Chapter 37

Many countries had individuals under surveillance who were suspected of being terrorists. Treating terrorism as a crime, they were patiently waiting to acquire sufficient evidence that a crime had taken place before arresting them. In many of the European countries, evidence from outside the country was not deemed sufficient since it was often viewed as hearsay. Thus, even if it was believed that the individual had participated in training camps inside Afghanistan or Pakistan, the individual would not be arrested.

In too many cases, the evidence necessary to make an arrest was not available until after people had been killed. It was hard for the leadership and populace of civilized countries to view the terrorists as members of a standing army within their borders waiting for orders to attack. They did not wear uniforms or dog tags. They did not have membership cards. It was a stealth army. Until the orders came, there were no real violations of law.

This situation frustrated many members of law enforcement across all of Europe. It was difficult for someone who swore to uphold the law to sit by while someone they knew was a terrorist was planning to kill a lot of their fellow citizens. The public at large in the civilized countries insisted that due process be followed. It should be noted that with each suicide bombing there was a small but growing faction that started arguing for the American approach to dealing with terrorists.

The main problem was that the United States wasn’t waiting for due process. Once sufficient evidence had been found that the individual had committed or supported an act of terrorism against America anywhere in the world, the individual was taken out in the most expedient manner possible. It didn’t seem to matter to the Americans if they were violating international boundaries in the process. Needless to say, this offended politicians to their very core.

European law enforcement officials, at least those who had contacts with their counterparts in America, started slipping information to the Americans. Suddenly, suspected terrorists were dying when missiles took out the buildings in which they were living. As European politicians shouted in outrage that America was attacking people within their borders, the police and intelligence agencies were quietly celebrating. Despite growing political pressures to isolate the United States, an unofficial pipeline of intelligence data grew.

Nowhere was the tension between politicians and law enforcement greater than in Belgium. Part of the problem was the change in demographics in Belgium. In 2002, Muslims had accounted for approximately 4% of the population. In the decade leading up to 2012, the Muslim population in Belgium had exploded to the point where it comprised 20% of the population with the majority of the population living in Brussels. Representation within the government was nearly at parity with the size of the population despite the fact that almost 75% of the Muslims were not citizens. There were entire neighborhoods where the people did not bother to learn any of the official languages.

Authorities within law enforcement knew that a coup attempt was being planned by individuals within the Schaerbeek district of Brussels. They had recorded many sermons in which radical Imams had been calling for a take over of the government for the establishment of a true Muslim state in Europe. They knew that young men were answering the call. They believed that there were training camps in neighborhoods where a non-Muslim had no chance of passing unnoticed.

At 2:00 on a pleasant summer afternoon, Islamic fundamentalists made their move in Belgium. Muslims working inside government agencies turned on their coworkers and took control in a bloodbath of murder. An army of Muslims headed towards the seat of government armed with weapons that had been smuggled into the country. Chaos erupted in every part of the city.

Initially, the Belgium military was paralyzed as a result of political interference. All attempts to lay plans for such circumstances had been sternly halted in the past and now, faced with the unthinkable, they had to improvise. Unwilling to drop bombs within their own capitol, the military approached the city with guns only to find their way blocked by children who were chained across streets. From behind the children, terrorists fired upon the soldiers.

Police, both Federal and Local, were not sufficiently armed to take on an army of highly trained troops carrying automatic weapons. Although Belgium did not have overly strict gun laws, there was less than one gun per ten people. Honest citizens trying to protect themselves with clubs found they were facing men armed with automatic rifles. It was no contest. The government was about to fall and no one knew what to do to stop it.

The Islamic Fundamentalists allowed or, in some cases, forced the news services to broadcast the coup. They wanted to show the world that Islam was regaining its former glory. It was to serve two purposes. One was to show the world that it was powerless to stop the march of Islam while the other was to recruit new followers.

At 3:15 that same day, GPS guided fuel-air explosive bombs started exploding over Muslim neighborhoods taking out entire city blocks. It wasn’t just one or two of those powerful bombs that fell. It was several dozen bombs that took out entire districts of the city. In less than ten minutes, the Muslim population of Belgium fell to 3% of the population. Of course, half of the city of Brussels was on fire.

By 4:00, Belgium was in total chaos. The recognized leadership of the country had been killed during the coup. The Muslims who had moved in to take over were running loose within the city, but their army of recruits and civilian support was dead as a result of the American actions. As flames fed on the city, law enforcement was busy battling individual terrorists in the street while American missiles were taking out major pockets of resistance. The demoralized remaining members of the Belgium military reached the city and took out the minor pockets of resistance.

Belgium law enforcement was divided in its opinion of the events that had unfolded. They had done everything they could to prevent the situation from ever occurring. The political types had overruled them at every turn. They appreciated the help from America in stopping the coup, but wished it had come earlier. They knew that America had tried to warn the politicians and had been rebuked.

