Valerio made the sign of the cross and looked squarely at the young woman. Swakilki looked up at the cardinal. He was seated on a large leather sofa in the luxurious office.
‘Do you reject sin so as to live in the freedom of God’s children?’ asked Valerio.
‘I do,’ replied Swakilki.
‘Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?’
‘I do.’
‘Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?’
‘I do.’
‘Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?’
‘I do.’
‘Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?’
‘I do.’
‘Then it is time to eliminate all those who make people believe otherwise. Now listen carefully . . .’
Zurich, Switzerland, 2012
In 1844 Johannes Baur opened his second hotel in Zurich, right beside the lake and with an open view of the mountains. The hotel would soon become one of the most luxurious hotels of Zurich, the Baur au Lac.
Nestled within one of the deluxe suites of the Baur au Lac, with a beautiful view of Lake Zurich, sat Brother Thomas Manning. He was quite obviously a very valued regular patron. Why else would the hotel specifically stock Brunello di Montalcino, his favourite Tuscan wine?
There was a discreet knock at the door. The brother commanded in fluent German, ‘Kommen sie herein!’ and the door opened.
The visitor was a thin, spectacled man.
Mr Egloff was the investment advisor from Bank Leu, the oldest Swiss bank in the world. Bank Leu had started out as Leu et Compagnie in 1755 under its first chairman, Johann Jacob Leu, the mayor of Zurich. The bank’s clients had soon included European royalty such as the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. 5
‘Herr Egloff, under instructions from His Eminence Alberto Cardinal Valerio, I require a sum of ten million dollars to be transferred from the Oedipus trust to the Isabel Madonna trust,’ said Brother Manning.
‘Very well, Brother Manning,’ replied the banker.
Unknown to the outside world, the strange sounding offshore trusts managed by Herr Egloff for his clients had anagrams as the beneficiaries. Brother Manning chuckled to himself.
After all, the beneficiary of the Oedipus trust was Opus Dei and the primary beneficiary of the Isabel Madonna trust was Osama-bin-Laden.
Chapter Two
Ladakh, India, 1887
Dmitriy Novikov was tired.6 His expedition from Srinagar through the 3,500-metre-high Zoji-la Pass into Ladakh had been exhausting in spite of several men taking on the burden of luggage and equipment. The onward trek to Leh, the capital of Ladakh, and thereon to Hemis had sapped all his energy. To make matters worse, he had injured his right leg as a result of a fall from the mule that was carrying him.
Hemis was one of the most respected Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh, and their visitor was welcomed as an honoured guest. The monks quickly carried him into their simple quarters and began tending to his injury. While he was being fed a meal of apricots and walnuts washed down by hot butter tea, he met the chief Lama of the monastery.
‘I know why you are here, my son,’ said the Lama. ‘We too honour the Christian Son of God.’
Dmitriy was dumbfounded. He had not expected such a forthright approach. ‘Would it be possible for me to see the writings that talk of Issa?’ he began cautiously.
The wise Lama smiled quizzically at Dmitriy and then quietly continued, ‘The soul of Buddha certainly was incarnate in the great Issa who, without resorting to war, was able to spread the wisdom of our beautiful religion through many parts of the world. Issa is an honoured prophet, who took birth after twenty-two earlier Buddhas. His name, his life and his deeds are noted in the texts that you refer to. But first you must rest and allow yourself to heal.’
Dmitriy’s leg was throbbing with pain. The Buddhist monks applied a wide assortment of herbal remedies and packs, but they were of little help. He attempted to ignore the pain and continue his animated conversation with the Lama.
The Lama was turning his prayer-wheel when he stopped and said, ‘The Muslims and Buddhists do not share common-alities. The Muslims used violence and battles to convert Buddhists to Islam. This was never the case with the Christians. They could be considered honorary Buddhists! It’s truly sad to see that Christians decided to forget their roots and wander further and further away from Buddhism!’
