Pirate - Duncan Falconer [1]
When Dinaal was sent to Colombia to set up the active service unit, the leaders didn’t tell him why. He would have to wait another two years before learning of its purpose. But he had been able to wait because he was a patient man.
In truth, the men who had recruited and sent Dinaal to Bogota didn’t know what the task would be either. They were following a directive that came down from on high. They had been ordered to set up as many active service cells as possible in just about every significant country in the world. The cells were to remain asleep until given orders to become operational.
It was during one of Dinaal’s visits to Islamabad, while receiving training in the use of wire-guided missiles and anti-vehicle mines, that he got called to attend a meeting. The gathering, which included other cell commanders, was held on a country estate a few miles inside Afghanistan on the Kandahar road beyond the Spin Boldak border checkpoint. Much to his surprise, Dinaal’s bosses were men he had never seen before. It was like there had been a complete changing of the command guard. Many of the new leaders were younger than their predecessors and were far more politically savvy. They were also ruthless and ambitious.
The meeting lasted a whole day. One by one the cell commanders were called to give account of their units. When it came to Dinaal’s turn, he described his men, their enthusiasm and their eagerness to do anything they were asked in the name of Islam. He also emphasised they were all willing to die for the cause. At the end of it, Dinaal was given what seemed a strange sequence of instructions. But he was not permitted to question them nor to divulge them to any living person outside the members of his cell.
On his return to Bogota, Dinaal assembled his team at the first opportunity and relayed the instructions. His men were equally bemused. He assured them that ultimately it would lead to a significant task: all he could say was that they were taking part in a truly global operation, one that would have a greater impact than the Twin Towers assault on 11 September 2001. Dinaal also warned the six men not to ask questions about the task nor to discuss any aspect of it beyond the walls of the secret cell headquarters. He didn’t lie to them: if they disobeyed the order they would be killed.
The Colombian, the Indonesian, the two Pakistanis and the two Saudis assumed Dinaal knew the real purpose behind the weird task. He did not let them think otherwise. He was well aware that information was power and that if you didn’t have any, it was always best to let others think that you did.
He spent a week carrying out day and night reconnaissance of the target area on his own. He looked at it from every position until he was satisfied. When he had decided on the location and timing, he took his two best men out on the ground to explain the plan in detail. He showed them where it would take place and precisely how they would carry it out.
He had one relatively minor obstacle in the preliminary plan: the procurement of a rifle. Dinaal wasn’t worried about ammunition being a major issue since he required only one bullet. And getting hold of a rifle was easy enough in Colombia. But it had been impressed upon him that the acquisition of the firearm had to be as clinical as every other part of the operation. It had to be a clean weapon, untraceable back to them. No member of the cell could be associated with a firearm in any way, shape or form. This was vital to the future of the cell. Dinaal knew he had to take it extremely seriously.
It was the Colombian who managed to achieve this level of secret acquisition, quite by chance. He stole