Chapter 8

The flight into Rome allowed the passengers to sleep after the excitement of getting there. Mamercus and Prince Husayn both crashed as soon as their asses hit the seat, adrenaline leaving their system. The Air Force Tess. woke them an hour before touch down, so they could eat and freshen up.

At the bottom of the stairs, after they landed, stood agents of the IIA to escort them to HQ and debrief them. When they got there, Prince Husayn and Mamercus separated, and lead to different rooms for debrief. One of the men in the room asked Mamercus to begin from sending the Asylum request.

"The plan was to go to Al Jumaymayh; it is the closest town to the boarder, and wait for the extraction team. We got there all right, but I got a feeling of being watched. I knew the plan came with this eventuality and told the SF leader when he showed up. The new plan they told me was a diversion, we would continue along the border and disappear from plain sight. We thought it had worked but they had a second team we had to kill. From there it was a straight shot to the boarder. We did not know about the Centuria following us until we got closer to the front lines.

"There was a second Cont. there and they along with the SF Cont. ambushed the Centuria. They had to retreat but not before calling in close air support. Because of them we both got out."

Questions continued about what the average person in the Caliphate thought of the unification and the new war. There was not much more that Mamercus could add that was not in his reports. They let him go, telling him they would contact him if they had any more questions, but for now he was on vacation.

Four days later Mamercus walked in the front door of the IIA, they had called him back in. He meets with the Director of Human Intelligence, the part of the Agency that dealt with field agents. The Director told him what Prince Husayn told them.

"Parthia and Arabia are puppets in this conflict. It appears that the African Tribes are united," began the Director.

"How is that possible? We deal with the ones in the Northern part, but they have not said anything?" replied Mamercus.

"The Aksum Empire is how. Centuries ago, they were just a Kingdom, but they converted to Islam and began a quiet campaign against all of Africa. When they conquered someone, they had them convert to Islam and set up a puppet government to fool everyone.

"The new Emperor of Aksum, Tichaona Mwenye, has his sights set on Rome now, wanting its power and prestige. In order to get her he must unite all of her enemies and attack. He is the one behind the war; Parthia and Arabia are just along for the ride."

"So what are we going to do now?"

"You're going to Aksum, as an Arabic merchant. It is a new ID and credentials. Go there and see what you can find."

"On my way."