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

After the successful completion of several operations of limited scope, Yahla al-Qassam soon found himself involved in bigger, far more lethal schemes. When others thought in terms of car bombs, he came up with the idea of trucks packed with high explosives. While others were content to murder select individuals, he instead saw the real value of not only kidnapping them for some sort of renumeration but also in using the event as a major propaganda coup.

Deftly playing the psychological shock involved in abduction for maximum effect, al-Qassam would dangle the hapless hostage’s continued well-being like so much red meat in front of ravenous mass media outlets. The right date, the right time, the right circumstance, the right pronouncement, all figured into a complicated game of human perception, human feeling and human frailties. And each time he proved himself a master in each.

Lastly, when he did decide to commit outright murder, the Iranian thought in much grander terms than one or even a few victims. If the truth be known, it was his innovation and operational skills that led to the deaths of hundreds of foreign troops assigned to Lebanon as peacekeepers. Some of these operations were so well planned and executed they occurred near simultaneously, including certain suicide bombings in Beirut that left behind massed piles of dead and broken bodies.

These rabid attacks ultimately led to the evacuation of those American, French and Italian forces that had been sent to that unhappy land, to keep a peace no one else really seemed to want. Their removal, along with the growing disarray of the official Lebanese government, allowed Hezbollah to expand exponentially in both size and capability, becoming a de facto shadow government on its own. Yahla al-Qassam could take a large amount of credit in that emergence.

Sometime later this rising obelisk amid a sea of human horrors returned to Iran, toying with a germ of an idea that by far eclipsed anything that any terrorist cell had ever attempted before. Ironically enough he owed much of this evolving brainchild to his Iraqi enemies, against whom his countrymen were still fighting.

The Iran-Iraq conflict had seen the first massive use of chemical weapons since World War One. The Iranians suffered tens of thousands of casualties when exposed to Saddam Hussein’s weaponized stockpiles, and the overall effectiveness of this hellish style of wholesale killing captured both al-Qassam’s eye as well as his imagination.

A nerve agent could be a spectacular tool in the maturing arsenal of international terrorism, and would be an act that would not only potentially cause tens of thousands of casualties, but would also spread fear and panic among millions of other human beings not otherwise affected. The actual employment and rippling aftereffects from this type of attack was sure to send far reaching shockwaves through any nation’s economic, medical, governmental and societal infrastructures. This would be true for even the most powerful nation on earth, the hated Great Satan of the United States of America.

Yahla al-Qassam had proposed his evolving succubus to his superiors in Sephah, who were enthusiastic of this intriguing plan from one of their best and brightest. They in turn took the idea to their ruling council of mullahs who considered it a divination from Allah himself, an assured way to strike a fearsome blow to the very heart and soul of the infidels who stood against them. More information was requested.

More information was given. Have whatever nerve agent chosen for the mission shipped into a port in Mexico, a third world country not well-versed in physical security measures or imported goods enforcement. Use freighters with Cuban registries for the transport of personnel and equipment, a nation with which Mexico shared close diplomatic as well as economic ties. Befittingly enough, Cuba was also quite friendly with the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as various terrorist groups, and had been willingly utilized for such activities before.

As in standard operating procedure for these sorts of strikes, three teams would be created to get the job done. One would be a reconnaissance group, the first to arrive to choose the best routes, set up safe houses and gather the needed human intelligence. Once they completed their task, they would be withdrawn for debriefing and a support team inserted to set up for the coming strike group, who would conduct the attack itself.

The nerve agent as well as the apparatus needed for dispersal would go in with the support team, then situated at a pre-chosen location along with the supplies and equipment needed for the strike group. While being moved, the weaponized chemicals and attending ancillaries would have every appearance of typical crop dusting implements bound for northern Mexico.

Each team would consist of proven Sephah and Hezbollah operatives, specifically selected for their skills and knowledge as well as physical characteristics to blend more easily into the general Mexican population. Their target would be a major city just inside the long, porous border with the United States; a city selected for size, significance, and the availability of surrounding remote areas.

The delivery of the agent would come from an aircraft capable of lifting and dispersing the considerable chemical payload. Finally, the strike team would escape back across the border in the ensuing confusion and panic, and arrive in friendly territory along with the support group within 72 hours of completing their mission.

Soon enough al-Qassam was working diligently to bring his personal angra mainyu into reality. At first he had calculated on using Sarin as the nerve agent, but his well-placed contacts in the Syrian intelligence services told him of a recent success that changed his mind. Aided and abetted by scientists working in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, they had combined their resources to produce the chemical concoction known as VX.

VX was a more advanced compound than Sarin and had a far better shelf life, as well as a much longer persistence once distributed on target.