The Sword of Allah?
you is coming to visit. This is a very important man, a religious leader whose wise counsel has been sought by
many. But he comes to see you."
Sheik Hariri was intrigued and he wished Khan would get to the point.
"He told me how you fought side by side against the Russians and how you grew to understand the greater
battle we fight against the infidel"
Omar? Hariri wondered. He has to be talking about Omar. He had not seen the man since the Americans
invaded, and he had heard he was alive but he had no real proof.
Khan had continued rambling but finally reached let out "We await the arrival of the Amir al-Mu'minin Mullah
Omar, praise be to Allah."
"This is wonderful news" Hariri said "I have not seen him for two years now, is he well?"
"His health and will are both still strong and he bears news of the struggle" Khan reported. "He will arrive soon,
come let us greet him."
They headed from the back where they had been talking in Khan's great room through a hallway filled with relics
from Islam's greatest battles and warriors. Khan fancied himself a scholar of the epic history of Muslim warriors
as well as their current incarnation. Although he did have some very impressive weaponry and armor as well as
original copies of the writings of many of them. It was a decent walk to the front of the chateau and when they
walked on to the veranda Hariri saw the unmistakable figure of Mullah Omar walking toward him. He ran forward
and dropped to a knee kissing Omar's hands and proclaiming "My older brother, I am so pleased to see you
well, praise be to Allah."
"And you as well" Omar replied raising Hariri to his feet and embracing him warmly. "I have kept track of you and
knew you had prospered even in dificult times, but it is good to look on your face. I have much to tell you of
Samir, but first let us have tea."
They walked back through the entrance hallway and Omar remarked "It will soon be time to add some more
trophies to this collection eh General?"
General Khan beamed at the thought saying "Islam has gone to long without heroes and brave victories for our
children to hear about and dream of. We have lost the way of the Prophet who led his armies to many victories
and glorified the name of Allah."
"You are correct General, but much difficulty awaits us as we undertake to strike the infidels. Fortunately the
Americans have no vision beyond the end of their nose and they already grow bored with their occupation in my
country." Omar informed.
"They even have their Green Berets helping ensure that the opium trade is conducted in a mostly bloodless
fashion" Hariri offered. "A question if I might brother, what about the Saudi, Bin laden, where is he?"
"The Arab has now gone to the Persians" Omar answered "and they are welcome to him. You were precisely
correct about the American reaction my friend and I will value your counsel more dearly as we move ahead.
"I only wish I had been wrong" Hariri lamented as they arrived back at the rear of the house and stepped out
onto a huge stone patio overlooking the Vakhsh river. They seated themselves and an orderly served the chai.
Omar sipped and sighed contentedly.
"You know when the Americans first came I hoped we might defeat them in battle or bleed them like we did the
Russians, but that is simply not the case. Now that the giant is awoken we must strike boldly and we must call on
Allah to help us. Bin laden may have cost us Afghanistan for now, but he showed the path to hurting the
Americans. Small attacks will not help if we are to drive them from here. Fortunately we have friends like
General Khan here to help in this regard. Why don't you enlighten the Sheik, General?"
Khan stood and clasped his hands behind his back "I have contacts within the Syrian Intelligence services one
of whom was recently recalled from Lebanon when the Syrians pulled out. As they were preparing, he was made
part of a detail to go the the Bekaa valley and retrieve equipment stored there. As it turns out the equipment
was a dismantled chemical weapons laboratory and even better a sizeable number of 120mm mortar rounds.
Apparently when Hussein became convinced the Americans were coming he sent a number of his
unmentionables to Syria for safekeeping and the Syrians figured Lebanon was a good spot. This would simply
be interesting information if this gentleman was not very enterprising, he managed to lighten the shipment by 4
rounds of binary sarin agent. And even better I have bought them and they are currently in a helicopter on it's
way here from Dushanbe."
"This is staggering my brother" Hariri blurted "We talked many times of what use we could make of a weapon
like this. It would give us the strength of Allah to fight the infidels."
"We have come to an understanding with General Khan regarding the use of two of these munitions Samir and I
need you to play a role in their deployment. Omar said. "Once they arrive here we need to get them into our
country and secured. I wish you to make this happen."
