Chapter 24
Chapter 24: Drain You
“One baby to another says -
I'm lucky to have met you
I don't care what you think
Unless it is about me”
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October 15th, 1981:
The convoy rumbled through the streets of Tehran, carrying its precious cargo. The streets were barren, the people having long learned to duck into their houses at the sight of military vehicles. Fighting in the city itself had largely ceased; of course, that was the purpose of the convoy.
General Chuck Beckwith rode in an armoured personnel carrier with the young Shah, Reza Pahlavi. Their destination was the Niavaran Palace, the former residence of the Shah. Over a year of fighting had finally come to fruition.
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Walter Mondale sat at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as the camera crew prepared to broadcast. He gave his notes a final read before being given the “three” signal.
“My fellow Americans,” the President said, “It is my pleasure to announce that, as we speak, the Shah of Iran is being permanently installed in the royal palace. We have accomplished a milestone in the Iranian War, one which is both the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the end.”
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Beckwith was checking his watch when the RPG hit the side of the APC. The whole vehicle violently shook as the explosion rocked it, though the armour protected the people inside. The tires, however, had been completely destroyed.
“What the fuck?” yelled Beckwith, his ears ringing from the explosion.
Out the windshield, the driver saw a dozen fighters spill out from the buildings and open fire on the convoy. Without warning, the windshield shattered inward, and the driver’s head exploded. Beckwith reasoned that it had to be an anti-materiel rifle to break through the glass, for what good that insight did him.
The shah quickly unbuckled his seatbelt while Beckwith was still stunned. Frantically, he scrambled for the rear door, and unlocked the heavy metal hatch.
“What?” Beckwith yelled at him, utterly confused, “What are you doing? Stay in the vehicle!”
Ignoring him, the Shah jumped out of the APC and went running into an alley.
“Thor 1, what is your situation? What is the status of the VIP?” came in over the APC radio, though Beckwith was still deafened from the explosion.
The general, desperate and afraid, jumped out of the hatch in pursuit of the Shah. He looked around, not knowing which direction he’d gone. There was no sign of Pahlavi. The anti-materiel round ripped through his chest, and Chuck Beckwith slumped to the ground, dead.
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“It is now my duty to completely drain you”
-Nirvana
