57

 

Tehran, Iran

This time, Ali bin Rahman chose to be as direct as possible with Reverend Shahidi. The great day that he, and others, had planned for over the past two years was almost upon them. He didn’t want to let the opportunity slip past them. Too much was at stake.

The forces were in play. There was only one more puzzle piece to put in place, and bin Rahman felt it was time to reveal that part of the chessboard to Shahidi.

The al Qaeda deputy knew that Shahidi had no intention, at all, of reaching a lasting peace with the Americans or the Israelis. What bin Rahman didn’t understand was why Shahidi even bothered to use diplomacy at all. It made no sense to him.

In contrast, bin Rahman was actually a religious man. He was no cleric, but he did genuinely believe that his cause was both just and holy. He believed in a united, pan-Islamic caliphate. He would work toward that unification until his death, if need be.

And he saw, in a way that he hadn’t seen before, how Iran was at the epicenter of that effort. In the space of two short years, Iran had managed to take on the Jews in Israel, the Christian infidels in America, and now the corrupted Saudis, who ruled the kingdom with an iron fist, oppressing a Shi’a minority that looked to Iran for guidance.

What bin Rahman had never anticipated—what he could not have predicted—was that they would benefit from someone inside the House of Saud who saw a common cause in dissent in the kingdom. With Prince Natal’s covert help, bin Rahman and General Zhubin believed they could create such turmoil in Saudi Arabia that Iran could very quickly become the region’s preeminent superpower and take on Israel directly. The Day of Anger had appeared, magically, at the right moment.

But there was one more puzzle piece they needed—one that would throw the suspicion squarely on the Israelis and their newfound surge toward a status as the crossing point for the world’s oil. And bin Rahman wanted to make sure that Shahidi, at least, knew who was responsible.

He also wanted to deliver a final message to Iran’s Supreme Leader. Once the Day of Anger had begun in the Saudi cities and his men had delivered a final blow to draw Israel firmly into the equation, bin Rahman had made the decision to leave the safe confines of Iran. He’d already made plans to join the Palestinian cause and fight for control of Beersheba.

It was a gamble and one that would likely end up badly. But bin Rahman knew his time was running out in Iran, and there was little else he could do. Going to stake a claim in the new Palestinian homeland, he felt, was his only play.

At a minimum, it would put Israel to the test. If the Israelis hunted and killed bin Rahman in what was rapidly becoming known as a true, free Palestinian state, then he would be a martyr. But if he survived, he had a chance to lead the country.

Once, Yasser Arafat had managed to make the transition from terrorist to world leader. He’d never managed to lead an actual Palestinian homeland—mostly because he could never curb his lust for violent opposition to the Israelis—but he had at least survived to stake a claim.

Bin Rahman hoped to do the same, with much more at stake. The Palestinians were streaming in to southern Israel. American military forces were keeping the peace and making sure that the Israelis did not overrun the tens of thousands of refugees trickling across their borders. The time of decision on the final status of the new Palestinian nation was at hand.

The al Qaeda leader also had one other card to play—one that very few had anticipated. It would become apparent soon, though, and bin Rahman wanted to be at hand when the world took notice.

When the Twelfth Imam did make his reappearance, it would become nearly impossible for world leaders to deal with the phenomenon. And it would be doubly hard once they realized the hidden imam had no nationality to speak of. No country could, or would, be able to claim him. It would seem as if the Mahdi had materialized out of thin air.

Which was the opening bin Rahman would wait for. On that day, he would claim the Twelfth Imam as the central religious authority for the new Palestinian homeland.

If bin Rahman moved swiftly enough, the Mahdi could become the first prophet since Muhammad to lay claim to at least a piece of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Some claim to that part of Jerusalem was still very much in the thick of the peace talks over the Palestinian homeland, despite the efforts to make Beersheba the capital of the new state.

And once that happened, all bets were off. The world would have an extraordinarily difficult time dealing with the Mahdi. They were used to principalities and powers belonging to nation-states. When one or two came along without a nation as a home, the game changed.

But first, bin Rahman had a message to deliver to Shahidi and then Ahmadian after that. While the Israelis made plans to reopen the Gulf of Aqaba for oil shipping traffic to the Far East, they were about to see those plans disrupted.