Traitor by Murray McDonald Page B

been the pinnacle of their efforts.
    With his audience speechless, Nick told them what he needed from them. He needed an army of true believers, not just from Al Qaeda but from across the Muslim world. He needed men who were willing to give their lives to the cause but not those who simply offered those words vacuously. He needed men who had proved their worth, trained soldiers ready to fight and give their lives to Allah.
    The group nodded as one and began to leave in a hurry. They had work to do. They had the jihadists within their groups to select for the Caliph’s plan - the men who matched Nick’s exacting standards and who would make their leader proud to be part of Nick’s army.
    Nick took Mohammed to one side as the rest of the group left the building. “Have you got everything I asked for?”
    Mohammed nodded and led Nick out of the prayer room and along the corridor to an exit staircase. One floor down, he led him to an apartment door being guarded by another two youths. The youths stepped aside and let the men enter. A bed sat in the middle of the room, enclosed within a plastic tent. A small generator ensured that filters cleansed the air leaving the tent.
    Nick surveyed the room. “That was very quick,” he said, impressed.
    “A lot of the people around here work at the local hospital. We immigrants are good for cleaning,” he said bitterly.
    “And the guinea pig?”
    Farsi led Nick through to the next room. Two women in full burkas and a man sat on the floor, bound and gagged. Fear raged in their eyes as Nick and Farsi entered the room.
    “What are the charges?” asked Nick.
    Farsi pointed to the first woman, her eyes pleading. “This one, adultery”. Moving to the second one. “This one, also adultery.”
    Nick noted the area around the eye of the second woman was bruised.
    Farsi moved to the man. “This man, rape,” he said with disgust for all three.
    Nick walked forward and removed the veils that covered both women’s faces. They immediately dipped their heads to avoid his gaze but not enough to hide that they were both severely bruised.
    “Did he rape them?” asked Nick.
    Farsi nodded. Nick took a step closer to the rapist and forced his knee into the man’s genitals and pushed hard. The man tried to scream but the gag stopped him. Nick pushed harder and removed the gag. “How many others?” he asked.
    “None!” said the man struggling against the pain. Nick pushed harder, feeling one of the man’s testicles begin to burst. “Six!!!!” screamed the man.
    “The Caliph did not believe rape was an adulterous act,” said Nick. “It encourages scum like this to rape our women! There are six other women who have been too scared to tell what this man has done to them for fear of reprisals against them for his acts. Do what you wish with the women, the rapist will be my guinea pig.”
    Farsi shouted for the youths to escort the women back to a holding room where their ultimate fates would be decided by the Al Qaeda-led council that ran the local community under strict Sharia law.
    The youths returned after depositing the women and followed Nick’s orders. They took the rapist to the bed and strapped him down. Nick checked the camera that he had requested was in place and had a good view of the bed and the rapist. He also checked that the field of vision offered no peripheral insights into the location. Likewise, the names of any branded products were taped over to offer those watching no clues as to where or even in which country the recording was made. The man was stripped bare except for a small pair of medical pants to cover his genitals. His face was partially covered with a mask to stop any facial features being recognized.
    Nick combed the specks of powder out of his hair with water and removed the spectacles. He double-checked everything then hit the record function and stepped into the camera’s field of vision.
    “Ladies and gentlemen of America…” he began, then