cousins has spoken to her since the day she married my father. So what about the prince?”
“We’re on him,” Turner acknowledged. “NSA is monitoring everything he does and CIA has a team watching him. If he so much as farts or sneezes funny, we’ll know about it.”
Chapter 25
Nick checked the luggage that the youths had removed from his car. Everything was in place. He stripped down the guns and gave them a much needed cleaning and lubrication. He checked the metal briefcase that had remained by his side. The seals were intact. He had become accustomed to the constant checking. Timing for the use of the virus was key. Any inadvertent release could significantly weaken the impact of the plan.
A coded knock preceded the opening of his door. Without it, Nick had made clear, he would shoot first. Following the earlier incident, the message had travelled quickly and any further mishaps were deemed highly unlikely.
“He will see you now,” said Amir as he opened the door. His unkempt and tousled hair was now groomed.
Nick nodded and, taking the briefcase but leaving the weapons, followed Amir out of the small apartment he had been allocated and along a corridor to Mohammed Farsi’s far larger apartment. The entire top floor had been taken over by the group. The building stood in the center of the complex amongst a number of other high-rise apartment blocks. Nick assumed lookouts were stationed in all of the surrounding buildings and any suggestion of a raid or assault by the authorities would be spotted well in advance. The apartment block had numerous exits and roads leading away from it. It was, in his expert opinion, an excellent and safe base, certainly somewhere that would suit his needs should it be needed.
Nick entered what he assumed to be the main place of worship for the group. A disproportionately large room had been created by knocking together three smaller rooms. A wash area, the wudhu , was set into the far wall opposite the Mihrab , which denoted the qibla wall and the direction of Mecca. Nick removed his shoes and placed them on the wooden slats by the doorway before entering. He proceeded directly towards the wudhu and under the eyes of the group already in the room, performed the ritual washing routine before prayer. Once completed, he stood up and joined the group.
“Would you lead us?” asked Mohammed Farsi.
“Of course,” he said, smiling to the group of twenty men that hung on his every word.
Nick turned and faced the qibla before leading the most senior Al Qaeda members in France through the Salat al-Zhur midday prayer.
With the prayer complete, the questions began to rain down. The group had been summoned and had spent many hours travelling through convoluted routes to meet the man who brought a message from their Caliph and who had so nearly killed the living embodiment of Shaytan (Satan) on earth.
Nick raised his hand to silence the group. He had much to tell them and then he would take their questions.
He outlined the plan he had formulated with the Caliph. Specifics would be divulged when required to ensure the operational security and ultimate success of their mission. Nick apologized throughout as he skirted over details and the numbers of jihadists that he would utilize. It was vital, he explained, for the security of the plan, that the Caliph’s dream be protected until the last moment. If any jihadist or member of the leadership were captured by the authorities, the plan would be protected. As of that moment, all that was important was delivering the Caliph’s dream for Allah. Nothing else mattered. The jihadist groups had to come together as one to fight for the Caliphate that the Caliph and Allah deserved. When he finished, no one spoke. The scale of the plan that had just been described to them was beyond anything they had ever dared to imagine. Even without the fine details, the devastation it would cause would dwarf 9/11, which had up until that moment
“We’re on him,” Turner acknowledged. “NSA is monitoring everything he does and CIA has a team watching him. If he so much as farts or sneezes funny, we’ll know about it.”
Chapter 25
Nick checked the luggage that the youths had removed from his car. Everything was in place. He stripped down the guns and gave them a much needed cleaning and lubrication. He checked the metal briefcase that had remained by his side. The seals were intact. He had become accustomed to the constant checking. Timing for the use of the virus was key. Any inadvertent release could significantly weaken the impact of the plan.
A coded knock preceded the opening of his door. Without it, Nick had made clear, he would shoot first. Following the earlier incident, the message had travelled quickly and any further mishaps were deemed highly unlikely.
“He will see you now,” said Amir as he opened the door. His unkempt and tousled hair was now groomed.
Nick nodded and, taking the briefcase but leaving the weapons, followed Amir out of the small apartment he had been allocated and along a corridor to Mohammed Farsi’s far larger apartment. The entire top floor had been taken over by the group. The building stood in the center of the complex amongst a number of other high-rise apartment blocks. Nick assumed lookouts were stationed in all of the surrounding buildings and any suggestion of a raid or assault by the authorities would be spotted well in advance. The apartment block had numerous exits and roads leading away from it. It was, in his expert opinion, an excellent and safe base, certainly somewhere that would suit his needs should it be needed.
Nick entered what he assumed to be the main place of worship for the group. A disproportionately large room had been created by knocking together three smaller rooms. A wash area, the wudhu , was set into the far wall opposite the Mihrab , which denoted the qibla wall and the direction of Mecca. Nick removed his shoes and placed them on the wooden slats by the doorway before entering. He proceeded directly towards the wudhu and under the eyes of the group already in the room, performed the ritual washing routine before prayer. Once completed, he stood up and joined the group.
“Would you lead us?” asked Mohammed Farsi.
“Of course,” he said, smiling to the group of twenty men that hung on his every word.
Nick turned and faced the qibla before leading the most senior Al Qaeda members in France through the Salat al-Zhur midday prayer.
With the prayer complete, the questions began to rain down. The group had been summoned and had spent many hours travelling through convoluted routes to meet the man who brought a message from their Caliph and who had so nearly killed the living embodiment of Shaytan (Satan) on earth.
Nick raised his hand to silence the group. He had much to tell them and then he would take their questions.
He outlined the plan he had formulated with the Caliph. Specifics would be divulged when required to ensure the operational security and ultimate success of their mission. Nick apologized throughout as he skirted over details and the numbers of jihadists that he would utilize. It was vital, he explained, for the security of the plan, that the Caliph’s dream be protected until the last moment. If any jihadist or member of the leadership were captured by the authorities, the plan would be protected. As of that moment, all that was important was delivering the Caliph’s dream for Allah. Nothing else mattered. The jihadist groups had to come together as one to fight for the Caliphate that the Caliph and Allah deserved. When he finished, no one spoke. The scale of the plan that had just been described to them was beyond anything they had ever dared to imagine. Even without the fine details, the devastation it would cause would dwarf 9/11, which had up until that moment
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