The Uvalde Raider by Ben English (great books for teens TXT) 📕

us, in the end we are all followers of Allah and you are not. Much like a large family we have our arguments and disagreements, sometimes leading to the shedding of blood. But make no mistake, it is a shared blood and a shared faith. When you or your Zionist allies interfere with members of our large family, we will all turn against you with a fury you cannot even begin to comprehend.

“Shi’a and Sunni will ultimately come together as the brothers they are in Allah’s eyes, and we will defeat you. The Western world constantly underestimates us, as well as that divine power that Allah has bestowed upon those loyal to him. As long as we hold true to his commands, we will once again rule all in a global caliphate.

“Are you aware of the prophecies concerning the Twelfth Imam? Allah willing, he will come in our generation’s time and lead us to victory. Shi’a over Jew, Muslim over Christian, the Prophet Muhammad over your Jesus, Allah over your God. It is already written, all we must do is to remain faithful. It is our destiny. The symbol of Hezbollah itself is a globe with an upraised arm brandishing a Kalashnikov. It is symbolic of our total devotion to the imposition of Islam through jihad, by any means necessary.”

Yahla al-Qassam’s very being was now overflowing in a flood of theistic zeal, his words building upon each other in devoutness as well as intensity. With his three prisoners acting as a captive audience he was reaching a near frenetic zenith, pacing the floor before them and waving about his arms and hands for added effect. Then in mid-stride he abruptly stopped and pivoted about, gesturing again to the restored heavy bomber waiting outside.

“Your airplane will be the harbinger of a new kind of terror unheard of to this point, with a killing capacity unimagined by those who designed it in the 1930s or by anyone who ever flew it before. You have a great city in your state, a city that is home to a population of nearly one million people and five different American military bases. It is a thriving hub for commerce and travel, as well as a cherished landmark for your people’s history and culture. You call it San Antonio.

“What will happen there tomorrow morning will be the beginning of what is to come. I chose my target carefully, Colonel, in the very same manner as everything else having to do with this mission. It has been said that the goal of war is not in how many people you kill but rather how one can break the will of a people to resist. Can you think of a better place to do so than at the very site and symbol of your Texas fight for independence, the very ground on which your venerated Alamo still stands?

“Think of the irony of it all, Colonel Templar. An antique bomber once used to destroy your enemies and now owned by a man first sired by some long–forgotten Crusader, being used to destroy a cherished mission and city that are near sanctified symbols of your beliefs and way of life. All done in the name of Islam, and all done to sweep in a more enlightened belief system and way of life. Can you think of a better example of the odd circumstances of destiny, Colonel?”

Qassam stood in front of them, his lips slightly curled and exposing his white, gleaming teeth in a sort of predatory animal-like snarl. The man’s brows peaked in fierce assertion, and his eyes were flared wide and glowing with something beyond mere mortal malfeasance. His was the countenance of evil personified, an evil driven by something beyond the tangible realm. Every one of the captives before him had looked upon pure wickedness before, but nothing quite akin to what was in their presence now.

Yet through it all Ezekiel Templar gave every appearance of being unshaken by Qassam’s vitriolic tirade, refusing to be emotionally distracted or dismayed in confirming what exactly the terrorist had in mind. Still angling for this knowledge and another chink in his opponent’s armor, he decided to push a bit more.

With a feigned casualness, Ezekiel commented, “Qassam, you are putting a great deal of hope into a fifty-year-old bomber with some plastic drums slung into its belly. Because if you do manage to get it off the ground without killing yourself and manage to find San Antonio before being shot out of the sky, there’s no amount of high explosives that you could conceivably stuff into that plane to make any real difference or change.

“Yes, you might be able to blow something up and kill some innocent people but you’re not going to break their will. About all you can really accomplish is make them mad enough to track you and your organization down to do likewise, no matter what rock you decide to hide under or how long it takes. Now, for everybody involved, don’t you think you’d better call this off while you still can?”

The Hezbollah leader, eyes still wide and ablaze with a fire sparked by a supernatural malignancy, stared intently at the elderly man for a long moment. His features began to soften ever so slightly as he regained control of the raging beast that had escaped from within.

“Your continuing concern for our welfare never ceases to amaze me, Colonel,” Qassam remarked, “nor to amuse. We will get your airplane off the ground safely and we will accomplish our objective as planned. This is not a massed bomber mission over Berlin in the winter of 1944, but rather a pleasure flight in peaceful skies by an enduring relic of your victory in that war. No one will suspect otherwise until it is far too late.

“As far as the effectiveness of our weapons, who said it would be high explosives? Once again, you assume far too