The Blasphemer (18 page)

But right here, right now, he found it… distasteful.

They arrived back at the front of the house, and he hesitated. Listened to the wind ruffling the trees. The rainwater coursing into the sidewalk’s gutter. A dog barking from somewhere far off.

Emmerich tipped her chin. ‘Are we good to go?’

Devlin bunched up his shoulders, and slowly, very slowly, he nodded. ‘Yes.’

They moved up the driveway. Passed the garage. A motion-sensor light came on, and he blinked, his face itching under his disguise.
Damn it.
He wished he was anywhere but here.

They carried on to the porch, to the front door, and another light came on. Emmerich released Devlin’s hand and hit the doorbell. Then she stepped back and readied the camera on her cellphone.

Breathing through his teeth, Devlin slipped his hands into his pockets. Fingered his weapons—a Ruger twenty-two and a medical-grade scalpel. Shivered as he considered what he was about to do.

CHAPTER 51

Devlin heard the shuffling of feet, and past the frosted glass on the door, he glimpsed movement, hazy and distorted. Maybe Ramesh. Or maybe his wife, Sharma.

Devlin tensed up, adrenalin warming his muscles.

He disengaged the safety on his gun.

This is it.

The door unlocked. Opened. And… the person standing there was a boy. Wide-eyed and rosy-cheeked. Grinning at him through a missing tooth. And in that moment of moments, Devlin felt his stomach drop. As if he had been plunged into the worst kind of purgatory.

No…

Devlin shot Emmerich a glance, but she just flicked her hair over her shoulder and gave him a shrug. Continued aiming her camera. Continued recording.

Devlin swallowed hard.

What are you waiting for?

He’s just a boy. He’s innocent.

It doesn’t matter. He’s your target now.

He wasn’t on the dossier.

Improvise. Adapt. Seize the opportunity.

If I do this, there’s no turning back.

So be it.

Sucking in shallow breaths, Devlin drew his gun. Raised it. But—
damn it
—his nerves were raw, and his aim danced and wavered.

Do it. Just do it.

Devlin squeezed the trigger. And the boy’s kneecap exploded, and he doubled over, howling. Devlin took two quick steps and caught the boy before he hit the floor. Snatched his hair. Jerked his head back. Held him upright.

The boy thrashed and jerked, his screams reaching a god-awful pitch, and Devlin struggled to maintain his composure. He drew his scalpel, its edge scintillating in the light. He hesitated, his heart hammering in his ears, before pressing the blade against the boy’s throat.

Do it. Just do it.

Devlin made a smooth, seamless cut, severing both the jugular and the carotid veins. The boy twitched and arched his back. His eyes went glassy, and he gurgled as the life pulsed out of him.

It was mind-numbing.

Gut-wrenching.

And Devlin choked up, the copper stink of blood filling his nostrils, smothering his lungs.

‘Allahu akbar!’
Emmerich cried out, her camera taking it all in.
‘Allahu akbar!’

Devlin felt a dizzying ripple of emotions. Grief. Loathing. Shame. But—
fuck
—there was no time to pause. No time to wallow. His fingers were numb as he closed the boy’s eyes and set him down. Then, with a lingering glance, he turned away and broke into a run.

Someone shrieked from inside the house.

Sharma.

The boy’s grandmother.

But Devlin didn’t dare look back. Just pushed himself to sprint harder, his chest heaving, sweat beading his face.

Emmerich matched him pace for pace as they tore down the driveway, hit the street and threaded through the neighbourhood, everything a furious blur.

Tears stung Devlin’s eyes, and bile clawed at the back of his throat, sharp as barbwire. He had to clutch his mouth. To stop himself from retching. To stop himself from vomiting.

Dear God. What have I done?

CHAPTER 52

Maya performed a perimeter sweep of the safe house’s compound, feeling the breeze on her face and the wet grass sloshing under her shoes. The rain had stopped, the clouds had rolled back, and the moon was a silvery crescent in the sky.

It felt serene.

Peaceful.

And Maya reassured herself that their operational security was as good as it was ever going to be.

