The Mark of the Rebel

by B K Thomas

  Mashal has a great deal of respect for the scientist. Zamir is a brilliant man and his dedication to the cause is unquestioned. Of course, his first love is revenge, but Mashal knows he is dedicated to the cause. It is the only means for him to impose his revenge on those that destroyed his family. For that privilege, he is willing to do anything. Mashal watches the work unfold before him and is inspired. He doesn’t believe in coincidence. He has been guided each step of the way. The prison was a step on the road to his destiny. His faith had been shaken when he was cast into prison, but while he was there, he was encouraged, and his childhood dream found a place to grow. He thought of the other men that had joined in the effort along the way. Even now, he has two men sitting in a bunker who are going to sacrifice themselves for the cause. Men of such dedication they are willing to lay themselves down for the greater good. He admires such men. They are necessary to achieve the ultimate goal, the Mahdi. He will come when Mashal has fully set the stage for his return. The stage will be set in a few hours and act one will play out for all the world to see.

  Chapter 26

  Highway 1, Syria

  Sahila looks out the window as they drive past Mezzah military airbase. She can still see smoke rising from the airfield from the early morning attack. Sadness and relief come to her in waves as the buildings of her city pass by outside the window. The emotions that wash over her with each mile are difficult to put aside. She struggles with the desire to go home and hide and forget all of the pain, but she knows in her heart it is impossible. She wants to at least go home and make her parents leave, but it is not possible either. The sadness of all the loss grips her. It will not allow her to move forward. She is struggling with the turmoil of the departure the further they drive from their home. At the edge of the city, the car pulls off the road into a neighborhood and they pull up to a house.

  Tarek gets out of the car. “Wait here.” He instructs them and walks to the door. The door opens without him knocking and he goes inside. They wait for what seems like an eternity but then he finally emerges and waves for them to join him inside. They pay the driver for the ride and join Tarek in the yard.

  “We have a passage. It will not be easy. It’s a pass through the mountain but we can make it.” Tarek assures them.

  Sahila looks at her sister and back at Tarek. “This is unexpected, but we will do it.”

  “Good” Tarek knows they will, “now we wait,” Tarek tells them bluntly.

  “Wait? Why are we waiting? What are we waiting for?” Sahila asks growing nervous.

  “We must wait for a while. I have a driver that will pick us up in a truck. We will get to the passage just before dark. Don’t worry, I know these people. We can trust them.” Tarek reassures them.

  “Oh, I see.” Sahila is disappointed. She wants to get on the road immediately. The longer it takes the harder it is to leave, but she doesn’t mention it to Tarek. He might understand, but she did not want to give him any reason to be concerned. He is family and they get along, but you never can tell what someone’s reaction might be in such dangerous circumstances. Her family has always been suspicious of him, even before the war. Now, everything is amplified in her mind because the fate of their lives is at stake now.

  They enter the house and see a man, but he doesn’t speak to them. He points to the couch in the living room. A few other people are there already. No one smiles. The fear and tension are suffocating. Sahila and Yaqeena take a seat on the couch next to an older couple. Tarek follows the man into another room and leaves them by themselves on the couch. Sahila looks around for some sort of assurance but none is there. No one speaks. She can smell tea but no one in the room has any. The man must have it in the other room. Yaqeena grabs Sahila’s hand and squeezes it. Yaqeena is tearing up. Sahila understands. She already had the same feelings before they arrived. She is impressed Yaqeena was able to contain them to this point. Sahila squeezes back and they sit holding hands waiting in silence.

  ***

  Old Damascus, Syria

  Umar’s driver pulls up to the apartment building. Umar and the driver walk into the courtyard and up the stairs to the apartment. Umar considered calling for some backup while they drove over but thought how silly he would look in front of his boss asking for help to pick up a woman and her sister. There is no answer when he knocks the first time, so he knocks again. Finally, an older woman answers the door.

  “You must be Sahila’s mother,” Umar states.

  “Yes, I am.” She feigns concern. “Is everything alright?”

  “I don’t know. Is she here?” Umar asks in return.

  “No, she has gone to her cousin’s house. She will be back in three days.” Her mother lies.

  Umar is doubtful but presses on. “That is fine. I need to come in and check the apartment.” Umar says as he starts to enter the apartment. Sahila’s mother steps aside knowing she cannot stop them if she wants to. It is all a formality. They can do whatever they want but it helps them all to keep the pretense up. Somehow it makes it seem like they really did have some rights as people. “Write down the cousin’s address for me while I look around,” Umar instructs her as he and the driver looks throughout the apartment. “When is the last time you saw her?” Umar asks as he takes the address from her.

  “She just left this morning. She was going to the market but planned to catch the bus after and visit our family in Erneh.” Her mother offers as sincerely as she can.

  “Very well, if she comes back before we can make it to her cousin’s, tell her to stay here. Tell her to call this number and ask for me if you hear from her. Your daughter has made trouble for herself. Don’t make trouble for the rest of your family by doing something foolish woman.” Umar orders with a glare.

  “Yes, of course.” Her mama agrees, knowing better than to ask for any information.

