JACKKNIFE
WILLIAM W. JOHNSTONE
WITH J. A. JOHNSTONE
PINNACLE BOOKS Kensington
Publishing Corp.
“Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.”
—General Omar Bradley
“The enemy say that Americans are good at the long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron. I call upon you instantly to give a lie to the slander. Charge!”
—General Winfield Scott
Contents
PROLOGUE
BOOK ONE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
BOOK TWO
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 57
CHAPTER 58
CHAPTER 59
CHAPTER 60
EPILOGUE
Tensions Increase
in Middle East
WASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 14, 01:39 PM US/EASTERN, ASSOCIATED PRESS. In Washington today the mood is tense, as hostile rhetoric continues to fly back and forth between Tel Aviv and Tehran over the Iranian government’s continued refusal to suspend its nuclear program. Israeli officials maintain that Israel will take whatever action is necessary to defend itself in the face of intelligence indicating that Iran intends to launch a nuclear strike at Jerusalem, while the Iranian Foreign Minister accuses the Israelis of paranoia, warmongering, and threatening the stability of the entire Middle East. Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and not intended for military use. French, German, and Russian officials have called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, urging the United Nations to step in and restrain Israel from taking any aggressive actions that might lead to war.
At the White House, the President remains in frequent contact with the Israeli Prime Minister and is said to be urging restraint as well. A White House spokesperson has quoted the President as saying, “War is not the answer. It has never been the answer, and it never will be.”
PROLOGUE
A village on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border
Hamed al-Bashar felt his chest swell with pride as the bent, robed, and hooded figure of Sheikh Abu ibn Khahir shuffled along the line of freedom fighters, pausing to speak quiet words of encouragement to each of them. The sheikh had come to this remote hill village all the way from the south of France, where he lived. That alone was enough to tell Hamed how important the mission was that he and his companions were about to undertake.
The sheikh was the leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a shadowy but growing sect within the Islamic fundamentalist movement. The group had ties with other Islamic organizations throughout the world, but most people considered it a minor player in the ongoing war to cleanse the infidels from the face of the earth and restore Islam to its rightful place of dominance over all creation.
No one would see it that way after Hamed and his comrades concluded their mission, whatever it might be. Then everyone would know the power of Hizb ut-Tahrir and its devotion to the glories of Allah.
Sheikh ibn Khahir paused in front of Hamed and murmured, “You are willing to die for your faith?”
“Sheikh, I am eager to die for my faith,” Hamed answered.
“And what gifts will you bring to the infidels?”
“A sword, and fire, and death.”
A faint smile touched the sheikh’s seamed, leathery face as he nodded in approval at the answer.
Hamed was speaking somewhat metaphorically, of course, and he knew it. A sword would do little good against the hated Americans. There were too many of them. The promise of a sword was only symbolic.
But fire and death…ah, those were real, as the Americans would someday know all too well. Someday soon, Hamed hoped.
“Where are you from?”
The sheikh’s question caught Hamed by surprise. “Paris,” he said. His parents had immigrated to France from Algeria before Hamed was born, and although he had been raised there, he had never felt French. His true nation was Islam, no other.
“I thought I recognized the accent,” the sheikh said. “I live in France.”
Hamed didn’t know what to say. The sheikh’s expression was hard to read. Hamed felt the old feelings of inferiority welling up inside him. It had always bothered him that he was not from Saudi Arabia, or Syria, or even Egypt. He was an Arab, not a filthy Frenchman! Even though the Muslim population of France was exploding, as it was throughout all of Europe, Hamed wished that he could have actually grown up somewhere in the Middle East.
But soon that would no longer matter. The twenty men who had been training with him here in this village for the past two months were from several