Mad Dog

by William Fegan

  The PM has given the investigation a name. MAD DOG. He felt that it was appropriate as it’s much more accurate than Alf’s self proclaimed title of JACKAL. The existence of MAD DOG is classified secret and you will advise neither family nor friends of your involvement nor of its existence. He has guaranteed that you will receive all the assistance that you need both within and outside of this country. He wants to be maintained informed at all times and will hold a video briefing at least once weekly. I will be the link with him and I will be available 24/7 independent of my other duties. He wishes you well and has a message for all of us, “FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION, AND A DEAD MAN CAN NOT BE KILLED”. I assume that we all understand. - A series of affirmative nods and grunts greeted him as he stared each of them, one by one, in the eyes.

  -Now, as to why I will not be personally involved for the time being. I would first remind you all however, that, whatever you hear from now on is covered by the official secrets act as is everything you are required to do.

  As I am sure you are aware, my role in the investigation of the Jackal was only one of my priorities. My prime function is, was and will remain the protection of the well being of the British people and its government. To that end, the seeking out and destruction of terrorist cells is a clear priority. You will ask what that has to do with the Jackal but indirectly it has a great deal to do with him.

  For some time now, we have been controlling a large number of terrorist cells at great expense and man hours. The problem is that it would appear that everything is on hold, that they are all waiting for something to happen, something big. As a result they don’t actually do anything, they do however constantly transform, interchanging components and locations. We need them to make a move so that we can drag them into the open and destroy them, because when they move we will know that those that move are those that are trained and ready, not just part of the movement but the chosen elite. That way we can cause them enormous damage and put their cause back years. That is where the Jackal or rather the investigation into the Jackal comes in.

  You will remember our friend Mahmoud Sayeghi Alam, the drug smuggler that I killed in Scotland after he had cold bloodedly murdered Johnathan McDonald, the same one that admitted to having killed DI Gregg, the one whose brother Hari killed agent Phillips and the same one that we believe to have been responsible for the killings of Andrew Marks, Ken Traynor and Harry Burrows. Well we were unofficially requested by the Moroccan government to return his body in order for it to receive an appropriate funeral. Now that would have meant him being treated with Shii honours, the shrouding of his body, his receiving of Janazah (the funeral prayers, without which there is no admission to paradise as his Shahada (belief in Islam) is defiled), the ceremonial washing and cleaning of his body before it is lain on its right side pointing towards Mecca and him being consecrated as a martyr, the highest honour possible for a Shii and guaranteeing his acceptance into paradise and his place alongside Ala and Mohammed. Well, we refused their request and instead sent them the details of his funeral. I had him beheaded and cremated and his ashes were thrown into the North Sea as far from Mecca as possible. In short, he was treated as the scum that he was. Oh and by the way, it just so happens, they are holding the funeral for the body they haven’t got today.

  In normal circumstances this would receive some form of retaliation but in this case it should receive something far more important.

  The father of our dear departed little shit was Hussein Al Sayeghi Alam, Shii Imam, head of the most powerful terrorist group in North Africa if not the world. Hussein disguises his activities under the guise of a religious Imam and travels, as such, unhindered and largely uncontrolled. The truth of his activities however is far more sinister. Hussein’s son Hari, as some of you know, is the drug lord in the Rif region of Morocco monopolising the hashish trade with Afghanistan and Pakistan, what you may not know is that we know him to represent his father on the council of the Takfir Wal Hijra sect that was supposedly responsible for the 2004 Madrid bombings and exercise as the mouthpiece for Al Qaeda in the region operating under the name of Al Andalus in reference to Al Qaeda´s promise to clean North Africa of the Spanish and to reclaim Andalucia for the Islamic State. As a member of the council he will demand a drastic and radical reaction, something that will create the ultimate publicity, something to demonstrate to us our folly at daring to goad them. He will want blood, lots of it, and if possible, that of the PM and I above all else. He will want to humiliate us the way he believes that we humiliated his son Mahmoud. -

  -You used Mahmouds funeral, if that’s what you can call it, as bait for him and you’re risking the lives of the British people in order to draw him out, -interrupted Harris.

