The Caliphate by André Gallo (books to read for 13 year olds .TXT) 📕

into the bottom of the lock with one hand. With the other, he introduced the metallic pick in the lock and tried to feel the pins inside. He counted four.

     Kella came up behind him.

     “Do you actually know what you’re doing?”

     “You pick up very peculiar pieces of trivia growing up in the house of an intelligence officer. So, yes, I’m trying to lift the pins out of the cylinder. The pressure I’m putting on the cylinder with the plier keeps the pins up after I lift them up. When all the pins are up, the cylinder should turn.”

     The long-nosed plier moved a bit and then all the way. The lock had given up.

     “Voilà!”

     He put his right hand up in a flourish. Then he pushed the lever handle down slowly and, with Kella peering around him, he opened the door.

***

Immediately after leaving Habib, al Khalil went up to the ground floor to check on their situation and see how close the Israeli commandos were getting. He had also gone upstairs to call Salim on his satellite phone. He reached him in Cairo on his way to a meeting of the Brotherhood. He gave him a short version of what was happening.

     “I want you to hold a press conference as soon as possible. You’re on your way to Ikhwan headquarters? Great, schedule it there. But do it within the hour, within the half hour if you can. Say that you have news of the takeover in Israel.”

     An angry Salim replied, “I’m surprised that you chose a target in the middle of Israel. I didn’t know you to have a death wish, to want to die a shaheed, a martyr.”

     “This is the most important blow struck against the Zionists, ever. This is historical!”

Al Khalil quickly brought him up to date on his takedown of the Israeli military installation masquerading as an agricultural research center.

     “Salim, this is your hour. Everything depends on our credibility. Alert the brothers to set up security around the press conference. The police may try to shut you down, or worse.”

***

General Joulet was in his Paris office when an aide walked in with a message, saying, “This is urgent, mon Générale.”

     The message was an intercepted conversation from al Khalil’s phone. He immediately called the Mossad representative in Paris and told him, “We have information concerning an ongoing hostage situation in Israel. Since one of the hostages is my adopted granddaughter, I have a personal interest. The leader of the group responsible is al Khalil. I’m sure you have as much information on him as we do. I don’t understand this part about Israeli space lasers that your al Khalil now controls. I’d like you to ask your headquarters and get back to me. I need to brief the Elysée Palace quickly.”

     Joulet then called his daughter Alexandra, wife of the American ambassador to Israel, angry that he had to learn of Kella’s kidnapping from intelligence sources. He then ordered that the entire CIMETERRE case be reviewed by the Inspector General’s office, and that the responsible case officer, Captain Lucien Roger, be investigated and punished for incompetence or lack of integrity or even treason.

13:15

Salim stood on a raised platform at one end of a large room lined with forty rows of chairs. The room was half-full but filling quickly. He stood behind a podium with his notes in front of him. When the room was quiet enough to speak, he began.

     “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and messenger. Muslim brothers of the world, peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. I bring you an important message from Tariq al Khalil.”

     After receiving his orders, Salim had tried to reach David Ben Tov but had not succeeded. He was holding his news conference in the Muslim Brotherhood center in Cairo. Not all of the city’s media representatives were present; he had given them only forty-five-minutes’ warning. However, many Egyptian correspondents were present, especially those of a radical Muslim slant who were more likely to respond to a call from the Brotherhood. Al Jazeera was there, he noted with satisfaction, and would spread Tariq’s message worldwide.

     “Today is a great day for Islam,” Salim continued. “Thanks to the inspiration and guidance of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, Islam has started to re-conquer the lands of the Caliphate. Our son and the right hand of Allah on earth, Tariq al Khalil, may Allah continue to favor him, has taken by force of arms an important military center in the heart of Palestine. On his behalf, I address this message to the chiefs of state who have brought their countries back to the pagan era preceding Allah’s revelation to the Prophet, may Allah favor him.”

     Salim picked up a sheet of paper from the podium. He moved to the forward edge of the platform and raised his voice to mitigate the absence of the microphone.

     “To you, false leaders, Tariq al Khalil says,” ‘Every day you are insulting Allah, the Merciful, the Almighty. You are blasphemers. You are worshippers of idols. You should be cleansed from the face of this earth. However, I, Tariq al Khalil, am offering you redemption. Instead of sacrificing you immediately on the altar to Allah, as I now have the power to do, thanks to Allah—Exalted is He—I am giving you 24 hours, 24 hours to hand over power to the Ikhwan, or to the Salafists in your countries.

     ‘To my Ikhwan Brothers, I say, this is the day when we begin the recreation of the Caliphate of old, when we establish Allah’s law on earth, Sharia law, to replace the man-made substitutes. This is the day when we begin to retake our land,