A Tree in the Desert

Book Two

A Tree in the Desert

. . . In the desert all surrounding, see, a spreading tree has grown . . .

Christ is Risen, Brian Wren, 1984

Copyright © 2010 by Jack Gresham

Smashwords Edition

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. The same can be said of dates. For purposes of orientation, current times and dates are used. They are not meant to infer events portrayed can or might occur on the dates specified.

Mohammed

In 2013, Mohammed receives funds stolen from the New York Federal Reserve Bank. He spends four years with Iraq as his home base while on an international venture for peaceful jihad while fighting terrorism.

In 2017, he walks through the first of two doors on which is inscribed Peaceful Jihad—Now. The year remains the same; the world is the same; only Mohammed is a changed man. He joins with a Christian and a Jew in a philanthropic venture for those of Iraq suffering from the ravages of war.

For ten years he will strive for a peaceful jihad while constantly facing the opposition of jihadist terrorism. At the end he might well wonder, Did I make the right choice? Will I ever have the chance to choose again when I might choose differently?

As the story unfolds in the next two books of this series, historical time for Earth and its inhabitants will course with the life of Mohammed.

Prologue

As fiction comes closer and closer to the possibility of truth, tension mounts with increasing wonder. Where does one end and the other begin? Then there is the question whether the two could ever merge, or would a tumultuous event take place?

If only the human enterprise were all that was in play in the events of the Cosmos, both historically and at this present time on Earth, where would be our hope for the future? It is in the spiritual realm that the deciding fate of Creation rests, though certainly influenced by human choice. It may seem at times we are but pawns in the epic struggle between good and evil. It certainly appears the human endeavor is influenced by spiritual forces of good (God’s Spirit and angels) as well as spiritual forces of evil (demons.) We are not alone in the struggles of life—those within and those without.

A Tree in the Desert is Book Two of a four-book fiction series, The Babylonian Conspiracy. This book portrays a clash between traditional cultural norms amidst the onslaught of global terrorism. Three major forces rely almost entirely on human enterprise, with spiritually oriented episodic events struggling apart from each other, but eventually working together: Mohammed striving for peaceful jihad, the Directory for a new world order, and government agencies, primarily the CIA and the military, fighting the terrorist threats against national security. It will take a venture into another time before the issue is resolved (in Books Three and Four) when the final enemy is confronted.

In this story, the struggle rages in our present timeline, with events of magnitude occurring centuries, even eons before. In many episodes conversations occur between people on Earth and spiritual beings, even with God. No claim is made that those words have Divine Origin. Quite the opposite, they are words of the author, who has attempted to represent what he thinks God might say or intend for one of His spiritual host to say in the context of the given situation. Words from malevolent spiritual beings carry the same disclaimer. Some or even much of what is said may not conform to the reader’s spiritual or intellectual inclination. But it is offered with the hope that when such events occur in the life of the reader, the words heard will be ones easily understood.

Table of Contents

Chapter One The First Response

Chapter Two Agency of Devastation

Chapter Three The Directory

Chapter Four The Desert Wind

Chapter Five Other Lives of Distinction

Chapter Six Missions for Two

Chapter Seven The Call

Chapter Eight A New Adventure

Chapter Nine The Wadi Qelt

Chapter Ten The Unknown Path

Chapter Eleven The Awakening

Chapter Twelve Rendezvous

Chapter Thirteen Struggle

Chapter Fourteen Stark Reality

Chapter Fifteen Brothers at Last

Chapter Sixteen Limitations Defined

Chapter Seventeen A Triad of Forces

Chapter Eighteen Conflict Arises

Chapter Nineteen The Proclamation

Chapter Twenty The Enduring Adventure

Chapter Twenty-One Encroachment

Chapter Twenty-Two Beyond all Measures

Chapter Twenty-Three The Lasting Covenant

Chapter Twenty-Four Enemies Everywhere

Chapter Twenty-Five The First Assignment

Chapter Twenty-Six Peripheral Damage

Chapter Twenty-Seven Confrontation

Chapter Twenty-Eight Terrorism Wounded

Chapter Twenty-Nine Confirmed Ambitions

Chapter Thirty Tomorrow and Beyond

Epilogue

Preview of Book Three The Syrian Saber

Chapter One

The First Response

Strife in the Middle East is an old story. What was happening in the United States was new and evolving into a never-before-told account.