  -I knew you would understand-.replied Harvey, -any problem with that? -

  -Well no actually, but it’s bloody risky. What if you get it wrong like I did with Fowler? You may not get a second chance like I am, and the amount of damage Alf did could be nothing compared to what these guy’s are capable of-.

  -Well I’m going to have to make sure that I don’t get it wrong aren’t I? -smiled Harvey, -so you’ll have to make sure that I can concentrate on them by taking care of this particular mess. Harris, and this goes for the rest of us, we do indeed have a second chance to clean up our mess, let’s not get it wrong and let’s not leave any visible trace of the mess behind us. If and when we find Alf, Alan or whatever you want to call him, I have just the man to apply the finishing touches.

  Now, just to settle you minds a little, I can inform you that we are not going into this blind. We have our sources; some of them far closer than you can imagine and we will not be taken by surprise I can promise you that. Oh and while I remember, Jocks death will be officially declared, courtesy of the CIA, as an accidental death caused by his own imprudence and fuelled by an excess of alcohol

  Okay I’m going to leave you now, Harris get this organised, the equipment will start arriving tomorrow and if you need anything in particular you only have to ask. Good Luck! -

  With that and a wave of his arm Harvey was gone and Harris quickly took control of the situation.

  -Right gentlemen lets get started, -suggested Harris.

  He quickly informed them of his strategy, having done little else but think of it since having woken, but to the surprise of all those present, invited or rather positively demanded their opinions on who should be allocated what work and even the scope of their investigation.

  Nonetheless the discussions didn’t take long as Harris´ plans were to the agreement of all. Harris himself and Charlie were to run the investigation from the burns unit, at least for the time being. DS Mann was to set about investigating everything about ALAN JACKS as they were all to refer to him as from that point onward, thus depersonalising it a little for Harris, from the moment that he arrived in the U.K. to the moment he left. Agent Evans was to do the same in the States for the time leading up to his departure for the U.K. and was to coordinate the activities of the CIA, not wanting them to trample all over the investigation nor desiring that they created the impression that they were actually searching for Alan.

  4

  Hussein Al Sayeghi Alam waited patiently in the small darkened room at the end of the low single floored house that the locals appeared to use as a bar in the village of Azib in the foothills of the Barrage El Makhazine Mountains. The same “safe” low single floored house that Agent Phillips and DI Gregg had been taken to prior to their capture and subsequent execution.

  Hussein Al Sayeghi Alam had arrived the previous evening. Directly after the official funeral and Salat-ul Ghaa-ib (prayers for an absent one) which allowed his dead son to enter paradise and to take his place alongside Ala and Mohammed, in the absence of his body and him receiving the Janazah that his lineage and Shahada entitled him to he travelled into the mountains in order to achieve the solitude he required for forty days of mourning in the form of intense devotion and contemplation which only served to further reinforce his desi
re for revenge, a desire recognised and sanctioned by Islam when it is considered to be in self defence or to promote the faith amongst non-believers. He considered both to be the case, in his mind his family had been attacked and their faith affronted.

  Tormented by the desire for vengeance, for the need to wreak retribution on those that had deprived his fallen son of his divine rights, rights that HE Hussein Al Sayeghi Alam, Imam, tribal and religious leader, founder of the council of the Takfir Wal Hijra sect and one of the few people alive that were privy to the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden and one of only two that had direct access to him, had gained through years of pain and suffering in the cause of Islam, he requested a meeting with a representative of Al Qaeda.

  He was immensely powerful, immensely determined in the cause of Ala and the vindication of Islam and immensely blood thirsty in his desire for what he considered justice. He wanted to do damage, to make his sons death worthwhile, to make his glory in the presence of Ala and Mohammed even more worthy and to do so he needed the aid of his close friends, he had a plan.

  Hussein knew that even in his anger he was obliged to consult with his peers before taking action, that he was obliged to assure himself that he would not be interfering in a greater scheme and for that reason he sat waiting in the small darkened room at the end of the low single floored house.

