Blowback

SEVENTY-SEVEN

Harvath struggled to piece together everything he was hearing — not only from the Aga Khan, but also from outside the curtained windows where he could make out the sound of an approaching helicopter. Claudia and the rest of the team would not have had enough time to return to Sion and exchange their gliders for something better suited to land on the inhospitable property. All he could think of was that it must have been the Aga Khan’s helicopter coming to ferry him to a meeting in Geneva.

The man studied the look on Harvath’s face and said, “I urge you to take what I’m telling you very seriously. The Ottoman Empire was the only power to ever fully unite the Muslim countries of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and keep them united for over six centuries.”

“But it eventually fell,” replied Harvath.

“Only eighty-plus years ago, which in terms of history, especially Muslim history, isn’t even the blink of an eye. With the rapid advancement of science and Western technology, they were no longer strong enough to keep up a conventional fight. So, instead, they decided on a different course. They stepped back, allowed their dynasty to transform into what is present-day Turkey, and waited for the moment when they could return to reestablish their empire. Millions of Turkish people still greatly identify with their Ottoman heritage. The question ‘Kimsiniz Bey Efendi’ is still asked today as it was over seven hundred years ago during the caliphate. Who are you and what have you contributed toward the greater glory of our people?

“A core Ottoman leadership still exists, though they don’t publicly use the term Ottoman to describe themselves. That being said, there aren’t many Turks who wouldn’t leap at the opportunity for their country to again be seen as one of the most dynamic social, cultural, and religious forces in the world.”

Harvath had trouble believing what he was hearing.

“The Ottoman sultans ruled through succession, through one family,” said the Aga Khan. “That family didn’t just disappear when the empire came to an end. A direct heir to the sultanate still exists. Someone who can trace his lineage back to the very first caliph and a history of Muslim strength and unity that will appeal to all Muslims throughout the Islamic world.”

“And Hannibal’s weapon? The illness?” asked Harvath, less concerned with the history lesson than with getting the answers he had come for.

“It’s all part of their plan to re-create the great Muslim caliphate.”

Putting the pieces together in his mind was like trying to stack cinder blocks on top of wine glasses. He needed to bring things back around to the beginning. “How’d you go from being partners with Akrep to kidnapping Tokay as an act of self-defense?”

“The expeditions carried out by the Islamic Institute were extremely expensive,” said the Aga Khan. “Hundreds of millions of dollars were being spent. The institute was always running low on money. That’s why Akrep came to me. He presented his grand plan for uniting all Muslims and asked if the Shia would help with the financing. We never intended for anyone to die.”

“But the bioweapon was to be used as a means of ridding the world of all non-Muslims,” said Harvath, skeptical of the man’s professed naïveté.

“The idea was to only use the threat of the weapon to scare the Western powers and their troops out of Muslim countries.”

“And you believed that?” pressed Harvath. “Without some show that the weapon really worked, how could you expect anyone to take you seriously?”

“You’re right,” replied the Aga Khan. “I soon realized that without proof, there was no way the weapon would be taken seriously. Because it possessed the abhorrent characteristic of needing to be reconstituted in human hosts before it could be used, Akrep suggested we conduct a trial somewhere which would eventually be discovered by the Americans.”

“Iraq,” responded Harvath. “Asalaam.”

“Correct. Not only would we be able to reconstitute the illness and bring it out of hibernation, but the aftermath would send a clear signal to the United States and its allies that they had a very serious new force to contend with. But I allowed myself to forget my history,” he replied. “Many Sunnis hate the Shia, but the Ottomans were the ones who gave birth to the idea that we Shia are worse than Christians.”

“Yet you went along with them anyway,” said Harvath.

“A chance to unite the fractures in our faith was something I could not so easily pass by. Besides, what Akrep was extending was no mere invitation to tea. The subtext was very clear: either we were with him and the Sunnis or we were against them. Based on the information that archeologist Ellyson brought to the institute about what Hannibal was carrying over the Alps, and how it could be used today, we had no choice.”

“And you just sat back while innocents were killed in Asalaam. But, as long as they were Christians, what did you care?”

“But there weren’t only Christians who were killed in Asalaam.”

“What are you talking about?” said Harvath.

“There were also Shias.”

“Shias? I was told only non-Muslims perished.”

“Then you were told wrong,” replied the Aga Khan. “Sunnis made up the majority of that village and they were the ones who survived.”

“But how?”

“Because the Sunnis believed the Shia were unclean and inferior in the eyes of God, they used separate wells from which to draw their water.”

“So the illness was in the water?” asked Harvath.

“The wells were only part of the process. Akrep never had any intention of bringing the Shia into a united Islam. He double-crossed me and imposed a death sentence on my people. That is why I had Emir Tokay brought here. We needed to know how to immunize our people. I would have arranged to bring more scientists here, but by the time we were able to identify who they all were, Akrep was already having them killed. Tokay was our last chance.”

“And has he been able to help you?”

“Insomuch as he had been able to piece together the pathology of the illness, yes. The Sunnis of Asalaam had in fact been inoculated before the illness was released into the village. A substance had been added to the water in their communal well. Absent exposure to that substance, the rest of the village, the non-Sunni population who used their own wells, eventually succumbed to the illness and died.”

“So he put something in the Sunnis’ water. That’s one well in one village. In the rest of the world, most Sunni, Shia, and other religions share the same water source. I don’t understand how he plans on inoculating only the Sunni on a global basis.”