The year is 2017. Terrorism had entered into the life of every citizen. For some in the fight against terrorism, conventional methods must be cast aside. The Directory took the lead.

Responder in America

Twelve aspiring agents, young men with no family attachments who had honorably completed a two-year enlistment in the armed forces of the United States, had been selected from a long list of applicants to serve in a corporate security project.

They were assigned to a six-week survival school at a several-hundred-acre cattle ranch in West Texas, where they were allowed no communications with the outside world. They were isolated, and if anything happened to them, there was no one to be informed. The few social contacts required cover stories to protect their identities.

They became proficient in martial arts, expert marksmen with a multiplicity of weapons, accomplished technicians with explosives, and given the capability to eliminate targets by the latest assassination techniques. Behavioral psychologists, who could spot a character flaw that might put an assignment in jeopardy, placed them under constant scrutiny. They were constantly quizzed on hypothetical situations they might someday face. In the end, six would receive a special team assignment, and the remaining six would be individually assigned to corporate security details to serve as backup for the team.

Their final exam required a psychological interview. They had no time to prepare for what awaited them.

How do you feel about killing people who cannot defend themselves from you?

The interrogation room suddenly seemed very small to the agent sitting across the table from his questioner. Looking down on the table top, he replied, I could do it if that was my order.

But what if it were a woman or a teenager?

The agent hesitated. He shifted his weight in his seat. He thought, I would rather not have to answer this one. But he gave the same answer as before.

Forty-five minutes later he felt drained and alone.

* * * * *

In an upscale New York City night club, seven guests in a private dining room were not interested in the scheduled floor show, although each claimed a gourmet palate for good wine and tender steaks.

Dressed in black business suits, they represented a wide range of ethnicity and national origin. They sat at a round table beneath, and dimmed chandelier and scattered floor lamps among leather upholstered lounge chairs. The room was windowless, with a single entry door and one door on the back wall for the private windowless washroom. The guests shared little conversation other than occasional low-voiced words.

When the three waiters served the last round of after-dinner drinks and left, an air of serious contemplation pervaded the noiseless room.

The senior member, the only one with graying hair and mustache, gently tapped his knuckles on the table.

"Gentlemen, since this is our first meeting after survival school training, I want to offer some background information and ground rules. What I tell you is not recorded in any electronic program or on any hard copy. You will not take notes and must trust your memory for the necessary details. I am always available for any question you might have, but only through established channels which will be explained later.

"Please hold your questions and comments until I’ve completed my presentation. Then we will hear from each of you in turn. You are all known to each other in a limited sense. For the time being we will keep it that way.

"Our employer is the American Directory. You have been informed of their operational objective and have agreed with their principles. We are charged with specific assignments having to do with the global terrorist threat steadily becoming evident in the United States, especially since the New York Fed robbery which happened under threat of a nuclear bomb planted in Washington, DC.

"The specific assignments for which you have been trained involve methods to eliminate certain individuals and groups that pose threats to the Directory’s plan to establish a new world order.

"We, along with similar groups in the other two Directories, have been given the combined designation of ‘Responder,’ with different code names for the individual cells.

"Our code name is ‘Avalanche,’ and your name in the Directory will be ‘Agent’ plus the two-digit number on the back of the envelope in front of you. Each Agent in Responder will have a different number. I will be your Chief Agent.

Please do not disturb the envelope until asked to do so. In it, you’ll find tickets for travel to our next meeting when we’ll plan our first mission, plus five thousand dollars in cash. During this time, you will plan a quiet exit from any remaining business, family, and social contacts. You knew this would be necessary and Directory resources will be available for each of your personal needs.

There was a stir in the seats, but the faces gave no clue to the thoughts behind them. One agent seemed particularly uncomfortable.

Justen Taylor, Agent 14, a Muslim whose name did not betray the inner man, shifted his weight in a chair that gave a feeling of constraint he did not like.

In fact, he was concerned more about the restrictions that would be placed on his life. For him, this arrangement with Avalanche had too many unknown factors.

He thought, Would they fall in line with my long-held secret aspirations for a jihad of terror? Or will I be pushed into another realm of uncertain ambitions? I will soon know. Then I’ll make my move.