  Umar and the driver leave the apartment. “Call headquarters, give them this address and tell them to send men over to wait for her. Tell them to monitor any calls from this house and let us know immediately if it sounds like our girl.” Umar orders on the way to the vehicle. “We will go to her cousin’s house.” Umar decides. “I want to bring her in myself.” Umar declares with bravado. Inside, Umar is nervous though. He may have tipped his hand by going to the house. If Sahila is at the cousin’s, the old woman might call her. The old woman will know he will be listening, and it will be the last thing the old woman does if she tips her daughter off. He knows if the old woman warns her daughter then she doesn’t care what is going to happen to herself anyway. He looks at the address. It is nearly in Jordan. It will take a couple of hours to get there.

  “Let’s go by the office first. I want to look into this family before we go.” He tells his driver. He wants to make sure he doesn’t need back up this time. The office is busy. The intensity has been turned up on getting any information possible on the people responsible for the attacks and who might be holding the bunker. No demands have been made, no claims of responsibility so far, nothing. All they know about the bunker is some dead guards at a nearby gate. Aside from that, the bunker is sealed, and no one can get inside. The commanders are nervous. They have been fighting amongst themselves about how to handle the situation. They know demands will be made at some point. They ordered a tank at each airport entrance and have set up a perimeter around the bunker with enough troops to handle anything conventional that comes out of it. Umar is glad he is just chasing the girl and hasn’t been allocated to something else. He doesn’t want to be anywhere near the bunker. He can tell from the conversations that are happening the end result isn’t going to be good for the guys inside or the guys outside either.

  He logs into his computer and begins looking up Sahila’s family. Nothing on her but her father served in the Army. He was a good soldier. He might be dangerous. He can be the source of all her anti-government rhetoric. Umar makes a mental note to bring the father in for questioning. From the look of the mother, they aren’t going anywhere. She is too
decrepit. The family has some criminal elements. This is interesting. There is a cousin that has been in jail a few times for smuggling. Nothing serious, but obviously a security risk considering the circumstances. But he doesn’t live at the address the mother gave him. He lives in Damascus. Umar will have him picked up for routine questioning. A guy like her cousin might not be involved in anything revolutionary but he might have some other useful information. The most interesting piece of information here is he isn’t the one she went to visit. They might have a family at the address the mother gave him, but he doesn’t show them on record. The more he studies her and her family the more she looks like just some ordinary girl. He wonders how she has become such a firebrand. Everyone is capable of revolution. They just need the right motivation. I wonder if hers really was the husband.

  Umar is lost in the hunt when his stomach rumbles. It is already noon. He tells his driver they should get some lunch before the drive. He isn’t worried about the drive. The city where the girl is going to visit her family remains under government control. It will make him look better to his superiors if he travels outside of Damascus to bring someone in. It will make the presence of the Political Security Directorate more visible. He can have some of the local security forces check on the girl, but he doesn’t want anyone else getting to her before he does. He doesn’t trust the officials out there to do their job and they might try to weasel the credit for themselves somehow. They could be friendly to the family also and warn her, so he will do it himself. Besides, he likes the excuse to get out of the city for a few hours. It is beautiful in Erneh this time of year. The valley will be green since winter is finally finished, but it will be nice to see the snowcapped mountains. He hasn’t been to that area in years.

  They finally leave the office and eat a leisurely meal before the long drive ahead. They enjoy tea and a smoke after the meal because they are in no real hurry. It is after two before they leave the city. On the highway south toward Artoz, they drive half an hour before turning west toward the mountains. Umar enjoys the trip. He might stay overnight if she isn’t there when he arrives. He might wait to see if she shows up the next day so he can take a walk into the mountains in the morning to refresh himself. The war is drawing to a close and he misses the simple pleasures he took for granted before the war. He never expected it to last so long. He is ready for it all to be over so he can enjoy life again. He is glad things are beginning to return to normal.

  ***

  Safe House, Central Damascus

  Zamir is working relentlessly to finish all six bombs. He skipped eating since he is consumed by the task at hand. He has decided to make more bombs than he originally planned due to the crude construction. Mashal wants to deploy them as fast as possible. Zamir calculates he will not get the yield he should out of the materials he has at his disposal, but together they will send a message big enough it can’t be missed. The design is as efficient as he can make under the circumstances. He is certain he will do better if he has another shot at it. A little more time to prepare and work on his designs would make a great difference, but he doesn’t have that now. The situation is fluid and the timetables collapsed on them. He expected more time to work out some of the issues with such crude materials, but everything changed so rapidly he doesn’t have the time to do it. He will still make it worth all the effort. Mashal will not be disappointed.

  The Uranium fits inside the rugged hemispheres they had fashioned. The design is one that has surfaced years ago and Zamir loves the simplicity of it. He knows there are better options if he has the time and tools to make them, but for this first run, he thought it will work exceptionally. The casings around the hemisphere aren’t as snug as he wants. They don’t have the luxury of custom designing or machinery to fabricate the right parts. He knows this design will detonate but he is uncertain about the implosion and the yield it will generate. Regardless, it will work, and he will have more time to refine the design before the next mission.

  “How does it look?” Mashal asks walking up to Zamir who stands staring at the trucks.

