Blowback

“We came here looking for Rayburn. He’s the one who put together the hunt for Hannibal ’s mysterious weapon. Once the weapon was found and made ready for modern use, everyone associated with it was killed, by an al-Qaeda assassin.”

“Or kidnapped. Emir might still be alive,” said Jillian.

“Fine,” replied Harvath, “but it’s no coincidence that both the Aga Khan and Rayburn are known to be in this village. The Aga Khan is the Shia connection, and Khalid Alomari is the Sunni. All of the al-Qaeda are Sunni.”

“What’s the difference, though? They’re all Muslims.”

“That’s not the way the Sunnis see it. To a good number of them, the Shia are even worse than Western infidel Christians. Hard to believe, isn’t it?” said Harvath. “Even holier-than-thou Muslim terrorists are prejudiced against other followers of Islam, but at this point nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to these people. As far as I’m concerned, there are only two kinds of Muslims in the world-good ones and bad ones. Other than that, I really don’t care. That’s not my department.”

“I still don’t understand why the distinction is important.”

“Most of the terrorism, “He tried to explain, “all that militant, radical fundamentalist Wahhabi crap out of Saudi Arabia, is Sunni. The only major Shia problem out there is the Iranians.”

“But if they all follow Islam, where does the acrimony come from?”

“Simple,” said Harvath. “Thirteen hundred years ago, the Prophet Muhammad died without leaving a will.”

“I don’t get it.”

Harvath turned up the air conditioning and said, “During his time, the Prophet Muhammad had created his own earthly kingdom or caliphate. After his death, his successors were known as caliphs, and it was their job to lead the worldwide Muslim community, or ummah. But after the fourth caliph, Ali, was assassinated in 661, a schism erupted between the Sunni and the Shia. The Sunnis believe that Muhammad had intended for the Muslim community to choose a successor, or caliph, by consensus to lead the caliphate, while the Shia believe that Muhammad had chosen his son-in-law, Ali, as his successor and that only the descendents of Ali and his wife, Fatima, were entitled to rule.”

“But what does any of this have to do with the Aga Khan?”

“Now we start drifting into the realm of the very interesting,” said Harvath as he signaled to change lanes. “The Aga Khan, as I’ve said, is Shia, and the Shia have a very esoteric interpretation of the Koran. They believe that beneath the explicit and literal levels is another level entirely, and it is on that level that all of the secrets of the universe are contained.”

“Including scientific secrets?” asked Jillian, anticipating where he was going.

“Yes, including scientific secrets.”

“What’s the likelihood that he was involved with the organization Emir was working for?”

“The Islamic Institute for Science and Technology?” replied Harvath. “Anything is possible. It takes a lot of money to fund the expeditions they were engaged in, and the Aga Khan has lots and lots of money. Not only that, but the specific type of expeditions they were conducting would fit very nicely with the Shia interpretation of the Koran.”

“Actually, any follower of Islamic science, Shia or Sunni, believes that the Koran contains the keys to the mysteries of the universe.”

“True,” stated Harvath, “but it’s the fact that the Sunni and Shia seem to be working together at such a high level on this that is so interesting. Maybe using Islamic science to rid the world of nonbelievers is the first thing both camps have ever been able to come together and agree on.”

“That could be,” said Jillian, “but then how does al-Qaeda fit into all this? I see what you mean, at least with the Aga Khan being involved, there is cooperation from at least one camp at a very high level, but who are the high-level operators on the Sunni side? Al-Qaeda? They’ve always struck me as nothing more than narrow-minded thugs. They’re just terrorists.”

Jillian was right, but there was a piece of the puzzle that she didn’t have. “There is a theory in Western intelligence circles,” said Harvath, “and it has been regularly dismissed as being too far-fetched, but the theory is that there is somebody very far removed from the al-Qaeda organization who pulls their strings. I’m starting to think that theory might hold some water.”

“Someone above bin Laden?”

“Above bin Laden and beyond Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden’s second in command, whom many believe is a lot smarter than bin Laden and could even be the real head of al-Qaeda.”

“But that’s not what you’re talking about, is it?”