CHAPTER 1

March 18th

Spring was slow coming to this part of northern Pakistan,and the cold March winds coming down off the mountainsstill stung with the biting cold of winter, bitter and harshto anyone unprepared for the vagaries of weather in this part of theworld.

The two Mossad agents struggled head-on onto the wind, wrappedup in their thick sheepskins. Their eyes stung as they trudged wearilyonwards. The village could be seen in the distance, and a young boytended a herd of goats in one of the nearby fields, but he paid the menlittle heed. A village like many others in this region, but one in whichthey finally hoped to find their prey. If it had a name, it wasn't on anymap they knew of, situated on the northern bank of the Indus Rivervalley. To the south, the peaks of Nanga Parbat could be seen, stillcovered in snow. It was a bleak and inhospitable place.

Mullah Ali Bin Wazir was one of the last surviving Taliban whohad sought sanctuary in northern Pakistan, where many of the peopleopenly supported his former regime, still declaring their allegiance forBin Laden. This was a volatile part of the world, as Bin Laden's followersfrequently crossed into Kashmir, engaging Indian forces and generallyfomenting unrest in a region inhabited by two religions, where bothnuclear powers claimed sovereignty. It was now a very dangerous partof the world.

Bin Wazir had fled here from Afghanistan, seeking to consolidatea new power-base, whilst avoiding the long arms of the AmericanPresident in his self-declared `War on Terror'. Like most Americans hetalked big, but delivered very little, and the Mullah thought himselfsafe here, for he knew that President Musharraf would not dare allowany American operation within Pakistan's own borders, for fear of anuprising against his regime by the more extreme religious elements, allfollowers or supporters of Al Qaeda.

Israel did not respect international borders when it came toanti-terrorist operations, and a quiet word from the American CIA wasall they needed to mount an operation of their own within Pakistan.President Musharraf was indeed aware of it, but would never publiclyadmit it. He was playing a delicate political game, only too aware ofthe extremists within his own country who were trying to underminehis rule. Should the mission become public knowledge, he wouldpublicly condemn the Israelis, who knew they walked a thin line acrossinternational opinion. They had been walking such a thin line eversince the foundation of the modern nation of Israel, and they weren'tafraid to cross it if the need arose.

Ali Bin Wazir was one of Osama Bin Laden's Military Commanders,responsible for planning a number of atrocities. Lots of differentnationalities had died when those two mighty towers fell. A lot of themhad been Jews.

* * *

For all the unrest and claims of persecution from the Muslimworld, 95% of the world's terrorists were Muslim. That was a fact thatcouldn't be argued. Religion was ever an excuse for acts which its ownfaith forbade, yet one man's martyr was another's terrorist.

Al Qaeda was worldwide these days, as the world emasculated itselfby allowing the terrorist organisation to proliferate, hiding behindsupposedly `legal' front-organisations. Much of the funding came fromthe rich Saudi families that Bin Laden was connected to, who lookedupon Israel's very existence as an affront.

Too many countries opened their borders too freely, and both legaland illegal, immigrants or refugees were allowed free access. Not manyeven pretended allegiance to their new homelands, but continued tolive their lives the way they had always done, knowing they were freefrom persecution under many countries' laws. Muslims now spreadover the earth much further and more freely than they had ever doneunder the Ottoman Empire.

Many Western countries gave too much weight to ethnic andminority groups, and politicians were too afraid of losing votes to be seento do anything against any of these groups, yet in places like Americaand even England, whites were now considered ethnic minorities insome towns and cities.

Islam was slowly being allowed to spread across the face of theglobe almost unhindered, and it's followers were intent on spreading it'sdoctrine by any means necessary, for it was a very unforgiving religionand would suffer no others.

For sheer fanaticism, Islam couldn't be beaten, because childrenwere made to learn the Koran before being given any other education.Indeed, some never got any further education, as the Koran was supposedto contain all the knowledge its followers needed. Islam looked on therest of the world's religions with scorn, particularly the Christian faith,often ridiculing the New Testament as a prophet's versions of the Wordof God, whilst their own Koran itself was looked upon as the ActualWord of God, though Muslims conveniently forgot to mention that itis "as told by the Prophet Mohammed" so no more reliable, really.

All Muslims were devout, at least in public, and most sincerelybelieved in its doctrines, sure that their reward for carrying out Allah'sWill would be a place in Paradise. Allah's Will, unfortunately, was notusually dictated by Allah himself, but by a variety of Mullahs, whowere more practical than devout. Allah's Will was more hearsay, if truthbe told, but none dare disagree openly with a Mullah's interpretation,for fear of reprisals by the rest of the Faithful. Blind faith was neverblinder.

Anyone critical of Islam could be condemned by a Fatwah, for theKoran told that it was a Muslim's duty to slay any and all followers ofany other religion, if they couldn't be converted to Islam, and thus savetheir souls. Conversely, anyone converting from or denouncing Islam,automatically sentenced himself to death in the eyes of the Mullahs.

* * *

The two Mossad agents knew what their fate would be if they werecaught on such a clandestine operation deep in a Muslim country.Yet, knowing that, they had volunteered for the mission, and hadbeen dropped into Northern Pakistan at night by one of the AmericanBlack Hawk helicopters flying covertly. Three other teams wereoperating across the area, but their whereabouts were unknown, andthe single-burst one time radio they carried was to be used only forextraction.

They had followed the trail diligently for the last four days, listeningand observing, fluent in the northern dialects. Bin Wazir and one of histhree wives had been staying in this village, stationary finally, to attenda meeting of some kind. They would observe this meeting, and thenmake a decision on whether to take out their target or not.

* * *

Inside the house, Bin Wazir and his followers enjoyed the warmthof a fire, whilst listening to the wind outside. The old man felt the coldmore in his bones these days, and he sat close to the flames. He stillhad plenty of fat on those bones, though a couple of old wounds achedunless he kept well wrapped up against the elements, and he needed astick to walk, these days. Of average height, he was still dwarfed by hisguest, who looked taller, even sitting down.

The house had windows of glass, keeping out the elements, unlikemost of the dwellings in the town, which put up shutters in thecolder months. Bin Wazir had a good view out across the valley andsurrounding hills. So did his bodyguards.

The Mullah took the first small cup of coffee from his wife andsipped, nodding to the only other man in the room, who sat on...