  Zamir wipes the sweat from his forehead. “It will work, as long as I don’t kill us all first.” He says with a smile.

  Mashal’s expression does not change. “At least we will leave a mark.”

  Zamir nods. “Indeed, we will.” He agrees as he sits his water down and heads back to the truck.

  This is a good experience for him, and the pressure forces him to adapt and innovate as he goes. He enjoys the challenge and is working as quickly as he can. Zamir and a helper retrieve one of the enriched Uranium spheres and places it into one of the half globe containers. Next, they place the top half of the globe container on and tighten the halves together with bolts. As soon as one bomb is ready, the other men will take it to a truck. Each truck is modified with a barrel in the back of it. A makeshift housing has been designed to hold the bomb to keep it secure while they take it to its target. Each barrel is secured to the walls of the truck by bars that have been welded on as stabilizers. They place the bomb inside of the truck barrel for the next step in the process. Once all the Uranium spheres are assembled and inside the trucks, Zamir takes a break to drink some water. His nerves are steady, but he knows the next step of the process is the most delicate.

  Now, Zamir thinks through the sequence before he starts the most dangerous part of the assembly. He rests his Geiger counter on one of the braces holding the barrel and lets out a deep breath. The C-4 has already been shaped into two halves to mirror the outside of the globes. Detonators had been placed on the C-4 so they look like a spiked ball. The globe shape combined with the arrangement of the detonators will provide the best yield. A compression wave will be generated from all directions leading to the best possible outcome. Preparing the C-4 shape and mounting the detonators in advance made placing it on the housing easier, but not any less dangerous. He slowly places the C-4 around each half of the globe. He listens intently to the Geiger counter as he works the C-4 into place. He stops immediately if hears the counter move. Sweat drips off his forehead into the barrel as he gently works with purpose. The idea is simple the reality is exhausting. His adrenaline has been pumping the whole time and now he is wondering if he might kill them after all. He knew it would be slow work but did not anticipate how tedious it would be. The steady hands of the scientist are rewarded, and they survive the completion of the first bomb. He has five more to complete and he feels like he will need a day’s rest to recover but there is no time for it. The next assembly is as delicate as the last. He moves on to the next one methodically working and listening.

  Zamir calculated the best locations to detonate the weapons-based upon the expected yield. If he only achieved one percent fission it will yield over ten kilotons. He can accept that for a first live test. He will not be able to study the detonation as closely as he would like but he will be able to gather more details in the coming days from the news. The analysis that takes place in public will help him understand how to correct his design as necessary. He smiles at the thought. They are all so arrogant. It is past time to level the field and bring them to their knees.

  Zamir has worked over twelve hours straight and the trucks are all loaded by three forty-five. Mashal gathers the men. They all wear hoods and stand together with an ISIS flag hanging in the background. A man stands in front of the group and begins to speak. “The Islamic State calls to you today. Your governments talk about our destruction. They talk about killing our leaders and weakening us. You fail to understand Allah will never allow this. We will continue to come until the promised one has arrived. You see before you the men who have lit a torch in Damascus for the rest of the world to see and fear. Our day has come. Your city will be next! Join us or perish. Alluah Akbar! Allah Akbar!” The screen recording goes black and the men feel like gods. They are going to unleash a cleansing upon the world, and it starts today.

  Chapter 27

  Highway 1, Syria

  Sahila, her sister and the o
ther people from the house climb into the delivery truck and the door is closed behind them. The man Tarek has been talking with when they arrived turns out to be the driver and Tarek rides up front in the cab with him. Tarek assures the girls it will be a short trip. It is a half-hour drive to Jdaidit Yabws where they will unload. He doesn’t tell them what will happen after that, but he assures them they will be in Lebanon tomorrow. The cracks in the sides of the delivery truck let a little light in but not enough to see outside very well. The dust in the air dances on the wind as they fly down the highway to their destination in fear and silence. Sahila pulls out her phone and checks the time then holds her sister’s hand again.

  The people riding with them stare out into nowhere in particular with blank looks on their faces. Sahila cannot tell if they are afraid, desperate or determined. She wonders how she looks to them. She wonders if they can read the fear in her eyes. She doesn’t tell her sister right now, but she is afraid this is the biggest mistake of their lives. Her mind races with questions about her cousin. Can we really trust him? What if he is selling us to someone, it happens all the time. What if the people he is working with are working for the government? They could all be driving back into Damascus to their deaths. She shakes her head to rid herself of the questions and doubts assailing her mind in the darkness. She pulls her sister closer and prays for deliverance. She looks at her phone when she feels the truck slowing to a stop. It has been forty minutes. The door opens up and her cousin smiles with his hand extended to help everyone out. It is brighter outside than it has been in the truck. They look around and see they are standing on a dirt road with a mountain in front of them. The light is fading, and it will be dark soon. It is five o’clock. Sahila wonders what they are doing. Why have they stopped here? There is nothing around but the truck that brought them. Tarek walks over to her and explains. “We walk from here.” He puts his hand up to stop her from talking so he can finish. “It is a day’s walk. We will walk tonight, and we will be in Lebanon in the morning.” He promises them.