked into a garment store during a flash mob and then taken out in a large suitcase –"

"What?" Salma laughed her disbelief.

" – but my dad vehemently denied that story!" Jason replied in amusement. "Several versions of that escape exist but the point is, he was in Sthooriya the next day, safe and sound."

"Wow!"

"Yep." Jason smiled. "Talk about an adventure!"

"So what happened to 'Eden,'" Salma asked.

"Grand Chief Sulaiman and my father discussed the possibility of resurrecting 'Eden' in Sthooriya. My father had his reservations against the project. In the past decade, he had had plenty of time to think it through. He opined that 'Eden' was intended to make people safe. If he could not come up with a design that could easily be accessed by every state in the world, he would miss his goal by a mile. Grand Chief Sulaiman agreed with him, but that kind of a project would require galactic amounts of funds. However, he expressed his hope at giving it try a to  render the nukes useless and therefore, lead to a Nuclear Disarmament. But my father disagreed that could happen. He said that 'Eden' could serve as a challenge to the blood thirsty weapon industrialist to come up with something even more lethal than a nuclear bomb. He said bullet and bomb-proof shields never stopped anyone from using these weapons. It only made the evil men work their way around it and came up with more brutal weapons. It became ample clear to Grand Chief Sulaiman. Dad did not want to resurrect 'Eden'."

"Did my grandfather agree?" Salma asked, almost dreading his reply.

"He did." Jason nodded much to Salma's relief. "It shocked my father."

Salma released a breath. She could imagine where the scientist's disbelief came from. With people hounding him for the shield's designs for decades, he finally found that one man who was willing to respect his choice despite him being the only one hoping to use the technology for the betterment of people.

"So 'Eden' was buried forever," Salma asked, feeling a bit disappointed how mankind's lust for blood and power over each other has stopped him from potentially harnessing higher levels of energy.

"Nope."

Salma turned to him, surprised.

"My dad wanted to pay the premier back for his kindness so he requested a facility to work on producing clean energy. All the tribes, barring the Tor Guls, who were out of the Grand Chief's direct jurisdiction, were literally illuminated and pumped by energy within six months of my dad working on and tweaking the country's nuclear reactors. The sudden surge in energy efficiency alerted the U.S. Someone had already snitched on Sthooriya keeping my dad, but with the new energy programs' rapid development, they got more suspicious. They wanted their scientist back. Your grandpa would not hear of it. The tension between the two countries grew exponentially. The US had no evidence, but they would not take any chances. If they had to turn a valley across the globe upside down to find the man they wanted, they would do it.

"Realizing he had potentially paved way for a war on a country that was helping him protect his potentially dangerous knowledge, dad decided to arm Sthooriya with Eden Shield."

Salma gasped.

"The rumors of Sthooriya being armed with 'Eden' were enough to push U.S. to back off," Jason said. "They had no way to prove it, but if they were to actually prove it, the whole world would know of the secret they did not want anyone to know about. Once things calmed down, dad also relaxed. He could finally catch a breath knowing his creation was safe with one of the best leaders, the world could ever hope for."

Salma felt her head spinning once Jason finished, smiling.

"So Sthooriya is shielded by Eden?" Salma asked, her eyebrows raised in astonishment.

"Supposedly yeah," Jason replied. "It is basically called Nuclear Shield Ambiguity, which means, Sthooriya does not deny they have the technology, but it also does not admit to it."

"And your dad?"

"Same with him," Jason replied. "Grand Chief Sulaiman never admitted to having him in the country, but said that the pukhtoon tradition of 'Panah' would be upheld if he was found in Sthooriya. My father finally felt safe enough to focus on his life and start a family. He met my mum, had my sister and me, and overlooked Sthooriya's nuclear department."

"So it's a happy ending." Salma smiled.

"Pretty much. " Jason shrugged. "Up until your Grand father's death, that is."

"What happened?" Salma frowned.

"My father believed his assassination was not just Tor Guls. He had always believed the Tor Guls would collude with anyone who would help them against Grand Chief Sulaiman to stop him from nullifying the pact of non-interference. Dad thought the Grand Chief's death was his warning. He approached the Green Coats and went into hiding with us. He was still in hiding when he died from a brain tumor, seven years ago."

Salma felt her heart sink.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, feeling terrible.

Jason shrugged.

"That's alright. Dad wanted to go on his terms and he did." He smiled ruefully. "He lived and struggled for what he believed in, gave the world what he could and made sure to curb whatever evil and bloodshed he could. He was a good man."

"He was a great man." Salma said earnestly.

Jason smiled, his eyes going distant as he stared at his plate.

"He was a great dad too," he added quietly.

Salma smiled but her heart broke for the junior. She stayed quiet, letting the junior complete the trip that he was taking down the memory lane.

