The look on the general’s face reflected a mood shift from celebratory to pensive. He took a sip of liquor and scratched his chin.
“You know, perhaps young Taplus is onto something,” he said. “I sort of like the idea of keeping up the pressure. Colonel Croon,” Perkasa looked at his chief of staff.
“Yes, sir.”
“How soon can we be back on the air?”
“A matter of minutes, sir.”
“Excellent. Let’s prepare a statement along the lines of what Taplus has suggested. Then let’s go back on the air immediately and keep the pressure up.”
“Yes, sir.”
“After that, let’s get Taplus promoted to major.”
Only major?
“The young man is showing some promise.”
St. Stephen’s Catholic Church
Jakarta, Indonesia
9:00 p.m.
She was trying to fight the tears. But somehow, the tears seemed to cleanse her soul. And the more she cried, the better she felt. “I’m sorry, Father,” Kristina said, “I just feel so dirty for what I did. But I was overcome by the power, by the trappings of it all. I feel like I sold myself.”
“It is all right, my daughter,” he said, passing her a box of tissues. “It is all right to cry. You know, God cries. And more importantly than that, Jesus died for the sinner. He is still in the business of redeeming sinners. He washes all our sins white as snow, if we repent from our sins and embrace him as our Lord, and go and sin no more.”
The priest’s words brought on another torrent of tears. “I do, Father, I do repent. I do accept Jesus.” Her words were cathartic. A warm sensation flooded her body. Somehow, Kristina knew she had been found.
A knock on the door. It was Sister Marguerita. A sudden terseness was in her voice. A look of anguish on her face. “Forgive me for interrupting, Father, but there is something I think you should know.”
“What is it, Marguerita?”
“The television is reporting that a nuclear bomb has exploded in America.”
“Oh, no!” Kristina’s heart sank again. “It’s part of their plan. It’s on the memory stick.”
“Where in America?” Father Ramon asked.
“Philadelphia.”
The priest turned on the television set in his office. CNN was showing a blinding flash in the midst of a city skyline, and then, rapidly, a great mushroom cloud rising.
The sight brought a sudden rush of sadness.
“Heavenly Father,” Father Ramon prayed aloud, “please be with the people of Philadelphia and with the citizens of America. Bring supernatural comfort to the families being torn apart by this act of evil. In the name of Jesus. Amen.”
Kristina wanted to cry again. “I feel like this is my fault. If only I’d come forward sooner.”
“How could you have come forward any sooner?” Father Ramon asked. “You came as quickly as you could. You came; that’s what important.” He paused. “And I also think it’s important for us to have a look at that memory stick.”
“Certainly.” She handed it over to him, but could not take her eyes off the television. And with the sight of men, women, and children running, panicked, in the streets away from the advancing mushroom cloud, the tears of sadness began to flow.
Residence of General Perkasa
9:05 p.m.
Finally, Hassan thought, he was getting this outrageous impetuousness under control. Only he, the general, Colonel Croon, and the television crews were in the study. Good. Face time with the general at yet another transformational moment in history.
“Do you have the draft of my statement, Taplus?” General Perkasa asked, as one of the TV crew members powdered him with additional makeup.
“I am putting the finishing touches on it now, General.”
“Very well, boy,” Perkasa said. “I want to see it and approve it before we go on air. If I am not satisfied with it, we do not go on air until I am satisfied. Is that understood?”
“Yes, General,” came the reply in unison from the television technicians in the room.
As the powder session continued, Hassan hammered the keyboard furiously. Again, he had thrust himself into history-as a military pioneer, and now as a speechwriter for one of the most important broadcasts in the history of the world.
The statement was crucial. It would need to be worded so that Perkasa could take indirect responsibility for the Philadelphia attack, without directly admitting it. The object would be to turn a panicked American public against its government-to make it clear that withdrawal of support of Israel was a small price to pay to ensure that no more American cities met the same fate as Philadelphia.
Chills again befell him as he realized that Allah was, at this moment, allowing him to be instrumental in the unfolding of history.
He smiled, and continued to type. We understand that a tragedy has fallen upon America. This has been a terrible fate that is beyond our control…
St. Stephen’s Catholic Church
9:10 p.m.
With Kristina looking over his shoulder, Father Ramon plugged the memory stick into his computer and opened the document in Microsoft Word.
“There, that’s it,” Kristina said, as Father Ramon scanned in amazement the words before his eyes.
THE MALACCA PLAN
A DETAILED PLAN BY THE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE
FOR
THE TRANSITION OF STATEHOOD
From THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
To THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
TOP SECRET
“Do a search using the word assassination,” Kristina said.
Father Ramon simultaneously pressed the control and f keys, and typed assassination.
The cursor instantly jumped, and Father Ramon found himself reading the plans for Santos’ assassination.
“Unbelievable,” Father Ramon said.
“I told you so, Father.”
Slowly, the priest carefully reread each and every word of the section. Then, instinctively, as if someone took control of his hands, he again held down the control and the f buttons.
He typed the word Philadelphia.
Instant results.
Strategic Strikes Against American Cities: With the anticipated acquisition of a limited number of battlefield-caliber nuclear weapons, the Strategic Alliance recognizes that, to the extent that the use of weapons may be employed to advance the cause of the Great Faith, the deployment and potential use of such weapons must be selective and strategic.
Operation Decapitate: To this extent, and to accomplish the goal of geostrategic positioning and leverage against the United States, the nation which, among all nations, has provided the bulk of international support to the rogue state of Israel, Operation Trident shall be commissioned to surreptitiously smuggle battlefield-caliber nuclear weapons into the USA.
Under the Operation, the weapons shall be transported to eastern Mexico, to the port of Tampico, just south of the US border. From there, they will be transported by ship at night to a point five miles off the US coastline, north of Brownsville, Texas, where they will be offloaded, along with conventional explosives, onto small craft and transported to the United States shoreline. Weapons shall be transported and stored in crates at a prearranged location in a warehouse in Brownsville, Texas, identified as the Old Port Isabel Warehouse.
From Brownsville, they will be transported separately by U-Haul trucks to three cities for deployment and use, as designated below.
Target City 1-Philadelphia. Selected for its historical significance as the birthplace of the American government…
His heart pounding, Father Ramon stopped. He reread the passage.
…Strike to occur when ordered by driving truck into area surrounding Penn Square at the heart of the city and detonating. The Council has also determined that as an economically deprived city in the liberal northeastern part of the country, it is believed that a strike in this geographic region would more quickly bring pressure against the pro-Israeli administration from the more liberal, pro-Palestinian northeast, as opposed to the more conservative south, which is populated by more so-called “Bible-believing Christians,” who offer the greatest support for Israel in America.