"If there are no questions, you can now remove the envelope inserts. Your agent number is to be memorized and never recorded for others to find. You will always be contacted by your personal number.

As you leave, please place your empty envelopes in the basket on the table next to the doorway. I’ll dispose of them after ensuring all have been returned. You’re free to go.

The six agents removed the contents from their numbered envelopes, placed the papers in their jacket pockets, and left the room after depositing their envelopes in the basket as directed. When Justen Taylor walked into the darkness of the night, he called a familiar number on his cell phone.

We need to meet. I’ll be at your office early tomorrow morning. He did not know his life was under a microscope. Nothing in his past was hidden from Avalanche. His most recent cell phone conversation became another entry in a file that held his many secrets.

Chief Agent Bradley Hanson breathed a sigh of relief as the last agent left the room. He waited with cell phone in hand, then speed-dialed a number he knew was waiting for his call.

They just left. No real problem. One who you know sparked some concern, although he tried to hide it. He said nothing, but his facial expression and eye movements gave clues he was not in complete agreement. We’ll be watching all of them until the next meeting, but this one should receive particular attention. We know he is a Muslim, but his talents made him useful. He won’t be easily replaced. We’ll have to play this one close to our vest. I’ll give you a complete report when we meet tomorrow.

* * * * *

Hanson met with the American Executive Committee at lunch the next day. "Agent 14 turned out to be more of a problem than we first thought. We brought him on board with a question mark. Because of his specialized skills, especially with the Arabic language, we felt he was one we wanted.

"There were some blank spots in his background check we ignored for expediency. We came close to paying dearly for that slight indiscretion.

After our meeting last night, we had him under observation as he walked to his car in the parking lot. With the use of long-range audio monitors, we heard his call to arrange a meeting with a person on our target list. The call was also traced and recorded. Needless to say, he never kept his appointment. I have a replacement in line and he will be ready for the meeting in two weeks for our first assignment. I don’t believe Agent 14 had the opportunity to pass on any sensitive information, but we have his contact under surveillance. Actually, he is high on our target list; we probably should move him to the top.

The three Regional Directories offered no objection to bringing Responder online in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The Prime Directors, sitting as the Directory Executive Committee, would manage the program. Without the knowledge of Directory members, they also planned to bring Responder into the Middle East and North Africa.

Chapter Two

Agency of Devastation

It is not easy to walk away from cultural norms that have evolved over several generations for those willing to go to war to ensure the chosen path remains intact. But unseen forces of destruction promote questions of how to adopt new responses for threats not previously considered. Would it be the way to salvation or to oblivion?

The Executive Committee of the Directory met for the first time since initiating Responder, the only item on their agenda.

The Prime Directors chaired the meetings by rotation. Today was Stan’s turn. "Bradley Hanson met with Avalanche yesterday, as did the Chief Agents with Lionhead for the European Directory and Typhoon for the Asian Directory. They’ve completed their two-week survival school training and are ready for their operational instructions. We’re meeting to review their instructions so they’ll have complete, up-to-date intelligence and plans previously agreed upon, which may require minor adjustments.

"As you know, each Chief Agent will report directly to his own Directory Executive Committee. It will be up to us as the Joint Executive Committee to coordinate the operations of each group, as well as to design any plan requiring joint effort.

"We’ll continue to communicate by courier when possible, but expect the need for frequent meetings.

"Islamic terrorism is bred from jihadists principally located in the Middle East, but it is an international phenomenon. That is why we must have a global strategy. Our primary effort in this Islamic revolution has been with wealthy merchants and bankers as well as the intelligentsia in educational institutions.

"We’ve tended to steer clear of the politicians and the media, since they seem to be pursuing democratic reform in all but a few countries. As leaders of democratic reform take positions of authority, we’ve approached them for inclusion in our Directories. It’s too early to gauge any response. Your folders contain our latest Intel briefings on each country under consideration. There are two questions to consider in each instance.

"How should we involve ourselves within the operational parameters of the Directory? When and how should we deploy the resources of Responder? We’ll leave the first question to our separate Directories. The second question must be answered now for our new initiative to be given to Avalanche, Lionhead, and Typhoon."

There were no comments from the others.