"We stayed in hiding for three years after my dad's passing. Then my mum fell and had a head injury while we were picking peaches in our garden one day. She got retrograde amnesia."

Salma felt her heart stop.

"Anything before a year and half, she could not remember. Her parents, her siblings, dad." Jason shrugged. "She had forgotten all of them."

"Did she remember you and your sister?" Salma asked quietly.

"Thank God, yes!" Jason cried. "In her initial few weeks she was slightly confused but then she made tremendous recovery and recognized us completely. However, she did not understand why she had to stay in a farm house deep in the mountains of the Oochath tribe. The Green Coats decided it was best to not share anything about dad with her, once she was not able to recognize his picture. Realizing she was not a threat, or under any threat, in her current condition, she was allowed to choose her path. She chose to fly to the U.S. My sister stayed behind in Sthooriya and I was taken in by your dad under the foster children program."

"I don't understand." Salma frowned in confusion. "Why did ya'll still have to stay hidden?"

"Because we are evidence," Jason replied. "Evidence that my dad had escaped to, and lived in, Sthooriya. My mum forgot about him, but me and my sister still carry his DNA. If caught, the Sthooriy government could come under a renewed focus and investigation by foreign agencies that already fear Sthooriya has Eden."

"And yet here you are, in the U.S?" Salma raised a brow.

Jason took in a deep breath.

"I'm not who they think I am."

"What does that mean?"

"Except for your dad and a handful of Green Coats, nobody knows we exist," Jason said. "My mum remarried, having no clue who her ex was. My sister has her own family and lives a normal life with her kids, her husband being the Green Coat assigned to protect her. She's supposed to have been raised by the foster system. And I was adopted or sponsored for, on paper, by your dad."

"So who are you here?"

"Zarrar Khan's son that he left behind after disappearing," Jason replied.

Salma's lips parted in surprise.

"The Falcon who –"

"—is known to have betrayed Hurayra, yes," Jason agreed.

"Doesn't that put you in a tricky spot with this lot?" Salma nudged her head to the Green Coats sitting behind him.

"It does, but I think that's why your father is supposed to have sponsored me," Jason said. "If he takes me in as his own, they're not allowed to direct their anger at me, and also, they see me as a good bait to lure Zarrar out of his trap if he's alive, which some believe that he is. On the other hand, if Zarrar is innocent, leaving his son fatherless could attract Zarrar's enemies to use me, his son, against him. So it's like a double deception game. The Green Coats think they have me, Zarrar's son, as an asset. On the other hand, me playing Zarrar's son gives me the necessary back story that I'm supposed to have, to cover up for my real identity."

Salma sat there for a while, just gaping at him.

"The heck you just said?" She blinked.

Jason laughed. "It's a little complicated."

"Dude, that's like a formula of quantum mechanics!" Salma cried to which Jason laughed again. "How is your surname not Khan, then?"

"Ah, see that's where it gets fun –"

"Oh we're not done with the mind games yet?" Salma's eyes widened.

"No." Jason shook his head. "See when your father brought me here four years ago, he told me to choose an identity for myself. I went with 'Jason' as the first name and 'Stark' as my last name.

"I wonder why?" Salma shook her head with an amused smile.

"Iron Man, you know." Jason blushed at getting caught. "Tony was totally like my dad. Started off as a weapon designer, ended up trying to make clean energy with that arc reactor. Also, he was dad's favorite avenger so I decided to be Jason Stark. The Green Coats here think, I'm something-khan but this alias is to keep my identity hidden to keep my supposed-father's enemies at bay."

"So Jason Stark isn't your real name."

"It pretty much is now, but yeah, its not." Jason replied.

He did not say anymore and Salma knew better than to ask.

"My real identity is one of Sthooriya's best kept secrets," he added as if to excuse himself.

"No, I get it, I honestly don't want to know more state secrets. It's dizzying," Salma joked, until something occurred to her and she gasped. Jason gave her a questioning look as Salma leaned in. "Is 'Eden' the other project that the GCA actively protects and maintains?!"

"Huh?" Jason asked.

"Are you aware of . . ." Salma trailed off as she realized Jason could be clueless about Lazarus Felix. "Have you stayed in Turkey at any point in time?" Salma asked instead.

Jason's frown deepened.

"No," he replied in confusion.

Salma sat back.

"Then it can't be you," she murmured.

"Is something wrong?" Jason asked.

Salma snapped out of her thoughts.

"No, I just got a bit sidetracked," she replied, still thinking. "Does Spogmae and Burak know about you?"

"I don't think so. They think I'm Zarrar's son."

"How's Burak Kaka taking that?" Salma asked, grimacing.

"He's alright." Jason shrugged. "Very friendly."

Salma frowned but did not press the matter. She was pleased to know the sometimes petty Green Coat was mature enough to not blame the so-called son of his friend's for his father's betrayal.