The Belgium public was stunned by the sequence of events. They had seen their leadership killed on television. They had seen heads chopped off with swords in the halls of government. They had seen their neighbors die in the streets. It was impossible not to question how the situation had gotten to that point. The answer pointed directly at the primary victim of the coup — the government itself.

The rest of Europe had watched the coup take place in a state of shock. The leadership of Europe was paralyzed by the brutality of the radicals and shocked at the overwhelming response of the Americans. There was one point that no one could argue. Belgium had done nothing to trigger the coup, the Islamic Radicals had acted first, and the Americans had ended it. Complicating their reaction was that many asked why the Americans waited until after the coup had essentially succeeded rather than save the Belgium government by acting earlier.

At the same time that Belgium was burning, Tim looked around nervously while seated at the conference table. He felt guilty about what he was going to request, but the subject was a little too near and dear to his heart to ignore. Finally, he said, “I need your help. I want to get transferred to the African Section, but they won’t take me without your recommendation.”

The request caught Mike a little by surprise. Almost without thinking, he asked, “Why do you want to transfer to the African Section?”

“I grew up hearing stories about how members of my family had been slaves before the civil war. It may have been many generations ago, but my family wasn’t going to allow any of us kids to forget it. My grandmother used to tell stories about what her grandmother went through when she was a slave. I found my mother telling my children those stories the other day.

“What is happening right now in Africa really bothers me. I can’t sleep at night thinking about how people are being taken to the Middle East as slaves. I feel that I have to do something,” Tim said looking down at his hands to avoid having to look at Mike. He felt disloyal to the man.

“I can understand that,” Mike said nodding his head.

He imagined that most Blacks felt that way about the situation in Africa.

Tim said, “I don’t want you to think that I’m being disloyal to you. You’ve been the best manager I’ve ever worked for. It’s just that slavery really pushes some of my buttons.”

“I don’t blame you. I’ll make a call and see what I can do about getting you over there,” Mike said.

“I appreciate it,” Tim said rising from his chair. He went to the door and started to open it.

“Tim,” Mike said realizing that Tim was the first of his team members to request a transfer.

Tim turned to look at Mike and asked, “What?”

“Because of you, our section is pretty quiet. You made a real difference here. We couldn’t have achieved what we have done without you. Think about it. We’ve destroyed the terrorist network here in the states. We cleaned up the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Thailand. I think you’ll make a difference over in the African Section,” Mike said.

“Thanks,” Tim said standing a little straighter at the compliment.

Smiling at him, Mike said, “I expect to hear great things about you.”

Mike pulled into the driveway at home narrowly avoiding a collision with the rear of Cathy’s car. His attention had been diverted by the sight of Cathy, Ellen, and Kim having a discussion in Ellen’s front yard. It wasn’t so much that they were talking, as the fact that all three of them were topless.

He parked the car and got out. It wasn’t until then that he noticed Bob standing off to the side looking around as if afraid of being caught staring at Cathy or Kim. Bob headed over in his direction thankful at having someone with whom he could talk.

As he approached, he said, “Hello, Mike.”

“Hello, Bob,” Mike said looking over at Cathy. There had been a time when he would have gotten very angry if a girlfriend of his had gone outside topless like that.

Noticing the direction in which Mike was looking, Bob said, “It takes a little getting used to, doesn’t it?”

“I guess I’m not used to the idea of women running around topless,” Mike said. It wasn’t exactly as erection inspiring as he had thought it would be. A lot of the older women tended to have breasts with considerable sag.

“I know what you mean. When Ellen first mentioned that she wanted to do it, I was against it. She wants to show the world that she is an American woman and proud of it,” Bob said. Like many husbands across the country, he finally capitulated to her desire to go topless.

“I guess. Although to me, it looks more like a scene out of National Geographic than out of Harpers Magazine,” Mike said. He looked over at the three topless women and asked, “So what is really motivating them?”

Bob shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know what triggered it, but one day Ellen decided that she had come very close to having to give up her faith and having to wear a Burka for the rest of her life. The idea that to live she would have to become a Muslim angered her.”

Despite having watched as Ellen struggled to cope with the threat of terrorism, Mike still didn’t know what would have motivated her to bare her breasts to the world.

He asked, “What convinced her that she was going to have to convert to Islam?”

Bob paused for a moment before he answered, “That speech by Mohammad bin Laden scared the hell out of her, but I think it was the day when they had that big battle up in Jersey City and all of the non-Muslims were killed that made it all real to her. Of course, it could have been the day when we saw the news report that showed all of those Africans getting led away to be sold as slaves in the Riyadh slave market. I think that was about the time when she decided that the terrorists didn’t see us as people, but as objects that they could own. She realized that the only chance of surviving, if the terrorists won, was to become a Muslim. The idea of that sickened her.”