Chapter 2: The Tip of the Iceberg

June 20, 2008
New York, NY
6:02 PM

Ibrahim Zwaiter put the finishing touches on his half-Windsor, looking at himself in the mirror briefly, then approving. Impeccably dressed in an Anderson and Shepard suit, he looked every bit the successful Middle Eastern businessman. Despite his Palestinian roots, Zwaiter had been raised in Saudi Arabia by his uncle, he had attended the finest schools in England, and had been groomed to run the family's vast business empire. Now at 42, he was one of many oil rich businessmen from Saudi Arabia. He was also a terrorist; In fact, he was operations chief of Al Qaeda for the United States. Zwaiter had a room at the Waldorf-Astoria and despite his title, rarely came to the United States. It was too troublesome to enter and exit the country, and he was afraid of being questioned. Although he felt his credentials were beyond reproach, there was no need to take risks.

There were actually very few operatives in the United States most of the time, as the group preferred to operate in Europe. Zwaiter was here ostensibly to have dinner with a business associate, Ahmed Al Hussan, but he was really here to extract the stolen rifle prototype, where it would be delivered to his Iranian patrons. Despite his distaste for their religious beliefs, much of the funding from the group now came from Iran, as Abdullah's crackdown on Islamic charity organizations in Saudi Arabia had taken a toll. Although Zwaiter had a vast fortune of his own to manage, it was difficult for him to avoid a paper trail, so money had to be funneled through a sea of shadowy organizations, and quite slowly. The United States had become adept at following the money to apprehend suspects.

Before leaving his room, Zwaiter reflected briefly. He still remembered that fateful day when he'd heard his grandfather had been shot to death by Israeli agents in Rome. Only six years old, he vowed someday for revenge. Well, that day would come soon, thought Zwaiter, as he walked to the elevator.

Ron Jacobs stirred briefly as he heard radio confirmation that his target was 30 seconds from the target area. Laying prone on top of a table several feet back from the window in a vacant office in the Helmsley building, Jacobs peered through his 8x Unertl sight, waiting for his target to appear. He was firing a FN SPR sniper rifle, basically a heavily modified Winchester model 70. The range was just over 300 yards, and he was firing with a specially modified sound suppressor. The suppressor reduced his accuracy slightly, but the rifle could still put ten rounds within a 3 inch circle at this range. As he saw Zwaiter exit the building and hail a cab, he relaxed, and the trigger broke at just over 4 pounds.

Amy Storkman was exiting her own cab, heading for the Waldorf-Astoria lobby, a few minutes late for dinner, when she suddenly heard a loud crack, then a sickening sound as if a pumpkin had just been smashed. She suddenly noticed her pale blue Gucci dress was covered with blood and screamed, as the headless body of what had been Ibrahim Zwaiter slumped into her arms.

A crowd quickly convened, and as luck would have it, a NBC truck had been shooting background footage of the Waldorf when the shooting took place. They sent the footage to satellite and figured it would be just soon enough to make the late evening news.

Jacobs quickly stowed the rifle in a nondescript case, and exited the building, wearing ComEd coveralls. No one noticed him as he entered the ComEd van and it pulled away into the evening traffic.

CNN
8:00 PM

"The lead story this evening is the assassination of billionaire Ibrahim Zwaiter, in broad daylight in front of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Zwaiter has long been suspected of funding terrorist organizations, although there has never been any solid proof of his complicity. Zwaiter's grandfather, Wael Zwaiter, was allegedly the head of Black September in Italy, the organization that assassinated Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, and was executed by Israeli agents in Rome. Authorities have not yet commented on the assassination, but an anonymous source from the Department of Homeland Security claims Zwaiter was under investigation, but that the government had no idea who was behind the assassination.

June 22, 2008
Washington DC
7:00 PM

Mustafa Husseini stood on the podium, addressing a large crowd in front of the United States Islamic Association headquarters in Washington. A short man, at 5'6" he still commanded enormous respect, and his clerical robes certainly didn't hurt. A few weeks from his 70th birthday, Husseini had been the founder of the USIA and one of the loudest voices supporting rights of Islamic peoples in the United States. The USIA received nearly twenty million dollars a year in donations from sources inside and outside the United States. What the public didn't know was that a large portion of this money ended up funding terrorist organizations throughout the world. Husseini was speaking about the assassination of Zwaiter and several other anti-Islamic incidents that had taken place in the past several days.

As he began his comments, the excited crowd quieted to a soft murmur. "The past few days have been unfortunate ones. I am here to talk about my friend Ibrahim Zwaiter, who has been one of the biggest forces for change in the Islamic world," began Husseini. He opened his mouth to continue, but what he would have said next remained unknown, as the.308 round took him right between the eyes, carrying the top half of his skull away with it. The crowd began to scream and rush for the exits. In the hysteria that followed, two people were ostensibly trampled to death. One of them was Azir Haman, an Al Qaeda operative that was the conduit of funds between the USIA and Al Qaeda.

June 23, 2008
Chicago, Illinois
3:10 PM

Salim Heman was annoyed. The clerks at the Drake were again taking their time with his checkout. He had a plane to catch and was already running a bit behind. He knew he'd probably be hung up in security for a long time as well. It happened every time he traveled within the US. He couldn't wait to get out of this godforsaken country. With what had happened to Zwaiter, Husseni, and Haman, and who knows who else, he didn't feel safe here. He hadn't heard from Ahmed or Mahmoud in days. For all he knew, he was the only one left from the original cell still in the US. After finally getting checked out, he walked briskly to his limousine. His annoyance deepened as he found no driver waiting near the limo to open the door for him or stow his bag. Did he have to do everything himself?