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III.

It had been a quiet drive back through Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan. The Afghan veterans knew their leader was excited, but also still smarting from the blow dealt to him by his homeland’s leaders just over a year before. He had been rejected by them when he had offered his assistance and that of his Afghan followers, who had fought a successful jihad against the Soviet Army in Afghanistan, driving the hated invaders from their land. And when Saddam Hussein, a heretic, led his Iraqi army into Kuwait and menaced Saudi Arabia, bin Laden’s homeland, he jumped at the chance to defend the Holy Land in the same way he’d defended Afghanistan from the infidels of the Soviet Union.

It hurt, badly, when the royal family rejected his assistance, insisting that he had nowhere to hide in the desert, unlike the mountains of Afghanistan, and that his men would be crushed by the Iraqis. Even worse, they invited the Americans! Infidels, descendants of those who’d led the Crusades against Muslims, brought into the Holy Land, brought near Mecca itself! It was the worst sort of infamy, and Osama bin Laden had been told that he should desist in his statements against the royal family or find himself deported.

Bin Laden was determined to stave that off, but would take his fight elsewhere if necessary. With his family’s fortune, he had millions of dollars at his disposal, and the ability to raise more from like-minded Muslims. He was readying the formation of Al Qaeda (The Base), from which he could wage jihad against anyone. Or any nation.

“Commander?”

Bin Laden was jolted from his thoughts by the question. “Yes?,” he replied.

“We’ve arrived back in Afghanistan, Commander,” said the driver, who was the leader of the small group that had accompanied bin Laden on his trek to Kazakhstan. He had been one of the first to take up arms against the Soviet invaders, and bin Laden had found him a bright and courageous fighter when introduced to him in 1985. He chose to stay with bin Laden after the war with the Soviets ended, feeling more loyal to his leader rather than the tribal feuding that was slowly tearing apart Afghanistan in the aftermath of its victory. His name was Ahmad, and he had meticulously planned his commander’s journey. Ahmad was pleased that they had successfully completed their mission, and although he was unaware of what types of weapons were in the large, bulky military packs, he knew they delighted his commander, and that was enough for him.

“Thank you, Ahmad. You have done very well these past few days. I am quite grateful for your work and planning,” said bin Laden.

“It was my pleasure, Commander. Allah was surely with us on this journey, though,” Ahmad replied.

“He certainly was, Ahmad, and he will continue to be with us as we continue on our next mission.”

“What mission is that, Commander,” Ahmad asked. Bin Laden’s reply was succinct.

“We are to build a new Caliphate, but before we can build, we must first destroy. This mission gave us the means. For the next, we must plan how and when.”

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“I’ve gotten the President on board, Sam. He’ll sign it once this bill passes the House, and I don’t doubt it will. There’s plenty of anti-nuclear people there. They’ll love this bill and what it does,” said Lugar to Nunn, back in the Hart Senate Office Building.

“That’s great news, Richard. I know we don’t share the same party and all, but I’m a lot closer to him on foreign affairs than I’ve been people like Dukakis and Mondale. Jesus, if we haven’t been shortsighted with our nominees the past two elections,” replied Nunn. “And I don’t know who the hell we’ve got with any gravitas to take on Bush next year.”
“Well, Sam, that doesn’t bother me too much, with the way Yugoslavia is falling apart, and the trouble we’re going to see when the Soviet Union falls into its grave soon. We need a President who understands this stuff, and Bush is as good as anyone. He’s been on the international scene a long time.”

“Yes, he has, and he handled Panama, Berlin, the Gulf, and that coup in Moscow just fine. I’m worried that it’s wearing him out, though. He’s seemed awfully tired lately, Dick. A tired man makes mistakes, and we can’t afford any of those right now.”

“I know, Sam, but he’s got good people working for him and giving him advice, and he’s going to sign our bill, so if we can get the Russians and the republics on board, we’ll be able to quickly secure those nukes before someone can smuggle them out. If there’s one thing the Soviets would’ve done, it’s keep a solid inventory of them. There’s no way they’d let any disappear. They fear nuclear war more than we ever did, even if they did think it’d be winnable somehow.”

“I hope you’re right, Dick. If even a few go missing, we would need an army of Sherlock Holmes to track them down before some place became a mushroom cloud. The thought has been keeping me up an awful lot of nights lately.”