Dmitriy was sweating profusely. The Lama’s words seemed to be questioning years of conventional wisdom. He realised how momentous his discovery was, but he also knew the danger of exposing his knowledge to the Western world. He would be branded a traitor and a liar. His words would be considered blasphemous. He would need to proceed carefully.
Dmitriy quickly asked again whether he would be able to see the sacred writings that the Lama was referring to. The Lama looked at him and smiled. ‘Patience is a Buddhist virtue, my son,’ he said. ‘Patience.’
Dmitriy was as patient as could be. He waited for several days to see the writings that the Lama had spoken of, the ones about Issa. It was difficult to conceal his anticipation and he had been sorely tempted to ask for the manuscripts without further delay. Today his patience had finally paid dividend. The Lama brought him a number of ancient scrolls written in Tibetan by Buddhist historians.
An interpreter was called for and began to translate the scrolls while Dmitriy attempted to make copies of them.
The scrolls told the story of a boy called Issa, born in Judea. The story went on to explain that sometime during the fourteenth year of his life, the boy arrived in India to study the teachings of the Buddhists. His travels through the country took him through Sindh, the Punjab and eventually to Maghada, the ancient kingdom of Ashoka, where he studied the Vedas, the Hindu texts of knowledge. However, Issa was forced to leave when he began to teach those whom the Hindu Brahmins considered ‘untouchables’ under the rigid caste system of Hinduism.
Issa then took refuge in Buddhist monasteries and began learning the Buddhist scriptures in Pali, the language of the Buddha. Thereafter he headed home to Judea via Persia. In Persia he made himself unpopular with the Zoroastrian priests. They expelled him into the jungles, hoping he would be eaten alive by wild animals.
He finally reached Judea at the age of twenty-nine. Because he had been away for so long, no one seemed to know him. They asked, ‘Who art thou, and from what country hast thou come into our own? We have never heard of thee, and do not even know thy name.’
And Issa said, ‘I am an Israelite and on the very day of my birth, I saw the walls of Jerusalem, and I heard the weeping of my brothers reduced to slavery, and the moans of my sisters carried away by pagans into captivity. While yet a child, I left my father’s house to go among other nations. But hearing that my brothers were enduring still greater tortures, I have returned to the land in which my parents dwelt, that I might recall to my brothers the faith of their ancestors.’
The learned men asked Issa, ‘It is claimed that you deny the laws of Moses and teach the people to desert the temple of God.’
And Issa replied, ‘We cannot demolish what has been given to us by God. As for Moses’s laws, I have striven to re-establish them in the hearts of men, and I say to you that you are in ignorance of their true meaning, for it is not vengeance, but forgiveness, that they teach.’ 7
Dmitriy was excited. Then petrified. He knew there was no going back on his discovery. He now knew that he held in his hands one of the most stunning revelations in two millennia.
A revelation about Issa, the Arabic form of the Hebrew name Yeshua, also known as Jesus.
Chapter Three
Srinagar, Kashmir, India, 1975
The house of Rashid-
bin-Isar was overflowing with joy. His wife, Nasira, had just delivered a baby boy. The proud father had announced that he would feed all the poor and homeless in the city for a week. Large vats filled with lamb biryani, a spicy and aromatic rice pilaf, overflowed into the streets as beggars and street children flocked to Rashid’s home to feast.
Rashid cradled his firstborn in his arms as he recited the Islamic prayers, Adhan in the right ear and Iqaamah in the left ear of the child, as he awaited the Khittaan, the ritual circumcision.
Father and son appeared on the balcony a few moments later as cheers erupted from the throngs in the street. ‘I want all of you to bless my son. By the will and grace of Allah, he will be great. His name shall be Ghalib, the Victorious One!’
Gulmarg, Kashmir, India, 1985
Ten years later, the members of the Indian Army who burst into the weekend home of Rashid-bin-Isar were convinced that he had financed the activities of those responsible for the bomb blast in the market the previous day.
He pleaded his innocence, but his cries and protestations were to no avail. His terror-stricken family watched as their beloved abba was arrested on the spot.