* * * * *

By all appearances, it was a typical Midwestern family farm: no prestigious custom fencing, no evenly spaced trees lining the driveway off the two-lane country road, only the faint view of a white farm home in the distance. Not seen was a spacious front yard without vegetation other than recently mowed grass. Several small cabin-like structures and a multi-level barn with a pair of large front entry doors sat behind a stand of trees in the back yard. The barn would serve as a conference center, with living quarters for guests on the second level. Behind the cabins was a parking lot for staff and the recently arrived members of Avalanche. The back doors of the barn opened to apparently undeveloped land that could be transformed, with temporary fronts, into any number of city streets, domestic or foreign. The cabins could have interior modifications to duplicate the inner design of any building of a specific mission.

The rambling farmhouse was residence for staff charged with food services, housekeeping, and security.

By mid-morning, all guests had checked in and gathered in the barn’s large conference room. Bradley Hanson stood with a screen for Power Point presentations.

Gentlemen, I hope each of you is comfortably settled in his room. Work stations along the side walls include a screen attached to a DVD player to hold your personal disc for this indoctrination period. Your Agent Number on the desk chair designates your computer station. We should become acquainted with each other during this time of training. You will note we have a new Agent 14 with us. This change was accomplished so that our mission was not compromised in any way.

The screen filled with a schedule outline for the next ten days.

"A copy of this schedule is in each folder. You can see we’ll be busy. Before we go to the farmhouse for lunch, which by the way is where we will eat all of our meals, you must leave all communication and recording devices on the desk at your work station, along with the keys to your car.

"As you leave this conference room, security will scan your body for anything that is not allowed. If you’re taking any prescription medicines, please give them to the security guard at the door. While we’re at lunch, your room will be scanned. You will not be allowed to have personal cell phones and computers during this training exercise. No one will be allowed to leave the premises. No visitors will be allowed for anyone, including myself and the entire staff.

All electronic equipment, weapons, and other personal belongings will be returned to you by security when you leave.

Bradley entered the conference room soon after lunch to find all of his agents at their assigned work stations, surveying the folder information and scanning the resources on their computers. They found they had access to a great variety of restricted web sites, but no freedom to surf the Web through an Internet connection. They could not send or receive E-mail. They were able to connect to television news sites. Bradley called for their attention.

You have another thirty minutes at your work stations before we begin our group training sessions.

One by one, the agents shut down their computers and closed their document file. When all had gathered in their assigned seats, Bradley began his presentation.

"As you know, the Directory is prepared to go public with its global initiative for a new world order. They have spent much time, effort, and money to bring their dream to fruition. They have overcome many obstacles, but one problem has increased in intensity over the past few years that now calls for a different approach.

"A few commercial enterprises are stubborn holdouts, but they are of minor concern compared to the terror issue. I’m talking about the jihad of terror engulfing the world at the hand of Islamic fundamentalists.

"There have been forces at work to invoke democratic government in a few Arab nations, but we feel they are allowed by the Islamic Jihadists as a temporary appeasement to certain elements of society for disposal at some time in the future. We hope to make it possible that time will never come.

"The main concern of Avalanche is the rise of Muslim militants within our own borders. This trend must be brought to a halt. For that to happen, there must be a systematic, selective, and discreet elimination of certain prime targets, in order not to cause a wild stir.

That could make our operation difficult. The ones chosen to be sanctioned will come from various walks of life—jihadists with expressed intent to terrorize the U.S. and Israel.

"This will include militant clerics, political activists, military leaders, prominent social figures, intelligence agents with diplomatic immunity, but no major national political leader.

"There will also be a variety of physical targets. In some instances, the mission will involve multiple targets at great distances from each other, accomplished as joint efforts with our other two Agencies. We intend to strike our targets with force, move out quickly, and leave no trace of our identity.

You will have six missions to accomplish as a team. Each of you will have a turn as the team leader. You will be given a mission portfolio, a tour through a physical replica of the mission site that will be staged in the property behind the barn, and a fully designed and furnished layout of the objective building in the cabins next to the barn. For the rest of today, you will plan your first mission according to protocols laid out in the mission folder. Tomorrow morning after breakfast, you will run your mission. Your first two will take place in daylight hours. The remaining four will be at night. Plan well, expect the unexpected, and be prepared for a critical analysis at the end of each mission.