  Al Qaeda in the period of one month had been accredited with a suicide attack in Islamabad, the Capital of Pakistan, killing thirty five and injuring sixty; the bombing of the Spanish Embassy in Marrakech and the kidnapping of three Italian reporters in Mauritania, the suicide bombing of the Ethiopian Embassy and UN headquarters in Somalia killing twenty eight and the suicide bombing of the Americans Sana’a Embassy in Yemen amongst many other so called atrocities. The fact is that they were indeed linked to all of these activities and many more. Al Qaeda acts as a clearing house for terrorist ideals and activities. It controls and organizes these activities, lending financial assistance and training troops as and when required, principally in its southern Afghan camps of Al Faroug , Al Ghuraba, Al Sadeeg and Khalden but above all at Tarnak Farm (Abu Obeida training camp) but it is not generally the perpetrator of any attacks or actions.

  Al Qaeda themselves commit very few attacks reserving themselves for the spectacular propaganda achieving activities. That is were the difficulty in combating Al Qaeda resides, Al Qaeda is the coordinator for the terrorist groups, the General that rarely appears on the front line. They are in all of the terrorist cells but at the same time in none of them. They come and go, pull strings and make things happen but they lack, in the majority of cases, a physical presence which can be attacked, captured or defeated. It is what makes it so elusive and makes its leaders so important, so deadly. They consider mass killings as forms of propaganda and a means to an end. The end being the return of the Islam State to its former predominant position as world leader.

  -Father, he has arrived. -announced Hari Sayeghi Alam as he bowed nearing his patriarch;

  -Bid him enter -replied Hussein;

  -There’s a problem, -started Hari, -he has a body guard who will not lay aside his weapons and will not identify himself either. -

  -What is the messengers name and what is his guard like?-;

  -Abdul Qassin Shirazi sir, and his bodyguard is tall and lithe with the authority of a straight spine. I can say no more as he does not allow his face to be seen. -

  -All is well, - said Hussein reassuringly, -I know both Abdul Qassin Shirazi and his bodyguard, allow them to enter and close the door behind them, I wish to be alone with them. -

  -But father, -blurted Hari unwilling to leave his father alone and unprotected with the two strangers but he was silenced by the raised hand of his father. -

  -Do as I say, they are no danger to me, and speak of this to no one. Now go. -

  Abdul Qassin Shirazi and his bodyguard entered the room and waited for the door to be closed behind them before stepping forward towards their waiting host standing silently at the end of the room.

  -Ahlan wa Sahlan (Welcome), -started Hussein bowing slowly;

  -Ahlan Bik -replied Abdul bowing and gesticulating with his arm;

  -Ahlan wa Sahlan, -repeated Hussein in the direction of the bodyguard;

  -Ahlan Bik, -replied the bodyguard opening his arms and embracing Hussein;

  -Aasalaamu Aliekum, Kaifa haloka (Hello, how are you?), - greeted Hussein slapping his old friends back;

  -Wa-Aleikum Aassalaam (Hello) -replied Osama, -Qwayyis (I am well); -

  -IL-Hamdu Allah (Thank be to God), -responded Hussein;

  -May Mahmoud take his place alongside Ala and Mohammed, -started Osama as they seated at the table, Abdul taking a seat behind and to the right of them, adopting a position from which he could protect them from any intruder. -How may I be of help? -

  -I want to take action and I require your blessing, I have a plan but I want to be sure that it doesn’t interfere with any of yours. -

  -We will do all that we can to help and nothing will have a greater priority than your needs, now tell me of your plan. -

  The plan was simple, Hussein wanted to organise the copycat kidnapping of family members of the British Government and various Foreign Embassy’s in keeping with the JACKAL investigation that indirectly caused his sons death and had been run by Harvey Jacobs who had directly been responsible for his death and the defiling of his body. He wanted Harvey Jacobs to be humiliated by executing the hostages in public.