He was quickly handcuffed and dragged away to prison, where he was punched and kicked till he could barely see, hear, talk, or walk. The next day he was found hanging in his cell; he had used his own clothes to fashion the noose around his neck.
The family had been allowed to take away his body to give him a burial. As per Islamic custom, in preparation for burial, the family was expected to wash and shroud the body.8 However, this step was to be omitted if the deceased had died a martyr; martyrs were to be buried in the very clothes they had died in. Rashid-bin-Isar was going to be buried in the clothes he had died in. He was no less than a martyr.
The mourners carried his body to the burial ground where the Imam began reciting the funeral prayers, the Salat-i-Janazah. Prayers over, the men carried the body to the gravesite. Rashid’s body was laid in the grave without a coffin, as per custom, on his right side, facing Mecca.
Standing by the grave was little ten-year-old Ghalib, tears streaming down his cheeks. The Imam placed his hands on Ghalib’s shoulders and said, ‘Son, you should not cry. You are the son of a hero. Your father’s death was not in vain. You will avenge his death. Henceforth, you shall not shed tears. You shall shed blood!’
Little Ghalib was confused. How could he possibly take revenge? He was merely a ten-year-old boy.
‘Come with me, my son,’ said the Imam, and taking Ghalib by the hand he led him to the mosque. The next day, the Imam journeyed across the Line of Control to get to Muzaffarabad on the Pakistani side of Kashmir. Here the boy was enrolled into the Jamaat-ud-Dawa Madrasah, an Islamic school of learning.
The lanky, olive-skinned Imam wearing a simple white turban bid him goodbye. ‘See me after you have completed your studies,’ he said simply.
Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, 1986
During the next few years in Pakistan, Ghalib would go through two separate courses of study. In the Hifz course, he would memorise the holy Qur’an. In the ’Aalim course he would study the Arabic language, Qur’anic interpretation, Islamic law, the sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad, logic and Islamic history. At the end of his study, he would be awarded the title of ’Aalim, meaning scholar.
One day, when he was in his Islamic history class, his teacher told them about the Islamic conquests of India.
‘The first was the invasion by Mohammed-bin-Qasim from Syria in the seventh century. This was followed by the eleventh-century incursions of Muhammad of Ghazni. Ghazni was followed by Mohammed Ghori, who left India to be ruled by his Turkish generals. Then came the attacks by the Mongol hordes of Chenghiz Khan. Then, in A.D. 1398, came one of the most successful attacks of all, under the Mongol Taimur,’ continued the teacher. 9
Little Ghalib argued, ‘But none of these people stayed in India. They were mostly interested in looting rather than ruling.’
Whack! The cane was swift on his palm.
‘You must never say that again. Babar, Taimur’s descendant, invaded India in 1526 and established Mughal rule over India for the next 300 years. In fact, it was God’s will that India be ruled by Muslims. Till then, Hindus had continued to indulge in idolatry. The Muslim invasions made them realise the greatness of Islam!’
‘So why do Muslims not rule over Kashmir today?’ asked Ghalib.
‘This is the reason that you must fight,’ explained the teacher. ‘It is your duty to do so. Fight a jihad to restore Islamic rule over Kashmir and then over the whole of India! Allah-o-Akbar!’ he shouted.
‘Allah-o-Akbar!’ shouted the children in unison, including little Ghalib.
Waziristan, Pakistan–Afghanistan border, 2010
The lanky, olive-skinned Imam wearing the simple white turban who had escorted the ten-year-old was now Ghalib’s controller. Everyone simply called him ‘Sheikh’.
He was sitting on an intricately woven rug inside his cave in Waziristan, located on the Pakistan–Afghanistan border.
On his right sat Ghalib-bin-Isar, the thirty-five-year-old leader of the Lashkar-e-Talatashar. He was here with his army of the dirty dozen.
