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The man squeezed into the cockpit at ul Haq's side now atop the sail of the Shuhadaa had also fled the Afghan holocaust with the Maktum's help. His name was Noor Khalili, and he'd been one of the immortal bin Laden's most trusted lieutenants. He still was one of the most powerful men within the secretive al Qaeda.

"All back," ul Haq said into the microphone for the sub's intercom system. Instantly, the single screw astern reversed direction, churning a swirl of white water as the slow-drifting vessel began slowing more, edging gently toward the pier. The line-handling crews fore and aft tossed lines across to the men on the dock, who grabbed them and began making them fast to the pier-side bollards. Shuhadaa Muqaddaseen shuddered as she came to rest.

"All stop," ul Haq commanded, and the engine fell silent. The first leg of the vessel's long voyage, from Karachi to the Spratly Islands, was complete.

"Well done, my friend," Khalili said. The Afghan grinned broadly, exposing a ragged array of yellow teeth. "Truly, Holy Martyrs is a magnificent vessel! A magnificent weapon for striking at the Americans!"

"Perhaps," ul Haq replied. "But at the moment, I'm more concerned about our hosts and the promises they've made. I need to go ashore and arrange for our refueling."

"You don't need to worry about the Chinese, Captain. Every detail has been carefully arranged."

"It's my job to worry. That is what ship captains do. If you'll excuse me?"

He squeezed past Khalili and descended into the dark tunnel leading down into the submarine's belly. Shuhadaa Muqaddaseen was a submarine of cramped and antique design, one of dozens of Kilo-class vessels a cash-hungry Russian Federation had been peddling lately to every would-be sea power from the People's Republic of China to Iran. The despised Indians possessed no fewer than five Kilos in their navy, one important reason that Islamabad had decided to purchase one as well. Commissioned as S-137, Al Saif ("the sword") at Khalili's suggestion, the Kilo had been renamed shortly after leaving port. Though neither the government in Islamabad nor the Admiralty in Karachi knew it, Shuhadaa was now the first warship in al Qaeda's navy, a terror weapon that could strike unseen at the West's mercantile infrastructure from the Arabian Gulf to the northern coast of Australia.

Until recently, Pakistan had purchased all of its submarines from the French. Islamabad's small navy boasted six other diesel attack boats — four of the aging Daphne class, plus two of the more modern Agosta class. The two Agostas, Hasmat and Hurmat, were excellent vessels; ul Haq had commanded the Hasmat for two years in the late 1990s. Displacing 1,200 tons and capable of about twelve knots submerged or twenty on the surface, they were capable and deadly.

But the Kilo…

She was twice the Hasmat's tonnage, with a larger pressure hull. Constructed with full and certain knowledge of the U.S. Navy's sonar capabilities, she was quiet, quieter even than the American Los Angeles submarines, quieter even, it was whispered, than their

Seawolfs. She carried fewer torpedoes, true, and she was no faster than the French Agostas, but she had a considerably greater cruising range and greater endurance submerged. She also had a bonus, so far as al Qaeda was concerned. Mounted in her sail was a surface-to-air missile launcher, a feature unique to the Kilo among all of the world's submarines. The Russians didn't usually include that particular accessory on board their export submarines. Evidently, some palms had been liberally greased. Despite American efforts, al Qaeda still had considerable financial resources. How else could they have manipulated the Pakistani government to get access to this vessel?

Stepping off the ladder from the weather bridge, ul Haq entered the submarine's control room. Half a dozen men in Pakistani naval uniforms manned the various control stations there. His first officer, a dark and leather-skinned Saudi named Muhammad Hassan Fitaihi, stood at the periscope well. "Ship-to-shore communications have been established, Captain. The Chinese have just requested inspection rights."

"Tell them that I will come ashore to meet with them," ul Haq said. He didn't want the infidels mingling with the crew freely just yet.

Ul Haq was fiercely proud of Shuhadaa Muqaddaseen. Her single limitation as a weapon for al Qaeda was her basing and logistical needs. Once the Pakistani government knew that the Shuhadaa had gone rogue, she would never again be able to return to Karachi, nor could she pull into any friendly port to refuel. For al Qaeda there were no friendly ports.

That was where the Chinese came in.

For reasons of their own — ul Haq still didn't understand what they were — Beijing had agreed to allow the Shuhadaa access to their new and highly classified submarine base in the Spratly Islands. More, they'd promised the assistance of a PLAN attack submarine, that one tied at the other slip ahead, in training the Pakistani crew on the new vessel. The PLAN knew the Kilo; they'd purchased a number of them from the Russians and were rumored to be building their own. They knew submarine tactics, knew how to employ attack submarines against a larger and more powerful adversary.

The advisor the Chinese had promised to send on Shuhadaa Muqaddaseen's first voyage would be in-valuable—if this marriage of convenience could be made to work.

Ul Haq did not trust the Chinese. They were not altruists, and they were not motivated by religious faith. Clearly, they had an agenda of their own, one that would not necessarily further al Qaeda's interests. It was self-evident that they hoped to use the al Qaeda submarine and crew for their own benefit. Ul Haq wished he knew what that benefit might be. The orders transmitted by his Maktum contact in the Admiralty had given no hints as to what Beijing hoped to gain from this… association.

Clearly, too, not all of the Chinese officers involved in this plan were eager to implement it. Ul Haq would have to see what he could do to generate some enthusiasm in that quarter.

And he would have to watch his back. The Chinese were perfectly capable of tossing him, his crew, and the Shuhadaa to the Americans like a scrap to a dog if the submarine became an embarrassment to them.

Fortunately, he would not have to rely too heavily on the infidels. He needed Small Dragon Island's submarine pen for refueling and provisioning, and he needed those promised advisors. Once Shuhadaa had set sail once more, Beijing's games within games would no longer matter.

In the meantime, he wanted to limit contact with the Chinese as much as possible. He didn't want them on his vessel, didn't want them contaminating the crew with strange ideas.

Most of all, he did not want any of his men to start speculating about their chances for surviving this mission.

Ul Haq did not expect the submarine to survive her first cruise. The idea was to do as much damage to American interests as possible before they finally hunted Shuhadaa down and sank her.

Thoughtful, he watched the men in the control room securing their stations. Through Maktum's manipulations, most of the men on board were fervent Muslims, eager for jihad. The story had already been passed among them that Pakistan might soon be at war with the American giant… alie, of course, but a very useful one. The nation of Pakistan continued to play the lapdog to American foreign interests. It was al Qaeda that was waging holy war.