* * * * *

The training session ran as scheduled. The Agents with their Chief left the farm and went separate ways. The remaining staff went to work immediately. The wide front doors were replaced with steel framing that accommodated an entry door for people traffic only. The conference center in the barn was converted to a center for operations for Avalanche. The training program computers were replaced with ones capable of global networking in secure bands that no one else could access—only computers of the Directory programmed against unauthorized users.

One side of the central floor space was compartmentalized into work stations for design of specific missions for future assignment to Avalanche. The other side accommodated a large conference table with flip-up computer screens at each seat.

A large desk with protective folding screens occupied the area next to the head of the table—the nerve center of the facility. Permanent staff of the operations center occupied the cabins adjacent to the barn.

The back door of the barn opened into a prefabricated hangar constructed in one day. At the same time, a seven thousand foot airstrip ran through the trees with lights and a homing beacon, both of which could be activated by approaching aircraft.

In all of these modifications, there was little visible to the infrequent traffic on the country road to suggest the magnitude of change that took place within a week.

* * * * *

The Directory was not alone in its fight against terrorism. Intelligence agencies and armed forces of the United States were deeply involved. However they had political and presumed moral constraints not a factor with Directory programs, even as those deterrents were not a hindrance to the enemy. With the Directory, the playing field was level, and sinister secrecy outside the moral boundary of a democratic society was used in equal degree with Responder as it was with terrorists.

But there was nothing in the hands of the terrorists that matched the technical capabilities of Responder.

Targets

Two weeks after their training session ended, Avalanche returned to the familiar Midwestern farm. Initially, they saw nothing unusual, but that would soon change. Bradley Hanson spoke to his Agents seated around the conference table. "Aside from the terrorist groups emerging from the Middle East, United States intelligence agencies report the recruitment of American-citizen Muslims for terrorist operations is on the rise. Some are under surveillance, but the ones hiding in secret, waiting for the right time to engage in their jihad war of terror present the gravest concern.

"There’s also the problem of militant imams and leaders of Islamic social organizations who sponsor and preach overthrowing the American government and replacing it with Shariah law. Our own intelligence teams have been busy for several months. We’ve selected a number of targets we feel should be eliminated. Our government agencies cannot do what we must. The targets, which may be an individual or a group, are listed in order of preference and will be terminated—one each month.

"Your recent training session prepared you for the first assignment. You won’t have that benefit for subsequent operations. Individual assignments for the entire mission are outlined on the CD at my work station. It can be accessed by each of you.

It cannot be edited or copied. If you make any notes for questions or discussion after dinner tonight, they must remain at your work station and will be destroyed when you leave.

Concern

Four men sat in the last booth in the back corner of a diner located on the edge of the industrial section of a large northeastern city. Three young men who would not stand out on any college campus if it were not known of their recent conversion to Islam, sat with a fourth—a more mature man of olive complexion dressed in typical western casual clothes.

The university professor spoke in a soft voice. "We must move quickly. I’ve heard rumors of a private sector anti-terrorist group established to thwart our plans. I have a mole in their organization but, he missed a scheduled meeting and I haven’t heard from him since.

We should continue with our plans to promote chaos in a protest march against the United States war effort in the Middle East. One in our group will carry a bomb.

Justen Taylor would never meet with the university professor. In fact, he would never meet with anyone. He became a missing person after leaving the meeting with Bradley Hanson. The university professor had no way of knowing he was the objective in a soon to run Avalanche mission which would afford him the same fate as Justen Taylor.

Avalanche in Action

Avalanche gents checked in separately in a downtown San Francisco hotel on Thursday morning. Bradley Hanson had a business suite on the top floor with an adjoining conference room where the team met in the late afternoon.

"Our target for the evening is a certain college professor who enlists idealistic students for jihad and arranges their travel through Canada to a Middle East terrorist training camp. Three have already made the trip and two more are scheduled to leave next week.

"Those two will leave on schedule, but after training will join the others—now confined in a military detention center at a secret location.

All five, along with others detained under the Patriot Act, will await hearings at a military tribunal, compliments of the Department of Defense. Does anyone have questions about our mission tonight and the individual responsibilities of each member of the team?

The room was silent.

All right then, we won’t see each other until after dinner when we’ll meet at the rendezvous. It’s within walking distance. We should arrive separately.