  Osama Bin Laden remained silent and in deep thought long after Hussein had finished explaining his plan. He had to admit, it had merit BUT it needed more. It needed something else something even more devastating and suddenly it occurred to him.

  -Okay old friend, I believe we should act on your plan but it will need some time to plan and I will want to embellish it a little. I think we will need three or four clean cells in order to successfully achieve our aims and it will take us a little time to clean them. Each cell will, as usual, be formed of soldiers willing to die for the cause and each clean to the Foreign Governments. I have some ideas and I will get things moving, in the mean time you will need to be patient. Your patience will be rewarded. I will call for you when we are ready to move. -

  -One thing only do I request Master, I wish my two sons, Hari and Mustafa, and Jiriyis Aswad, Mahmouds trusted servant, to be involved. I desire them to avenge his death. -

  -But my friend they are not clean, they are all known to the authorities. Hari (Hari Sayeghi Alam) is a known drug lord and listed terrorist, my good friend Mustafa (Mustafa Akh Mahbud) has even been given a nickname “The Mongul” and is on their most wanted lists and the British Government is interested in speaking to Jiriyis about the recent murder of one of its citizens in Leicester. -

  -Yes Master I am aware of that but maybe if we cleaned them they would no longer be dirty. -

  -Yes, we could always do that but it would of course add to the risk and my colleagues will not like that. -

  -Dear friend, your colleagues as I, do as you wish and I really must insist. It is a matter of honour. -

  -Very well, let it be. -concluded Osama.

  Within moments they were each going their own ways soon to be reunited in their deadly cause.

  -Maá Salaama, ana mamnoon (Farewell, I am Grateful)-, said Hussein to Abdul Qassin Shirazi as his silent bodyguard watched on.

  Maá Salaama-. Replied Abdul and was gone.

  Little over a month later on Tuesday 30th of May the British and Americans caused a diplomatic incident with Morocco by destroying a low single floored house in the village of Azib in the foothills of the Barrage El Makhazine Mountains, which they claimed that Al Qaeda used as a safe house. A joint air strike killing Mustafa Akh Mahbud alias The Mongul and considered to be Al Qaeda´s number one in Europe, Hari Sayeghi Alam one of the most dangerous drug lords in North Africa and known to have strong links with International Terrorism and the Madrid bombings and Jiriyis Aswad who was believed to be responsible
for the murder of a British Citizen earlier in the year along with a dozen of elite Al Qaeda forces.

  The British Intelligence Services had discovered the safe house following a tip off that there was to be a meeting of the three in order to finalise the details and financing of a strike on British soil to revenge the death of Mahmoud Sayeghi Alam at the hands of British Intelligence forces.

  Harvey Jacobs and his American colleagues didn’t give a damn about the diplomatic incident and nor did the British Government, as they glowed in the congratulatory coverage of what had been one of their most successful strikes.

  A visibly distraught Imam Hussein Al Sayeghi Alam presided over the Janazah and Salaat (prayer readings) for the remains of the martyred bodies that lay in front of him each correctly positioned facing Mecca. Moved as only a man who had lost three sons and a close friend in a short space of time could be, he openly vowed revenge but at no stage wept nor wailed lamentations both being considered unworthy of a true believer. His stoic resistance was an awe inspiring sight for the multitudinous gathering and further proof, if any was needed, of his religious belief and fortitude, demonstrating once again his strengths as an Imam, a leader who truly led by example.

  He was also a better actor than they suspected. The remains of three dead martyrs received fully merited honours whilst Mustafa, Hari and Jiriyis travelled unheeded towards an Al Qaeda safe house in the South Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan. They were now CLEAN.

  5

  For agents Stewart and Graham, two very tired MI5 field agents on vigilance duty of the Muslim Community House on Birmingham Street Dudley, Thursday 15th of June was like all the other days that they had watched over the property. At 07.00am the five female cleaners entered the building, dressed as usual in their Hijab complete with Burqah, where they remained until 09.35am shortly after the arrival of MI5´s three targets, Rashid Al Maktoum, Tawid Abdallah and Jamil Matar (formerly known as Colin Wilkinson).