Supplicant

Throughout the 1970's and '80's, salafi terrorist groups increasingly target American personnel, civilians and facilities across the globe. The American reaction - as perceived by its adversaries - is weak and ineffective. Following a succession of such terror attacks, in 1996 a massive truck bomb strikes the USAF facility at Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The act kills nineteen Americans and wounds hundreds of others. Angered and frustrated, the U.S. Government determines to strike back. In response the National Security Council turns to a covert Special Activity that is known only to cleared insiders as the Org. The NSC directs the Org to launch an extremely hazardous, long-term HUMINT agent penetration of a radical jihadist group. The goal? To prevent any future such attacks against American interests. And to do so at any cost. What are the odds?The author is a career Special Agent with the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of the State Department, nor of the U.S. Government.