“That’s simple. Akrep discovered a source of water available only to Sunni Muslims. From what Emir Tokay learned, Akrep claimed to have discovered a special spring somewhere in Saudi Arabia. To that water he would add the inoculation and make it available to only Sunnis.”

“So he was probably going to bottle the water somehow. Do you know where this spring is or where he planned to do his bottling?”

“No, I don’t.”

“How was he planning on getting it to the Sunnis?”

“That I also don’t know. I was never supposed to know. As I said, Akrep never intended to share the inoculation with the Shia. His goal is to rid the Muslim holy lands of all of the Western infidel crusaders, the Shia, and any other groups the Sunnis see as unfit to walk the sacred soil before setting their sights on the rest of the world. It’s no wonder Hitler thought so highly of them. The Ottomans are an amazingly cunning people.”

The Aga Khan knew almost as little as Harvath did about the illness, so he decided to change subjects. “You said there’s an heir to the sultanate. Who is it? Akrep?”

“No, in the Ottoman tradition, the heir has been sent away for safekeeping and will not be called until the caliphate is ready. For lack of a better term, Akrep is the power behind the throne.”

“What power could he possibly have? He doesn’t even have an army.”

“He may not personally, but Turkey does. And after the United States, it is the largest army in NATO.”

“Are you saying the Ottomans can actually call upon the Turkish Army?”

“Eventually they will be able to, but right now it doesn’t matter. They have something much more powerful at their disposal.”

“Which is?”

“Fundamentalist Islam. Wahhabism, to be exact. The radical Muslim movement from which all modern Islamic terrorism has sprung.”

Harvath was all too familiar with the cult of Wahhabism and the sheer devastation it had wrought around the world. “So what are you saying? The Wahhabis are going to do the Ottomans’ work for them?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes. The Wahhabis would love nothing more than to see the Islamic world united as a single body, not just religiously, but politically as well. Even before Osama bin Laden became their most recognized adherent, the Wahhabis were calling for the reestablishment of the Muslim caliphate. The attacks of September 11 were a wake-up call to Muslims to rise up and seize power from the corrupt and apostate regimes that govern them.”

Once again, Harvath was transported back to his conversation with Jillian. “I don’t understand. How are the Ottomans going to use the Wahhabis? And what does it have to do with this illness?”

The Aga Khan looked at him and said, “Revolution.”

“Revolution? Where? Across the Muslim world?”

“Eventually, but first they must set an example — an example that will empower Muslims everywhere to rise up. It will happen in the holiest of countries most dear to all Muslims and a symbol of corruption and Western influence — Saudi Arabia.”

Harvath was stunned. “How can they hope to pull it off? The Saudis rule that country with an iron fist.”

“They have been very patient. With the help of al-Qaeda, the Wahhabis have been able to slowly infiltrate the ranks of the Saudi military and security forces. While there are many soldiers and policemen who are not loyal to bin Laden or the Wahhabi faith, there may not be enough of them to make a difference. Time and again in small skirmishes created by the Wahhabis to test the resolve of the military and police, it has been shown that Saudi troops and policemen will not fire on their own people.”

Harvath felt the blood go cold in his body. “And if American troops in the region try to help put down a revolt—”

“Hannibal’s weapon will be released on them, as well as in the United States. All the Wahhabis will need is twelve hours, twenty-four on the outside, to wrest power from the Saudi Royal Family and take full and unassailable control of the country. Saudi Arabia is the key to the illness, the revolution, everything. And as goes Saudi Arabia, to amend a quote from history, so goes the rest of the Islamic world.”

Harvath knew he was right. Considering the Wahhabis’ deep hate for America and the vast amount of military hardware the Saudi Monarchy had purchased and stockpiled from the U.S. over the years, the new Saudi Arabia, or whatever the extremists would end up calling it, would immediately join the league of rogue nations.

But that wasn’t all. With the Wahhabis’ well-defined social and religious agenda, their breed of radical, fundamentalist Islam would begin to spread to the neighboring states and sheikdoms. Much as the Soviet Union gobbled up its neighbors, the exact same thing would happen in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia playing the role of mother Russia and places like Oman, Qatar, and UAE becoming the next Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia.

As the movement pushed eastward, Pakistan would quickly collapse and along with it any hopes of keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of the Wahhabis. As Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation, joined and became the new China, the Western world would be plunged into a clash more devastating than anything it had ever known.

One thing was for sure, while the extremists might claim to be using the illness solely as a bargaining chip now, there was no question that when they were ready, they would set it loose on the rest of the world.

“How did the Ottomans ever get the Wahhabis to agree to all of this?” asked Harvath.

“The Ottomans recognized the power of the Wahhabis and aligned themselves with them early on. That was how they were able to gain access to bin Laden and create al-Qaeda. It is a relationship of religion and politics — a match made in Paradise. The Wahhabis provided the spiritual justification for revolution and the establishment of a single Islamic state while the Ottomans provided the know-how and ability to run it efficiently. The one thing the Wahhabis recognize is that while they may have had a similar social agenda, the Taliban were defeated because they had no idea how to maintain the sovereignty of their country. That is something the Ottomans have more than proven they are capable of.”

Harvath’s head was reeling. “Without knowing how they are inoculating the Sunni, how the hell can we stop them?”

“You can’t,” said a voice from the other end of the room.

The Aga Khan recognized the voice immediately. “Akrep,” he said as the color drained from his face.