* * * * *

A garage door opened at the alleyway entrance to a darkened warehouse. A black sedan with a driver and front seat passenger pulled out, followed by an unmarked blue van also carrying a driver and front seat passenger. Unseen were two others in the rear of the van.

The lead car and van drove through the city streets to a residential district on the edge of town. The street had lights at the intersections, but was otherwise dimly lit from windows of townhouses with sidewalk entrances one or two steps above sidewalk level.

Bradley arrived earlier in the neighborhood and located the target walking his dog as was his custom. He marked his position on the dash mounted GPS and forwarded the coordinates to the other vehicles.

The man marked for capture had one more corner to turn before reaching the street where he lived. The Agent car and van planned to intercept him after he made the turn. The timing was perfect. The lead car pulled ahead of the target and slowed as the van came alongside him and his dog.

As the van passed him, two men jumped out of the rear door to push the target inside. The front seat passenger of the van, casually dressed, stepped to the sidewalk to gather the dog’s leash and continue walking to the target’s residence. When he arrived at the entrance, he tied the leash to the handrail and jumped back into the waiting van.

There was no disturbance inside the van. An injection anesthetized the target as soon as he was inside. The two Agents bound his wrists and feet after placing a cloth sack over his head.

When he awoke, the professor would not be able to remember anything beyond walking his dog as he had done many times before. But what he might remember was of no consequence, as it might relate to his final destination.

From San Francisco to Los Angeles, to Houston, to New Orleans, to Miami, and finally to Atlanta, Avalanche targets became missing persons over the next few months. At first, their cases were managed by the local authorities who by established protocol passed the information to Homeland Security, the CIA, and the FBI.

The Muslim community was in turmoil, the Internet ablaze with charges of conspiracy and secret government operations. No one from the government was answering the inquiries.

National TV news and syndicated columnists gave slight notice to the situation. The President’s press secretary issued a press release. The government is aware of six leaders in the Muslim community now listed as missing persons. Federal agencies have these cases under investigation. The President sends his condolences to the families of the victims.

* * * * *

Hassan Matloub, attending an American university, was the nephew of a wealthy Saudi financier by the name of Hakim Matloub. Hassan’s mother, the only sister of Hakim, had married a prominent and respected banker in Riyadh. She was responsible for Hassan’s study in the States. His uncle disappeared after being involved in an international terrorist organization located in London.

It was rumored that Hakim was visiting a bank in Babylon when it was destroyed by a rocket attack. The entire Matloub family had undergone security checks by Saudi and U.S. intelligence agencies with no negative findings.

Hassan sat at a back corner table in the university library late at night. Just before closing time the ceiling lights flashed, indicating five more minutes before all students must leave. He looked at the two sitting with him—one was African-American, the other Caucasian.

I know of your recent conversion to Islam. You have studied the Qur’an and know its teachings on jihad. Are you ready to strike terror in the hearts of Americans for the cause of jihad? The two nodded a silent affirmative. Hassan knew he was venturing into deep waters with little in the way of resources or backup. He was reluctant to associate with any known jihadist group, suspecting their names were on an intelligence watch list, something he could not afford for himself or for those he had gathered as a future terrorist team.

* * * * *

During a college break Hassan flew to Riyadh without notice by authorities since he was on a student visa and his home was listed as Riyadh. His primary intent was to speak with one called Tariq who worked in Saudi intelligence and had contacts with Air force Intelligence.

By associating himself with his uncle Hakim Matloub’s name, Hassan had no trouble making an appointment. They met in an almost empty coffee shop in the middle of the afternoon. Hassan was the first to speak.

I am not here to explore the past about my uncle, only to say that his ambitions are now mine as I am sure they are yours. We must trust each other in that belief. He looked squarely into the eyes of Tariq, who showed no emotion under the relentless gaze.

I agree. I made a security check on your name. There are no alerts. Perhaps you have stayed below the radar for a purpose?

I and those associated with me believe it is imperative for that to be, in order to accomplish our goal in the open without fear of apprehension.

What is your goal and why are you coming to me?

"As you know, a recent number of our freedom fighters have been abducted and now listed as missing persons. We know what that means. After the first six, the abductions ceased. There must be others under consideration for the