I was sitting sideways, so only had to turn my head to see Vinnie, Daniel, Manny and the rest of the GIPN team clearing the café. With the exception of one young woman, everyone remained calm and left quickly. She left quickly, but wasn’t calm. She was clutching Pink’s arm, asking a lot of questions in a low voice. The café-type music was loud enough to mask most of the activity and her questions, but her body language plainly communicated her fear. Most of the other people appeared excited by this event. Odd.
The third man straightened as well, no longer taking his cue from the leader. His hand drifted to his jacket’s button and he opened it, obviously getting ready to go for his holstered weapon. I focused on my breathing and paid closer attention to his micro-expressions. He seemed to be in full control, but was alert and aware of the position of every officer in the café.
“Now that we’re alone”—Colin waved his arm at the empty café—“you can tell us why you are here.”
The leader looked pointedly at the empty mugs and plates on their table. “To have breakfast.”
Colin’s only reaction was to stare at him.
Movement in the centre of the café caught my eye and I turned to see Vinnie and Daniel walking to us. Manny was standing at the door, a scowl pulling his eyebrows low over his eyes. He had his handgun out, but pointed at the floor. Pink and two more GIPN team members were in the café as well, their assault weapons ready. It was unsettling to see such readiness for violence.
Daniel stopped behind my chair and briefly touched my shoulder with the tip of his finger. I was surprised that it comforted me.
Vinnie took his position behind Colin’s chair and stared down at the tall man, who reacted by getting up. He pushed his jacket open to reveal his weapon, his hand ready to grab it. His nostrils flared and his mouth pulled into a vicious sneer. I leaned back in my chair, my eyes wide.
“Shahab, stand down.” The authority behind the leader’s quietly spoken order was unmistakable. He waited until Shahab relaxed his posture, his hand moving away from his holster. When it became clear that the tall man was not going to sit down again, the leader looked at us. “We’re amongst friends.”
“You’re not my friend.” The words came out before I thought about it. “I don’t even know your name.”
Colin smiled and pointed at me. “What she said.”
“Well, then.” The leader shifted and put his palm against his chest. “I’m Amin Alidoosti, the overprotective one is Shahab Hatami and—”
“I’m Hamid Keramati,” the third man said.
“And you all are...” Colin drew out the last word as if waiting for them to finish.
“From the Criminal Investigation Police of NAJA.”
“What the fuck is NAJA?” Vinnie didn’t take his eyes off Shahab, but his question was addressed to Amin.
“It’s the Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Daniel smiled when all eyes turned to him. “NAJA is short for all of that.”
The changes in the posture of the three men were small, but immediate. People always reacted positively to being acknowledged. Even Shahab’s shoulders lowered slightly and he shifted his weight to one leg, putting him in a more vulnerable position.
“How do you know who we are?” Hamid’s curiosity was sincere, almost childlike.
Daniel pointed at his GIPN badge on his uniform. “We make an effort to know who our counterparts are all over the world. I know you guys have top investigators and your Special Unit is huge and is also highly trained like us. Then there is your NOPO unit, which deals a lot with anti-terror action.”
This was why Daniel was the leader of the GIPN team. He was indeed highly trained to handle conflict, but my personal opinion was that his true skill was at de-escalating a situation. The more he talked about the different branches in Iran’s law enforcement, the more the three men relaxed. Hamid’s body language had changed from ready for action to awestruck. In less than five minutes, Daniel had built notable rapport with them.
Amin leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I heard one of your GIPN teams deals in a lot of art crimes.”
“We do.”
Amin’s reaction to Daniel’s answer was telling.
I nodded. “That’s why you’re here.”
He glanced at me. “We received a tip that quite a few of our looted artefacts have surfaced here in Strasbourg.”
“Hmm.” Daniel tilted his head. “And of course you’ve notified your embassy and our headquarters of your presence here.” He looked at the bulge under Shahab’s arm. “And the weapons you carry are all legally obtained.”
“Of course.” Amin touched his neck. I was tempted to roll my eyes the way Nikki did when she considered something to be ridiculous. Evidently, Amin’s team had not been trained in deception skills.
As I wondered if it would be appropriate to advise them to hone those skills, Colin got up. “Well then. This explains everything.” His smile was convincing in his apology and slight embarrassment as he looked at the empty café. “Sorry for the welcome.”
I was surprised at first. Why would Colin end this conversation? We could learn so much more. A quick glance at his face, then at Daniel’s made it clear that they both had reservations about continuing.
“It definitely was overkill.” Hamid got up and held out his hand to Daniel. “It was truly a pleasure to meet you.”
Amin was the last to stand, his authority not undermined by his lowered position at all. I remained seated. If anything happened, I planned to grab the table next to us as a shield and hide behind it.
Amin also shook Daniel’s hand. “If you can give me your business card, we can stay in touch. Maybe you can tell us if you hear anything about Iranian artefacts.”
“We can definitely do that.” Daniel shook Amin’s hand, then gave him a business card. “Feel free to call me anytime.”
Amin’s micro-expressions showed that the leader of this small team had no such plans. Yet he nodded, his enthusiasm fake.
“They won’t tell us anything, Amin.” Shahab closed his jacket, his posture no longer aggressive, but definitely defiant. “These Europeans view everyone who is Arabic as immigrant rubbish terrorists.”
“No, we don’t.” Vinnie stepped closer to Shahab and slapped him hard on the shoulder. “Only assholes who think they can come and—”
“Vin.” Colin pulled Vinnie away and shook his head when Vinnie frowned at him. “We’re all friends, remember?”
“Yeah.” Vinnie nodded, his insincerity shockingly visible. “Right.” Before Colin could stop him, Vinnie walked to Amin, holding out his hand. “Friends.”
Amin clearly didn’t know what to expect from this interaction, but shook Vinnie’s hand. He wasn’t able to hide his concerned frown when Vinnie put his hand on the leader’s shoulder and squeezed hard. This was such odd behaviour for Vinnie, I was also frowning.
Then Amin pulled his shoulders back and stared at Vinnie’s hand still resting there. “I suggest you give us space to leave before this new friendship becomes unfriendly.”
Vinnie raised both his hands and stepped back. “Of course, friend. Please.” He waved his hand dramatically towards the door. “Feel free to leave.”
Shahab stared at Vinnie through narrowed eyes until Amin was a few steps away from us. He and Hamid stepped around the table and joined Amin, one on each side. Manny, Pink and the others held their positions and didn’t raise their weapons, but their muscle tension increased, their eyes following the three men.
Halfway to the door, Amin turned around and looked at Colin. “You might want to tell your president that this will definitely become an unfriendly incident if we find out you have our artefacts and are not returning them to us.”
Vinnie pretended to take a step forward and smiled when Daniel put his hand out to stop him. He winked at Amin, his smile widening when the other man turned around and walked to the door. We watched in silence until the door closed behind them.
“Should we put a shadow on them?” Pink asked as he walked towards us.
“My first answer is ‘yes’.” Daniel thought about this for a second. “No. I don’t think that’s a good idea. If they make us, it might get very ugly. I’m glad Colin stopped the interview. Politically, this is too sensitive. We need to get the brass involved.”
“What the bleeding hell is wrong with you?” Manny stormed towards us, shaking his finger at Vinnie. “Have you completely lost your frigging marbles?”