Ghost Detectives Bk. 02: Virus 14-16

"What are you thinking?" asked Ghaziyah.

He smiled. "I think our action in the Canarias is a resounding success."

"It hasn't really started yet."

"It is but a formality. The virus is loose and it will do its work over the next few months."

"You think one of us is false?"

"I will throw that back to you, the stranger, Yafiah's death? We've been compromised."

"I cannot except one of the inner circle is false," Eiliyah sharply retorted.

"Give me something else to convince me there is another path?"

"Doctors Jul and Yar, Taban, our army of lesser soldiers, anyone could have turned to the evil side."

She gave him a contemptuous look. "You are saying Ghaziyah and myself fall under the banner of distrust?"

"I'm saying only the inner circle hold the level of knowledge the authorities seem to know. As to present company, the cloak of distrust is not over you."

"But its shadow falls across the other seven?"

"It is so, Eiliyah, with Diya al Dir and Fatik, I would stake my life they are safe in Allah."

"Yet they are still under the shadow of the cloak."

"The others, like us, have gone to safe houses. How do we contact them?"

"You two don't, you must stay hidden here. I will do what is needed."

"Your face is splashed over the news as the leader as are ours, you'll be seen. We can go out in our robes and hide our faces. Let us make contact."

"No, as the crisis deepens and bodies start to pile, you'll stand out wearing your burqa and they will force you to show your face. I will shave my head and lighten my skin. If anything happens to me you two must take the fight forward but I need to make sure our foot soldiers are in place around the country and our compatriots abroad are ready to unleash our final solution."

"Everything is ready, there is no need for you to risk travelling. The cans of spray are waiting to be distributed."

"I gave the order to distribute the cans last night and to dispense vaccine to the faithful in Allah we need to keep alive, everything will be in place over the next two weeks. Then we open the cans of death and wait for Allah's wrath to be unleashed against the Infidels." He spent the next few hours shaving his hair and using a skin lightener on his head, face and arms and bulked up his lips and cheeks by using botox. He had secured other safe locations around the country and had allocated one to each individual member of the gang of ten telling them to keep their location secret and not share even that information with each other but he knew where everyone was and his first call was to Fatik in Newport. His name had been mentioned in the news but there were no pictures which gave him an added advantage over some of the others. Hadi, Sadeen and Kanval's picture was shown on the television and in the papers as were the two other women. The remaining members, Abyan, Adham, Diya al Dir were also faceless and he had convinced himself that the leak had come from one of these three while keeping an open mind that perhaps the leak didn't come from any of them but felt that was unlikely and had a feeling that the stranger he'd met in Tenerife was a handler and if he could get to him, he'd have his answer.

He sat in a coffee shop opposite the flat and text Fatik. A minute later Fatik informed him he was at his allotted location. Abisali told him to go to the library and wait for him. A little while later, he saw him leave his flat and walk towards the library. He watched to see if anyone followed and when he felt it safe trailed behind him keeping out of sight. He sat on a park bench opposite the library, waited twenty minutes and text him again telling him to go into the Blue Cross pub a ten-minute walk up the road. This pub had a few different entrances and exits, one particularly close to a large manhole which he could use to expedite his escape should he need to use it. He was sure Fatik was not the informer but he had survived this long by being careful and he wasn't about to let his guard down until the iota of doubt he held was a hundred percent extinguished. Again, he waited and watched entering the pub using the entrance near the manhole.

Abisali sat next to Fatik and spoke to him. Fatik, recognising Abisali's voice snarled, "why the games?" He wasn't in a particularly placid mood after been given the runaround.

"There is an informer in our group."

Angered, Fatik stood ready to challenge. "You think it's me?" he growled.

"Keep your voice down," Abisali shot back. "No, I don't think it's you but we've been compromised and I needed to be sure. Sit back down."

"Who do you suspect?"

"It is not you so I'll say no more."

"You can't give me the run around because you don't trust me and then say you trust me without an explanation all in the same morning."

He was right of course so he needed to placate him. "Someone has betrayed us and they could have had you under surveillance waiting for me to turn up. As I said, I was taking precautions."

That was enough to satisfy his ego and his sense of outrage and sat down. "Sorry I took umbrage; I was shocked that you doubted me but I understand now why you did it."

"Let's move on. The spray cans will be distributed shortly here and in other countries and I want you to take a tour of the cells to make sure they are fully on board but I'm not expecting any problems. All are single cell individuals and I will give you their locations one at a time. I was hoping to get a lot more but with what has happened we only have twelve."

"I could get a few more."

"No, the risk is too great, we'll run with what we've got. There's enough in each can to spray over twenty separate locations. They don't need to use a lot; one or two squirts is all that's required." He handed him a box. "You know what to say. One tablet per day for three days and the fourth after the work is completed. "I have a vial of vaccine, so we need to go somewhere private so I can inject you. Here is the first location. His name is Rabbani, text me after each one and you will receive another name and address. From now on your only contact is me. Give me your phone."

"I have all my numbers stored in it, what's going... You said I'm not under suspicion."

"If one of the brother's phone you, the location can be traced, just another added precaution. I'll take the sim card out and copy the numbers for you. Inside the box I've given you, is another phone with my number pre-programmed into it. From now until further notice you make contact only with me and phone no one else, understood? Start to contact your fellow brothers today." He held out his hand and he gave him his phone, walked down near the river where he gave him an injection and they parted.

"There was nothing else for it, one of the three was the informer and time was short; he knew what he needed to do to protect the integrity of the plan of a world caliphate. He text Diya al Dir to meet him near the footbridge over the river in an hour. He followed a similar process as he did with Fatik and when they finally met four hours later in a remote location, they sat together talking for twenty minutes. When Diya al Dir turned to go, Abisali slit his throat and, as he bled out, congratulated his fellow soldier in Allah on a speedy voyage to the glorious halls of the seventy virgins and to keep a seat for him. He dragged the body into the undergrowth and covered it with leaves and small branches for maggots and worms to feed upon, and apologised, for in this war there could be no sentiment. The same fate found Adham and Abyan the next day. One he believed was the traitor, but to be sure the three had to die.