50

HEZBOLLAH COMMAND BUNKER, BEIRUT, LEBANON

It was now the Sheikh’s turn to go on live television.

Unlike the Iranian president, the leader of Hezbollah had never done this before. He disdained the media, preferring to operate in the shadows. It was not only safer, but he found it was far more effective. Yet now, one of his own men—an infidel worthy only of the fires of eternal damnation—had forced him into the klieg lights, and he was livid.

Worse, just moments before, his chief of counterintelligence, the estimable General Mubarak, had informed him that the commando team sent to capture al-Masri’s family had come up empty. No one was in the flat, all the family’s clothes were gone, and their safe had been cleared out. None of the neighbors had seen them leave or knew where they were. Apoplectic, the Sheikh had ordered Mubarak to check the manifests of every plane that had departed Beirut in the last week and find out where they had gone. But that search, too, had come up empty.

Ja’far ibn al-Hussaini was getting played by a shrewd operative. So far, Amin al-Masri was one step ahead of the organization that had trained and funded and nurtured him. It created a bloodlust in al-Hussaini that could not be quenched. For the moment, however, he had urgent and unpleasant business to focus on.

Grossly overweight, dressed in his trademark black robe and turban, and stroking his bushy gray beard, the spiritual leader of Hezbollah gritted his teeth as he stared through smudged spectacles and read from the teleprompter the text of the speech that had just arrived from Tehran.

“In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate, praise be to the Lord of All Worlds, and peace be upon our Prophet, and upon the Promised One—Imam al-Mahdi—the Long-Awaited One, the Twelfth and Most Beloved Imam, and peace be upon his infallible household, upon his chosen companions, and upon all the prophets and messengers and martyrs who work tirelessly for the sake of building the glorious final Caliphate,” al-Hussaini began his live broadcast on the Al-Sawt satellite television network.

“Dear brothers and sisters, today—the second of May—a great and glorious new battle has begun against the Zionist criminals and American crusaders,” he continued. “And let me assure you, O loyal, steadfast, and brave warriors, this battle was spoken of long ago by our wise and holy prophets, peace be upon them. Make no mistake. This is no ordinary conflict. This battle was foretold in ages past. It is one that will most assuredly hasten the End of Days and the coming of the Promised One to rule and to reign from al-Quds, from a Palestine finally liberated and thoroughly cleansed from the cancerous tumor of the Zionist entity. And for this, we must give praise to Allah.”

Al-Hussaini, sitting behind a wooden desk—the yellow flag of Hezbollah hanging as a backdrop—glanced down at the pages in his hands. Finding his place and making sure he was accurately transmitting every word, he adjusted his glasses, then looked back into the camera’s lens.

“O warriors of jihad, remain ever faithful in your prayers,” he continued. “Beseech Allah to destroy Israel—that wicked child of Satan—with all haste. Rejoice with me, for I can report that the Zionists are showing their weakness. In the face of our courage and overwhelming might, the filthy Jews have scampered back to their holes with their tails between their legs. They not only retreated. They were prepared to surrender. Why? Because these devils know whom we serve. They know we are the sons of the Twelfth Imam, children of the coming Caliphate—they know that we will eradicate Israel not only off the map but off the pages of history—and in this knowledge they shudder and rightfully so.”

Al-Hussaini leaned forward in his chair.

“Now, with the entire Muslim world laughing at their cowardice, the Zionists are reentering the fight. Their soulless hordes are—right this moment, even as I speak—pouring over the border into the holy terrain of the proud and victorious Lebanese people. But fear not, little ones. There is no reason to worry. The Jews are being drawn into the trap we have carefully been setting for them for so long.”