Nedim quite honestly did not know. The sheet of newspaper before him was the front page from the day after the embassy bombings. It went on in detail about the Muslim women and children who were killed. Even though a fatwah had been issued authorizing the deaths of all who served the infidels, these deaths weren\u2019t covered by it. They were in a building across the street. Clerics from all over the world had issued fatwahs authorizing the deaths of all involved in this bombing.<\/p>\n
That one botched bombing had sentenced everyone in his cell, and perhaps all cells, to death at the hands of other Muslims. Indeed, with the printout<\/span><\/span>s they had in their possession, these men needed no official capacity whatsoever to chop off his head in the middle of a public square. They would never be prosecuted. They would receive medals and money from infidels around the world.<\/p>\n \u201cYou did not bring me here for atonement,\u201d Nedim responded.<\/p>\n \u201cTrue,\u201d the man responded. \u201cWe would much prefer to execute you in front of the local mosque as soon as morning prayer completes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy don\u2019t you?\u201d responded Nedim. His mind raced to slap his mouth shut, but it was too late. The words were out.<\/p>\n The man sat silently for a moment while one of the brutes behind Nedim began forcing the pen in his hand to sign the confession. Apparently the brute had not been burdened with an overabundance of education, for he was squeezing Nedim\u2019s wrist so hard the fingers couldn\u2019t grip the pen even if he wanted them to.<\/p>\n \u201cOthers would prefer for us to execute all of you,\u201d said<\/span><\/span> the man.<\/p>\n The forcing, struggling, indeed, even time, seemed to stop after he spoke those words. Nedim now knew the way out of this. He might still die, but it would not be for weeks or months. He might even avoid prison.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of who?\u201d responded Nedim. He did not want to appear to be a drowning man clutching at any reed to stay alive. He didn\u2019t even care about the fist that found his skull almost as soon as he asked the question. There was a way out of this, but he had to play the game to the bitter end to be given it.<\/p>\n The man tapped the pile of printout<\/span><\/span>s in the folder and said, \u201cAll of them. Not one of them is to be left alive when we are finished.\u201d<\/p>\n Nedim began to shiver. He told himself it was the cold stone of the floor taking its toll on his feet and the chill of the room taking its toll on his bare legs, but he knew it was a lie. The reality of what was about to happen was sinking in. For him to stay alive, these men would have to kill all of those he had worked with, all of those who had known he worked with the others, and every person any of them had trained or spoken with. He seriously doubted the men in this room had that kind of capacity. In reality, they would arrest or kill some portion of the current list, then go off to other things. At that point, he would be dead. Either these men would kill him, or one they had let live would complete the task. It was an odd feeling to be perfectly healthy and know he had less than two years to live, an even odder feeling than knowing he would die in only a couple of hours if he refused. Perhaps it was the waiting \u2014<\/span> the thought of going to bed every night wondering which side was going to kill him while he slept.<\/p>\n This had all been<\/span><\/span> so simple when it started. The cleric had arranged for a computer that was envied by all, even the rich students, to be delivered to him at the university. At first, all he had to do was study hard and graduate. Once out in the working world, all he had to do was to send a few emails back and forth. Some of them simply snapshots. None of them were pornography of any kind. Perhaps that was where it all went wrong. Had they used porn to embed their messages, really good porn, nobody would have noticed there was anything embedded in the messages. They could have even set up a porn Web site and made money to fund the cause while transmitting messages around. Sad that he would never get to suggest that to his cell.<\/p>\n
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\nYou are reading a special promotional version of \u201cInfinite Exposure\u201d containing only the first 18 chapters. This is the first book of the “Earth That Was” trilogy. You can obtain the entire trilogy in EPUB form from here:<\/p>\n