The host first looked at Ghalib. He then swept a glance over Ghalib’s men—Boutros, Kader, Yahya, Yaqub, Faris, Fadan, Ataullah, Tau’am, Adil, Shamoon, Yehuda and Fouad. Each of these veterans had crossed the Khyber Pass from different parts of the world and had enrolled in the Khalden Camp run by Al-Qaeda as fresh recruits, who were now toughened and battle-ready.
Khalden was a mishmash of tents and rough stone buildings. It used to take in about a hundred recruits at a time. Each group consisted of Muslims from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Yemen, Algeria, France, Germany, Sweden, Chechnya and Kashmir. Ironically, the Al-Qaeda Khalden Camp was using teaching and training methods originally adopted by the American CIA in training the Mujahideen guerrillas to fight the Soviets.10 Even text books—in Arabic, French and English—on terror techniques had been made available to the recruits, courtesy of the CIA.
Each morning at Khalden, the group would be called to parade and then asked to pray. After the morning meal, they would go through endurance training followed by strength training. They would also be taught hand-to-hand combat using a variety of knives, alternative forms of garrottes and other weapons. They would learn to use small firearms, deadly assault rifles and even grenade-launchers. The science of explosives and landmines was also part of their study. Representatives of Islamic terror groups, such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad would regularly visit the camp in order to teach the recruits more about the practical applications of their knowledge.
The final result of the efforts at the Khalden Camp had been this elite Army of Thirteen, the Lashkar-e-Talatashar. The Sheikh was happy with the output.
These men would help the Sheikh’s Master teach the whole world of infidels a lesson that they would not forget. The 9/11 attack on America in 2001 would seem like a tea party in comparison. The Sheikh’s Master was convinced that it was time to re-establish the supremacy of the Islamic Caliphate.
The Sheikh wondered how it would affect the Crux Decussata Permuta.
Chapter Four
Osaka, Japan, 1972
Pink Floyd performed live at the Festival Hall in Osaka on 9 March. Among those in the audience was a pretty young woman, Aki Herai. She had a job in the large Daimaru store in the Shinsaibashi district of the city but was now on leave because she was eight months pregnant. The concert tickets were a present from her friends at the store. The delicate subject of the child’s father was never discussed.
Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon was a big hit with the Japanese youth attending the concert. The show was reaching its finale when Aki felt her water break. Her friends rushed her to Osaka National Hospital, where the doctors performed an emergency caesarean section.
Her daughter, Swakilki, arrived six weeks short of a normal forty-week pregnancy. Luckily she weighed five pounds, was 12.6 inch
es tall, and had fairly well-developed lungs, enabling her to survive.
On Swakilki’s sixth birthday, her mother threw a party. Aki entertained the guests inside the cramped shoebox home while one of her friends took little Swakilki to the garden for some fresh air. As the woman cuddled the little girl in her arms, she felt the shock from the hot blast that ripped through Aki Herai’s home.
The cause of the explosion would later be diagnosed as an accident—a gas leak.
It was a gas leak; an accident, it was not.
Yes, Swakilki was indeed a survivor—born without a father, and alive without a mother.
Tokyo, Japan, 1987
Orphaned at the age of six, Swakilki had been transferred to the Holy Family Home, an Osaka orphanage run by kind, gentle and caring nuns. She would spend the next six years here.
During these six years she would eagerly await the monthly arrival of one of the jovial and rotund Fathers from Rome. His name was Alberto Valerio, and he would always bring her candy. For Swakilki, he was her Santa Claus.
She was one of the ‘lucky’ ones to get adopted at the age of twelve by a fairly well-off couple in Tokyo. What she could not have known was that the adoption would come at a price. Little Swakilki was abused and raped by her adoptive father at the age of fourteen; he told her it was their ‘special little secret’.
Scared and confused, she ran away a year later to take up a job in an oppaipabu, one of the sleazy establishments on the outskirts of Tokyo where customers were allowed to fondle the female staff to their hearts’ content. It was at the oppaipabu that she met an older man, Takuya.
She shared his bed on the first night they met, and he shared with her his knowledge of anandamides.