"I am honored older brother that you would entrust such an important task to me." Hariri replied.
"You have always served Allah faithfully and I am sure this will be done successfully also." Omar said.
Hariri sat for a moment taking in the full import of what he had just learned in the last half an hour. Mullah Omar
was alive and well, he was still actively fighting the infidels and Allah had just provided a fiery sword to rain down
on them.
Dirk and Valjean arrived back at Akhnard's eyrie near dark, Dirk figured the Captain and Bluto would be there
mid morning tomorrow, that meant he was free and clear tonight. He was looking forward to all the fineries that
awaited. As they entered Mustafa saw them and spat "Frenchy, what did you find at the border?"
"Fuck your mother too Mustafa" Jean answered "All is well, and we have eyes and electronics watching the
trails."
"That is good as I would hate to get a shipment stolen and have to filet you to find out why" Mustafa cracked as
he walked away.
"Fuck that goat-raping asshole, filet me eh? I will cut off his balls and feed them to him." Jean said "He is the
penance I must pay for my life here in paradise. What do you fancy for dinner my friend, prawns?"
"Sounds beauty to me." Dirk answered so Jean went off to inform Ibrahim and Dirk mixed himself a bourbon and
branch. He heard the dragon calling but he would wait 'til after dinner for that, although a couple of puffs of
hash couldn't hurt. Dirk sat by his favorite window and wondered how this was all gonna turn out. I mean this
was fucking crazy right, if he got caught he would probably die in Leavenworth. But shit, what else did he have
to look forward to, he could keep this shit up for another 8 years and then retire on half pay and drink Pabst
Blue Ribbon until he died. What a shitty fucking planet, he thought shittiest one I have ever lived on. Fuck it at
least he could get high, and as he puffed the hash he felt a nice wave of "who gives a fuck?" sweep over him.
Valjean came back and announced dinner would be in 30 minutes. Dirk was ready to get back to scheming so
he asked "Who's the Russian Jean? Who will we sell the shit to?
Valjean chuckled and said "I guess I shall have to adapt to your MTV attention span. The Russian is a former
legionnaire who I have known 20 years, and who currently runs a formidable criminal enterprise in Kazakhstan.
He does not specialize in drugs but I broached the subject with him another time when I considered this. As long
as we get it directly to him he will buy it for almost ten times what Akhnard will give it to me for."
"How do we get it to Kazakhstan?" Dirk inquired.
Valjean laughed at him and said "Well I assume you would play some role in that since so far your only
contibution was the noteworthy decision to become an international drug smuggler. Now we must figure out how
you will achieve that title."
"Let me think" Dirk said "We have bases in Kazakhstan and I know there are C-130s going back and forth, how
much of this shit will we have?"
"Akhnard has usually offered me 40 kilos, so about 100 US pounds" Valjean replied.
"Shit we oughta' just jump it in." Dirk offered. ODA 024 was a HALO team so Dirk had plenty of Military Freefall
parachuting under his belt and he had jumped with quite a bit more than 100 lbs. of gear before. "I mean then
you have no problems with Customs or Cops or whoever. Or even better what about one of those steerable
bundles, you know where they basically take a HALO chute rig it with a nav unit that steers the toggles and you
can fly that fucker 20 or 30 miles and drop it on a football field. Holy shit that would be perfect. We could take an
plane up there with legit cargo, drop the bundle on the way and then land and pick up some more legit cargo
and fly our asses back here."
"Why does your plan surprise me not at all, although I must admit is is quite interesting and eliminates several
possible downfalls." Jean answered.
Ibrahim entered and announced dinner was ready, so they adjourned to the patio to dine al fresco. Ibrahim
wheeled out a cart and began serving up the goodness. There were Mediterranean-style salads built on grape
leaves, with crumbled goat cheese and plum tomatoes, a couple of innocent looking jasmine and saffron rice
dishes that always stunned with their powerful aroma and deep taste, and then the grilled tiger prawns kebabed
with green peppers, onions and pineapple chunks. These were accompanied with 3 different dipping sauces
and there was no telling what was in any of them. "It looks wonderful as always Ibrahim" Jean thanked him and
they both got busy with the appetites a trip up and down the mountain and a heavy dose of scheming give.