Pervez Hussain Faruq squats in the wintry darkness of the cave in the remote tribal lands of Pakistan. He cannot see his companions but the stench of their unwashed bodies and clothes is sufficient evidence for him. Someone is snoring heavily behind him. It is approaching midnight and he will soon light the small oil lamp he holds in his hand.
He leans across to the man beside him and speaks in a husky whisper, “Got the matches? It’s time to start.”
His friend is a new arrival to the camp. He pulls a small packet from his pocket and passes it to Faruq.
“Wait till you see where these come from,” he sniggers.
Faruq strikes the match and lights the wick of the oil lamp. He smiles to himself when he sees the New York hotel brand boldly emblazoned on the packet. (He fully understands the irony of the situation.)
He has been performing this ritual for several nights now. Every night, on the stroke of midnight, he lights his lamp to check the messages that have come in on the old satellite phone. (He fully understands the irony of the situation.)
Tonight his patience is rewarded. The message has come from bin Laden. It is time for action.
The line of authority is clear. Faruq is bin Laden’s right hand man. He has the power to start the ball rolling, transmitting the decisions and the calls for action. From this cave he controls the al Qaeda network, protecting the whereabouts of his leader. He also knows that the buck stops with him. If the Pakistani authorities discover their location, his job is to be the fall guy. He learned this terminology when he was a student in America in the nineties. (He fully understands the irony of the situation.)
He gives his off-sider a restrained punch on the arm. “We’ve got the go-ahead,” he whispers triumphantly.
With a rush of adrenalin, he expertly codes a message to the next operative in Islamabad. Within minutes he receives a reply to say the message has been received. So it will go, with exquisite timing, down the chain of authority. Each time the message is transmitted the incoming message is erased and the coding for the outgoing message is changed slightly. With each transmission, the possibility of tracing the message to its origin is more completely obscured. Faruq is also aware that, with more people involved in transmitting the message, the possibility of there being a leak is increased. (He fully understands the irony of the situation.)
It takes less than an hour for the transmission to reach the saboteur in Baiji, north of Baghdad, where multiple oil pipelines come together to cross the Tigris River. He is crouched already beside the pipeline. It has amused him over the last few days that the Americans have only just repaired the pipeline since his last operation. They have even delivered the security fencing to protect this junction. Unfortunately the Iraqi workmen have not erected the fencing yet. (He fully understands the irony of the situation.)
He presses the button.
Far below him there is a massive explosion. Billowing clouds of black smoke erupt into the midnight sky. Huge flames shoot into the air. With his binoculars trained on the scene, the saboteur watches as dark streams of crude oil flood down the bank and into the water. The surface of the river is burning.
Excitedly he codes a message and sends it back up the line. “Midnight oil alight.”
Alternative titles:
Iraqi irony
Oil to burn
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4 comments:
I loved this piece - very out there - it certainly seemed just a teaser from a greater picture. It left me wanting more. I loved the points of irony but wondered why bin Laden's right hand man would be a fall guy - surely someone lower down the food chain? Maybe he has a false sense of his own importance? Great work a pleasurable read. Peta
Heather says:
Another MacAulay classic, Kerry. (The hallmarks of a MacAulay classic are that I have a deeply satisfying story-read, that I feel I've learned something, and that I sense the author has worked hard and intelligently to make the story true and real.)
You hooked me from the second sentence. Your choice of the present tense gave the story huge immediacy.
I loved the structure provided by the "irony of the situation"s. Maybe thin them out a little toward the end, as they distract a little from the characters and the flow of their story.
More! More!
Jenny says:
The opening was very immediate and gripping, with the sensory detail and the present tense.
I found the points of irony variable - some of them were clearly ironic and worked really well, and others were a bit of a stretch to find the irony, which distracted. For example, the second one occurred for me as an error, and it was only when I get to the third that I went back to the second to hunt for the irony there. I think perhaps the irony would be more apparent if you deleted the word "old" and just had him lighting an oil lamp to check "the satellite phone".
The last one, though, where they haven't yet re-erected the fence, is priceless!
A really great read. It's great how you provide such a comprehensive and detailed story in so few words. Do you research names etc? I was a bit confused about the "understanding the irony" sentence - it's not supposed to be in every para is it?
The opening para sets an ominous picture and I'm instantly transported to the cave.
I don't think the bit about the matches and the NY hotel is relevant to the story. It hooked me in and I thought they were going to blow up the hotel. I also feel you could leave out the para on the messages being transmitted up and down the line, the security or lack thereof. I got hooked again and thought he was going to get caught.
The change of the POV to the saboteur worked well. Well done.
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