Gabrielle had posted two plainclothes officers up front and another two at the rear, watching the usual routes of ingress. And any blind spots would be covered by CCTV cameras, capable of capturing images in both night-vision and infrared. And, just for good measure, they had installed pressure sensors under the grass—sensitive enough to detect an intruding human, but smart enough to ignore the odd prowling cat.

Maya stopped on the front lawn. Folded her arms. Listened to the sounds of insects chirping. All they had to do now was sew things up tight, work in shifts and remain vigilant until the morning…

That’s when her phone rang.

Maya smoothed her hand through her hair and answered. ‘Hello, Mama. Please tell me Adam’s okay.’

‘Adam’s fine. He’s back at Section One. And Dr Singh’s working to stabilise Tong.’ Mama paused. ‘But that’s not why I’m calling.’

Maya frowned. ‘Something’s happened…’

‘Something ugly. Do you know who Ramesh Kahoku is?’

‘Um, no. Can’t say I do.’

‘He’s the editor-in-chief of Silver Lake Books—a publisher. He’s been bidding hard for the print rights to Abraham Khan’s book. And… two unsubs struck at his house just moments ago. A professional hit, by the looks of it.’

Maya felt a chill feather the back of her neck. ‘They killed him?’

Mama exhaled. ‘No, not him. His grandson. His eight-year-old grandson. They kneecapped the poor boy when he answered the door. Slit his throat.’

Maya clenched her phone tight. ‘Jesus.’

‘And it gets worse—they filmed it. They filmed the murder and turned it into an Al-Shukur propaganda video. And we can’t stop it, Maya. It’s mirroring all over the net, and it’s spreading like wildfire…’

PART THREE

CHAPTER 53

‘Good morning. I’m Hayley Ngata, and you’re listening to Tough Talk. My guest in the studio today is Dr Samantha LeRoux, one of the country’s brightest minds. Originally from Louisiana in the United States, she once served in a covert position in the CIA. So terrorism is more than just a byword to her. She’s been on the front line, seeing and doing things most of us can only imagine. These days, though, she has made the switch from spook to academic. She’s currently a senior lecturer of political studies at AucklandUniversity and writes extensively on international relations. Dr LeRoux, welcome. Thank you for joining us today.’

‘Thank you, Hayley. I only wish we were speaking under better circumstances.’

‘Yes, last night… last night’s incident was shocking. And the video as well. It’s gruesome. Gruesome beyond words. I mean, people are starting to ask questions about our Muslim community. Has it been infiltrated by an organised terror group? Al-Shukur?’

‘It is a distressing time, absolutely, but we shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions. It’s not necessarily true that our Muslim community is—or ever has been—harbouring terrorists.’

‘But it’s a possibility.’

‘Again, not necessarily.’

‘Not necessarily?’

‘Hayley, let me explain. Prior to 9/11, al-Qaeda tried to recruit American Muslims to the jihadist cause. They tried hard. But they failed. Because American Muslims were patriotic citizens and wouldn’t dream of doing anything to harm their country. This frustrated al-Qaeda. Left them no other option but to use foreign Arab operatives in order to carry out the attacks on New York and Washington. Now, let’s pause and think about that for a moment. America has a sizable Muslim population throughout the East and West Coast. Yet al-Qaeda had zero success when it came to internal recruitment. Zero. They had no choice to outsource externally.’

‘Um, okay. But what about the massacre at FortHood? The attempted bombing of Times Square? Weren’t those carried out by American Muslims? And the London tube attacks? Weren’t home-grown terrorists responsible?’

‘Yes, but it’s important to recognise that those kind of attacks only happened after 9/11. After the wars, the torture, the collateral damage, the lousy PR. It’s all come together to form the perfect storm. These days, al-Qaeda has no problem recruiting radical Muslims internally.’

‘So you’re saying… what? That the West has encouraged the radicalisation of Muslims? That we are to be blamed for the increased tempo of their attacks?’

 ‘Yes. By being overbearing, irrational and aggressive, we have only inflated the problem and made it worse. Now, here’s the reality: al-Qaeda spent less than half-a-million dollars to launch 9/11, and we responded with a perpetual conflict that’s now running into the trillions of dollars.’

‘Trillions?’

