“Put yourself in their place,” said Phoenix. “You take service with a regiment whose duty is to keep the Khyber Pass open and to protect caravans from banditry. Suddenly you’re faced with a war in which you have to fight your own people, not just bandits, but your countrymen, members of your tribe, maybe even blood relations. Worse, it’s a jehad and there you are, a good Muslim, forced to fight against your own people in a war your faith tells you is a holy struggle to rid the country of infidel invaders. Invaders whom you serve. It has to tear you up. So you desert and get twice as fanatical and twice as savage as anybody else, to prove to them and to yourself that your heart was in the right place all along.”
“I’d like to get a look at this Sayyid Akbar character,” said Fox.
“You’ll get your chance,” said Phoenix. “I understand he grants an audience to each arriving chief and khan, along with his retainers. We’ll be with the latest bunch that came in. We go in at sundown.”
“Sundown, eh?” said Sable. “Dramatic. What is this guy, a vampire?”
Phoenix glanced back at the pit. “After seeing that, I shouldn’t wonder.” He looked up at the sky. “It’s almost time. Come on. Let’s go pay our respects.”
They joined the group gathered by the gates in the wall outside the house. Phoenix glanced up and saw that the gun tower over the house was manned. Sayyid Akbar was security-conscious. As the sun went down, the gates were opened to them and they went inside with a group of about twenty other tribal chiefs who had recently arrived. They crossed the small courtyard and went into the house, into the large central chamber which was decorated with tapestries and silk hangings.. A number of lamps had been lighted to give the room a soft, dim illumination.
They were directed to wait at one end of the room, opposite a platform with a throne upon it, made from wood covered in hammered gold and silver. As the last rays of the sun disappeared, a group of heavily muscled guards came in to stand between the platform and those who had come to attend the audience. The men were armed with captured British MartiniHenry rifles, as well as officers’ Webley-Wilkinson pistols. They all had charras tucked into their belts, along with smaller knives.
“On your knees before the Light of Islam!” one of them called out. Sayyid Akbar appeared seated on the throne, materialising out of thin air. Amidst the shocked reaction, agent Sable whispered to Phoenix, “A warp disc! We’ve hit the jackpot!”
They dropped down to their knees, touching their foreheads to the floor. Phoenix raised his head slightly, staring at Sayyid Akbar intently.
“Arise, my faithful ones,” Akbar said in a deep, rich baritone.
“Drakov!” Phoenix said under his breath. He kept his head lowered, hoping Drakov would not get a good look at his face.
“I am Sayyid Akbar,” said Drakov.”I have come to join with you in the Great Jehad.”He got up and approached them, flanked by his bodyguards. “The time has come for the faithful to arise and throw off the chains of the invaders. The infidel firinghi has come to our land, seeking to claim it as his own. He comes seeking to expand his empire and to enslave us. He comes with arms to subjugate us. He comes with missionaries to attack our faith, seeking to make us infidels like himself. He comes to change our way of life, to take our land, to make us join his soldiers and to deny us Paradise. In so doing, he has raised our wrath and he has raised the wrath of higher powers.”
His piercing gaze took them all in as he came closer, establishing magnetic eye contact with each man as he spoke.
“This day we are all one. Afridi, Mahsud, and Waziri; Yuzufrai, Mohmand, and Utman Khel; Swati and Orakzai—all joined together in the holy cause to fight for freedom. Today we are all Ghazi. Today we are mujahidin—holy warriors of the Great Jehad!”
He was coming closer. Phoenix kept his head down.
“The day is close at hand,” said Drakov. “When next the moon is full, it will be the Night of the Long Knives.” His hand closed around the jewel-encrusted hilt of his charra. “On that night the gates of Paradise shall open. A great host shall come forth to fight with us in our holy struggle. The British forts shall burn and the flames shall be seen in their own homeland, so that they will know never again to—”
He paused, standing before Phoenix. As if with great humility, Phoenix kept his gaze averted, looking down at his feet.
“You,” Drakov said. “What is your name?”
“I am called Sharif Khan, Holy One,” said Phoenix.
“Look at me.”
Slowly Phoenix raised his head, meeting Drakov’s gaze. Drakov’s eyes widened for a moment, then he gave a faint ghost of a smile.
“Take this man,” he said. “He is a British spy.”
The bodyguard were on them instantly. Fox and Sable found their arms pinned behind their backs before they could get their weapons clear, and Phoenix was seized, the sharp point of a charra at his throat. The other tribesmen began yelling, pulling out their own knives and threatening to cut the agents to pieces on the spot. Drakov raised his arms and silenced them. Slowly, theatrically, he lowered them.
“Leave this man with me,” he said. “As for the other two …” He turned and nodded to his guard. Moving with lightning speed, two of the guards plunged their long knives into Fox and Sable. The agents never even had a chance to cry out.
They appeared like wraiths from the shadows all around them, gliding like ghosts out of the darkness. Ortheris lay upon the ground, clutching at his left shoulder. A voice called out to them in English, “Throw down your weapons and you will not be harmed! Resist, and you will all be shot dead where you stand!”
“Bloody hell,” Mulvaney said, “that sounds like a bloomin’ Yank!”
Finn and Andre stood rooted to the spot, stunned.
“There are twenty rifles trained on you,” the voice from the darkness said. “You’re more valuable to me alive than dead, but if you force my hand, I’ll take the loss.”
Finn dropped his rifle. The others followed suit. Andre lowered her revolver. As it fell from her fingers, she stared at Finn and said, “It can’t be!”
The man walked forward into the firelight. He was dressed in Temporal Army base fatigues, but they were field gray instead of black, and the insignia were different, unlike any they had ever seen before. He wore a patch over one eye, and in his right hand, held a laser at his side.