Considering that Ameer was the one sleeping with my wife, I wouldn’t have minded if he were in pieces back there. “So who is this Ameer guy, and why does he have it in for me?”
She took on a distinctly uncomfortable expression. “Actually, that may have been partly our fault. You know that computer virus you’ve been working on for the past few weeks? Well, we were the ones who sent it to the NSA.”
I was appalled that she would know about that. Wasn’t anything secret anymore?
“One of our people found it attached to a communication we intercepted in Tel Aviv. We haven’t been able to figure out what it is or what it’s supposed to do, but we think its target is something in the State of Israel. The only clue we have is what appears to be the name for the virus: “Al Andalus”.
This was the first I’d heard about any name. “What is ‘Al Andalus’?” I asked. “Is it some kind of code or someone’s name?”
“No, it’s a name out of history. Back in the 700s, the Moors invaded Europe from North Africa. Over time they managed to conquer Portugal, most of Spain and even part of France. They named the region Al Andalus, and various caliphates and emirates ruled it for much of the next seven centuries.”
I stared at her dumbfounded. “All this is about something that happened 1300 years ago?”
She nodded grimly. “I know it’s hard to believe, but ISIS wants to re-establish the caliphate and restore Muslim rule over Al Andalus.”
“That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard!” I exclaimed. “How can they possibly hope to do that? And anyway, that has nothing to do with me. I don’t have any Spanish blood in me – I’ve never even been to Spain.”
“You’re looking at this from a Western perspective, not from theirs,” she said calmly. “To ISIS, the loss of Al Andalus was a humiliation that must be avenged, and they are prepared for a struggle that could last a century or more. They know they need the support of other Arabic countries, so their plan is to unite them by attacking the State of Israel. We think the Al Andalus virus is the opening salvo in that campaign. Our experts believe this virus is some kind of highly sophisticated cyber-attack on our defenses. But we couldn’t crack it, so we passed it along to you.”
“Why me? I’m just another hacker; I’m nothing special,” I said.
“Don’t sell yourself short,” Esther said. “We’ve been following your work and we know what you’re capable of. More importantly, ISIS knows it too, and they’re desperate to make sure nobody figures out a way to neutralize it. Why do you think they tried to get to you through Ginny? Why do you think Ameer sent his brother after you when you were suddenly sent to the biggest, fastest computer system in the country?”
“My boss never said anything about any of this,” I protested.
She shook her head in disgust. “The NSA brass was never convinced the Al Andalus virus was all that important,” she said. “We had to push hard to get them to assign it to you.”
Suddenly a memory hit me. “Just before that guy blew himself up, he shouted something that I didn’t understand.”
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