‘Afraid so. The US has spent between three to four trillion dollars on the War on Terror. And that’s not inclusive of what other nations have spent. The grand tally, I think, is probably double that.’

‘That’s…well, I have to admit, that’s mind-boggling. I certainly didn’t know that.’

‘It’s not something that the American government—or the New Zealand government, for that matter—wants to advertise.’

 ‘Well, I’m sure they don’t. But putting the cost aside, maybe, just maybe, it was worth it. I mean, we did knock off bin Laden in the end, along with most of al-Qaeda’s top leadership.’

‘Which has since been replaced. And there are now numerous splinter groups out there. Working independently of al-Qaeda. Cultivating lone-wolf attackers. And they are becoming increasingly hard to track.’

‘But that’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it, Dr LeRoux? Muslim New Zealanders are more prone to domestic terrorism than they were before. Which is why we need to be vigilant about—’

‘No, no. We have to avoid self-fulfilling prophecies here. If we want to be safer, we have to preserve the hearts and minds of Muslim New Zealanders. We cannot—absolutely cannot—antagonise and alienate the very people who are our greatest assets against terror. If we have them on our side, we will have a far easier time denying al-Qaeda and its affiliates operational space.’

‘Dr LeRoux, some people have characterised you as being an apologist for Islam. Which is odd for a former CIA agent. I mean, as an insider, surely you’ve seen Islamist terror up close…’

‘Yes, I have. Though I’m afraid I can’t give you specifics. A lot of what I did remains classified.’

‘Mm, cloak-and-dagger stuff. You were in a branch of the CIA known as the National Clandestine Service, weren’t you?’

‘Yes, I was. Again, I can’t give you specifics, but I can give you a general overview. Essentially, the NCS deals in HUMINT, which is short for human intelligence. What this means is that the NCS is responsible for recruiting people in foreign countries to funnel information back to the CIA. One great perk of the job, obviously, was that it allowed me to travel a great deal throughout the Middle East, which is the heartland of Islam. I got up very close and personal with a world that, I suppose, few Westerners ever get the chance to see.’

‘Which is why you feel so strongly that we shouldn’t paint all Muslims with the same broad brush.’

‘No, we shouldn’t. To put it into layman’s terms, it’s like saying Kiwis are exactly the same as the French and that all Westerners share a single, monolithic culture. That’s both condescending and inaccurate.’

‘Agreed. Yet many Westerners—myself included—seem to be doing just that in regards to the Muslim world. Consciously or subconsciously, we can’t help ourselves from pigeonholing and stereotyping Muslims, don’t we? Even though they are made up of many different cultures?’

‘Exactly. Here’s something I want to share. Back in 1997, The Runnymede Trust in the UK commissioned a report. They identified two major strains of prejudice that gives rise to Islamophobia. Number one, the Muslim world is treated as a single bloc—static and unchanging. And number two, that bloc is assumed to be barbaric and backward, completely at odds with the Western world. Put two and two together and you get this incredible backlash against Islam, most of it unfair. Now, while I do think it’s great that many people have taken the time to study Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations, I believe that focusing solely on the fault lines between East and West is a dangerously narrow approach.’

‘And yet some people would say that you’re spouting liberal gibberish. Making excuses for Islam—which is, by its very nature, a violent and terrible religion.’

‘Well, such people pass judgement without understanding the diversity and complexity of the very people that they judge. Look, Hayley, back when Europe was locked in the Dark Ages, held back by fear and superstition, the Muslims were already highly civilised. They were the first to purify water, manufacture petrol, perform cosmetic dentistry, cure cataracts, set up pharmacies, create educational colleges and even invent primitive analogue computers to planetary orbits. Their list of accomplishments are monumental. I am not exaggerating when I say that Western society today would be nothing without the knowledge and the technology that the Muslim world pioneered.’

‘So Muslims today are occupying much the same place as Europeans did in the Dark Ages.’

‘By and large, yes, especially when you look at places like Afghanistan and Somalia. No one’s going to deny that they’re breeding grounds for poverty and violence and intolerance. But it’s important to separate the myths from the facts and understand Islam alone does not hardwire people to become terrorists. There are many socio-political factors at work, not all of them obvious to us in the Western world.’