"Wait, was Zarrar even married? How can his friends not know he had a son?"

"I bet they think he married in secret." Jason chortled. "If they doubt it, they trust your dad enough to just accept the ongoing story. To them, protecting me is important if your dad says it is. The agency has this thing called compartmentalization. It means --"

"Yeah, I know," Salma muttered, mind blown by the kind of blind trust these Green Coats had in their superiors. "Burak Kaka explained once."

They became quiet for a while as Salma tried to come to terms with everything that Jason had shared. She put her face in her hands.

"How did the state's best kept secret end up becoming a part of my security detail?"

Salma heard Jason chuckle.

"That was when Zayn showed up."

"Zayn?" Salma looked up. "What does Zayn have to do with anything?"

"He was initially marked as a threat, then a potential threat, then a suspect," Jason said. "After the rescue as he started following you around on campus, in labs and classes etcetera, your father needed someone in that lab to keep an eye on things. So, lo and behold!" Jason pointed at himself. "Yours truly had already been trying to do something useful with his life, so when I heard about it, I nagged your dad, till he caved in. He said if I could come up with a decent act within forty eight hours, he'd allow it. None of my competition could beat me when I started parroting the names of those insects and where they lived and how many eggs they laid in a batch." Jason laughed. "I was enrolled as a freshmen in the animal sciences department. One look at Zayn and I just knew he had it bad for you!"

Salma just stared at the giggling junior for a few seconds, completely dumbstruck. She did not know what to say. Had anyone told her that the shy, stuttering junior, who was madly in love with insects and had all knowledge required to basically conduct a proper large scale research in entomology, was just an act of a Green Coat, keeping an eye on the idiot pursuing her, she would have passed out laughing.

"Do you even like mantids?!" Salma cried out of blue.

Jason's roar of laughter reverberated around the café as he threw his head back at her question.

Salma closed her eyes, shaking her head, deeply unimpressed. So much was going through her head. She figured she should leave to give her poor brains a rest, but she had to clear a few more things. Jason being a Green Coat was putting so many pieces in its place in the puzzle. Salma had to know.

"Please tell me you didn't tell dad I liked him!" Salma pressed her fingers onto her tired eyes.

"I might have," Jason admitted.

Salma grumbled under breath.

"Was I wrong --?"

"Is it safe to say you're doing the hacking for Louisa?" Salma interrupted firmly. She was way past her annoyance of someone misleading her dad about her relationship with Zayn. Zayn and she had sorted things out so she did not want to discuss it anymore, especially with Jason, but she had to hear the pesky junior say it.

"Yes, but with Ali Gul," he replied. "He's the real deal. I'm his mentee."

"Your mentor is a Tor Gul?" Salma gasped, her head shooting up.

"Not every Gul is a Tor Gul, Sally!" Jason replied. "His name full name is Ali Shireengul though."

Salma felt oddly uneasy when Jason called her 'Sally'. Now that she knew who he was and how much familiar he was with everything about her, it felt personal. Before, it felt like an unaccustomed American trying to work his way around westernizing her name for it to feel less alien. However, since Salma did not mind it before, she figured calling him out on it now would be awkward.

"Right," Salma said, trying to walk past her embarrassing assumption of calling Ali Gul a TorGul, "So he's doing the hacking."

"Yeah," Jason replied. "I managed to convince him to take it up as a favor for me, but once we got into those servers, we found some really unexpected links between the Hiltons and, what could be, the Tor Guls. It seems they're in business. The data is now being processed for the Green Coats to see if we can establish solids links between the two. So far, there're a few of our suspects randomly popping up here and there in the Hilton's drug cartel."

"My God!" Salma whispered.

"Yeah, Lou's gotten mixed with some really dirty people." Jason pursed his lips.

As Salma felt a little light headed, she figured it was time to wrap the discussion up because staying any longer would only expose her to more explosive and hard-to-digest truths.

"Last question, will you be in trouble sharing with me the best-kept secret of Sthooriya?" Salma asked.

Jason snorted.

"You're the Guardian of the Zamarud," he said. "Are you going to sell your country out?"

"It scares me the way you put me up on a pedestal."

Jason shrugged.

"I trust you," he said. "And it feels good to finally tell someone. When I took up the job and made friends with you in the process, I told your dad if I got found by you, I'm telling you who I am."

"Why?"

"So you know you're not alone in this." Jason smiled, then the corners of his lips sagged. "And because this is probably going to be our last meeting."

Salma's heart sank.

"What?" she breathed out.

Jason sighed, rubbing his face with his hands before turning to her with a resigned smile.

"I won't be surprised if your dad is already finalizing plans to ship me off somewhere."

Author's Note:

There you have it folks. Jason, the Green Coat Munchkin's story!

Hope you liked it!

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Lots of Love

J.