Arisen : Nemesis Read Online Free PDF Page A

finger around a lot. An elaborate and overwrought logo – flames, birds of prey, and Arabic writing – was plastered on the screen below. There was somebody else visible in the background of the shot.
    When Elijah realized Kate didn’t speak any Somali, he translated a few bits: “Just as the knights of Libya gave glory to God by killing the U.S. Ambassador, so the faithful of Somalia will follow in their glorious et cetera et cetera bullshit. This plague sent down upon us is Allah wiping out the unfaithful, laying waste to the Umma because of its ungodliness, wiping out our shame from the fall of the Caliphate, yadda yadda, bullshit bullshit. This dude’s completely full of shit.”
    Kwon shrugged in his fully loaded tactical harness. “He’s also up to something. Out there, right now. I can smell it.” The three exchanged a heavy beat of silence. “Gotta bounce,” Kwon said. With that, he was back out the door.
    Kate said, “If we can get his YouTube channel, why the hell can’t we put some Predator-launched Hellfires on his ass? It worked for al-Awlaki.”
    Elijah shrugged. “He’s already survived two airstrikes and a snatch’n’grab, which has buttressed his claim to most-favored-by-God status.”
    “Rage Boy?” Kate asked, trying not to smirk.
    “Sheik Ali Rage Godane. Leader of al-Shabaab – since Delta took out the last leader of al-Shabaab. We call him that because he’s always outraged by something, and generally looks really irate.”
    Kate nodded. “What’s his deal?”
    “Fancies himself both a sheik and a mujahid – a warrior of God. In fairness, he does some of the shooting himself. Just usually at defenseless people. He’s beaten more than a couple to death – on camera – and beheaded a few others. Then again, SNA had him cornered one time, and he shot his way out.”
    “Jihadi gunfighter.”
    “He wouldn’t have gotten away if it had been us outside.” Elijah took a breath, and took a look around the calming chaos of the hospital. “They say he was a child prodigy at Islamic school, but then went to Afghanistan to fight. More recently, he planned the suicide bombing on the Somalian presidential palace – which killed thirty people, almost including the President. Much worse, he was the mastermind behind the four-day Nairobi shopping mall atrocity – he didn’t like that the Kenyan military had been kicking al-Shabaab’s ass all over Somalia. And they didn’t just kill seventy-two people and wound 200 – they tortured, raped, used pliers to remove eyes, ears, genitals…”
    Kate blinked and shook her head.
    “Since taking power, he’s killed his number two, who wanted to pursue peace talks – then disbanded the relatively moderate Shura Council, and killed half of them when they objected. He was credited for al-Shabaab surviving in the bush, reportedly based out of some huge and secret Stronghold, after they were driven out of the cities. Under his leadership, a-S has become one of the most brutal militant groups in the world – with stonings and amputations for anyone who defies Godane’s edicts banning music, dancing, watching soccer… a lot of what gets us up in the morning is protecting regular Somalis from that. He’s also been turning Somalia into a base for global jihad, recruiting hundreds of foreign fighters. Basically, this is the kind of guy who puts five-year-olds in suicide vests.”
    “Secret stronghold?”
    “I don’t think it exists. I think they’re sleeping on dirt.”
    “What was that crap about God wiping out the unfaithful?”
    “I don’t know. He’s nuts. He also said something about being the cause of the plague. Controlling it.”
    “Are all your Islamists this batshit crazy?”
    Elijah squinted his eyes, parted his mouth, and looked thoughtful. “No,” he finally said. “Not all of them. I’ve actually met a number of their foot soldiers.”
    “What – how?”
    “Doing outreach clinics in the bush or in the smaller