Saad counted eight men in desert camouflage stepping out of his helicopter behind Kamal. They had rifles strapped to their bodies. What he didn’t see was a prisoner of any sort. Four of the soldiers walked behind the copter to the cargo hold, where they unloaded a large trunk. They picked it up and followed their leader.

“As-salamu ‘alaykum,” said Kamal when he reached them.

“Wa-‘alaykum salam,” the two men dutifully replied.

The men with the trunk arrived and dropped it with a thud.

Saad spoke before Kamal had a chance. “I have been speaking with the general, and he told me you asked him to bring an interrogator. What is going on, Ali? I demand to know what is happening on my boat.”

“What is happening is that I have come to make a deal with the general. Quite possibly the deal of the century! I have come to ask for the Houthis, and I want them immediately. In three days, I want all their skinny little bodies and their weapons at my disposal.”

Mousavi laughed. “I don’t know who you think I am, but I can tell you I don’t have that kind of power.”

Kamal smiled and tapped the general on his moist chest. “You may not, but you know who in Tehran does. I will trade you the Houthis for what is in the trunk.” He gave the box a light kick.

The general’s look hardened. “Even if it were full of gold, it would not be enough—”

“Oh, I am offering you something of much more value than gold. It is far more powerful than any weapon. It can be more beautiful than the lithest of women. I am offering you information.”

Saad was already tired of Kamal’s game. “Enough. Open the trunk and show us this valuable piece of information you have inside.”

Kamal snapped his fingers, and one of his men undid a latch and opened the lid.

The rank smell caused Saad to step back before he had a chance to look inside.

“What is wrong with you?” Mousavi said to Kamal, his eyes locked on the contents.

Removing a handkerchief from his pants pocket, Saad covered his nose and mouth. He stepped toward the box and looked in. A man was crammed inside, folded into a tight fetal position but with his arms thrown akimbo because they wouldn’t fit in the curl.

“Gentlemen, please let me introduce you to Nir Tavor, agent for the Israeli Mossad.”

Saad’s stomach dropped. “What? You fool! You absolute moron. You brought a Mossad agent onto my boat?” He began scanning the waters to see if any warships were already approaching.

Meanwhile, Mousavi had taken hold of Kamal’s thawb and was swearing a blue streak at the man.

Rifles racked in the ranks of Kamal’s men, followed by the IRGC soldiers doing the same.