After a while there was a light scratching. It was the
What followed was a series of faint sounds: stockinged feet on the wood; the pop of a small plastic box being opened; then an even fainter but more menacing sound: that of twenty-four nervous keratin legs scurrying around inside the little box.
Then there followed a discrete silence because the movements were almost inaudible to the human ear: the partly opened end of a sleeping bag being lifted up, the twenty-four little legs landing on the cloth inside, the end of the cloth being returned to its original position, covering the owners of those twenty-four small legs.
For the next seven seconds, breathing once again dominated the silence. The sliding of the stockinged feet leaving the tent was even quieter than before, and the prowler didn’t close the zip when he left. The movement that Andrea made inside the sleeping bag was so brief that it hardly produced a sound. It was, however, enough to provoke the visitors to her sleeping bag into discharging their anger and confusion after being shaken about so much by the prowler before he entered the tent.
The first sting drilled into her and Andrea shattered the silence with her screams.
46
In the name of Allah, the merciful and the compassionate […]
Chapter 14: Kidnappings and Assassinations Using Rifles and Pistols
It is better to choose a revolver, because even though it has fewer bullets than an automatic pistol, it doesn’t jam and the empty cartridges remain in the cylinder, making it more difficult for investigators.
[…]
The gunman should be familiar with the essential parts on the body or [where] to wound critically in order to aim at these areas on the individual who is to be assassinated. They are:
1. The circle that includes the two eyes, the nose and the mouth is a fatal area, and the gunman should not aim below or to the left or right or he risks having the bullet fail to kill
2. The part of the neck where the arteries and veins meet
3. The heart
4. The stomach
5. The liver
6. The kidneys
7. The spinal column
The biggest mistakes in aiming are due to physical stress or nerves, which can make the hand jump or shake. This can be caused by putting too much pressure on the trigger or by pulling on the trigger instead of squeezing it. This makes the muzzle of the gun shift away from the target.
For that reason, the brothers should follow these rules when aiming and firing:
1. Control yourself when you squeeze the trigger so the gun doesn’t move
2. Squeeze the trigger without too much force and without pulling on it
3. Do not let the sound of the shot affect you and do not concentrate on what it will sound like because that will make your hand shake
4. Your body should be normal, not tense, and your limbs relaxed; but not too relaxed
5. When you fire, line up your right eye with the centre of the target
6. Close your left eye if you fire with your right hand and vice versa
7. Do not take too long in aiming or your nerves may fail you
8. Do not feel regret in squeezing the trigger. You are killing an enemy of your God
47
Nazim took a sip of Coke but immediately set it aside. It contained too much sugar, as did all the drinks in restaurants where you could refill your cup as many times as you wanted. The Mayur Kebab shop where he had bought dinner was one such place.
‘You know, I saw a documentary the other day about this guy who only ate hamburgers from McDonald’s for a month.’
‘That’s disgusting.’
Kharouf had his eyes half closed. He had been trying to fall asleep for a while but couldn’t. Ten minutes ago he had given up and tilted the car seat upright again. That Ford was too uncomfortable.
‘They said that his liver turned into pate.’
‘That could only happen in the United States. The country with the fattest people in the world. You know it uses up to 87 per cent of the world’s resources.’
Nazim didn’t say anything. He had been born an American, but a different kind of American. He hadn’t learned to hate his country, even though his lips said otherwise. To him, Kharouf’s hatred of the United States seemed too all-encompassing. He would prefer to imagine the President kneeling and facing Mecca in the Oval Office than see the White House destroyed by fire. One time he had said something of the sort to Kharouf and Kharouf had shown him a CD containing photos of a small girl. They were photos of a crime scene.
‘The Israeli soldiers raped and killed her in Nablus. There isn’t enough hatred in the world for such a thing.’
Remembering the images made Nazim’s blood boil too, but he tried to keep such thoughts out of his head. In contrast to Kharouf, hatred was not the source of his energy. His motivations were selfish and twisted; they were about getting something for himself. His prize.
Days before, when they had gone into the offices of Netcatch, Nazim had barely been conscious of anything. In a certain way he felt bad because the two minutes they had spent wiping out the
