This violence, however, was just the beginning; it was a signal to the other cells to begin their part of the grand plan. Mohammed had mentored, recruited and manipulated hundreds of individuals in key positions across the Middle East and Asia as part of his master scheme to unite the Islamic world under one command and one mission — to recreate the Islamic Caliphate with Mohammed Abbas as its leader.
In Indonesia, the regional spiritual figurehead for Islamic State, Ismail, had been following the news closely, watching every second of 24-hour news coverage that he could stay awake for. Weeks of being holed up in a dirty warehouse awaiting his turn were about to pay off. He grabbed a dusty seat, brushed it off, and sat down across a dilapidated table from his military commander, Mohammed Jamal, to discuss their plans.
“Ismail, it is time for us to begin our phase of the operation,” said Mohammed Jamal, eagerly puffing on a cigar.
“We have worked long and hard to have our people infiltrate the various key positions within the government and military. Now that our brothers in arms in India have successfully conducted their attack, we must hold up our end so Mohammed can initiate his plan and bring in the new Caliph.”
“Is there anything that I should worry about? Are all the pieces in place?” questioned Mohammed Jamal.
“Inshallah, there is nothing that has not been prepared for,” replied Ismail confidently.
“Then, Inshallah, the next time we meet we shall have a true celebration my brother.”
On Thursday of the same week, with the world still reeling from the massacre in India, Ismail’s group of Islamic State militants broke through the security detail surrounding the president of Indonesia. Their attack was so swift and well-coordinated that none of the agents wounded any of the assailants as they abducted the entire presidential family from their motorcade. Only moments later, citizens watched in horror as they were strung up from light posts and then riddled with bullets. Signs that read “Infidel” were attached to their bloody bodies, making them appear to be a very horrific form of scarecrow made to warn the people of eminent doom.
Within minutes, key military figures all over the country were being assassinated quickly and pre-selected candidates were filling in the power vacuums that were made across the military and in key ministries of the government. Within days, Ismail announced to the world that he had taken over as the new Caliph of Indonesia and had assigned Mohammed Jamal as the new head of the military, solidifying his hold on the country.
Fearing deadly retaliation similar to the recent incidents in India, the majority of the military quickly backed the leader of the coup and martial law was imposed across the country. Panic, however, had spread rapidly throughout the nation. Most of the opposition was smart enough to stay silent during the transition, but those politicians and military members who did come to the aid of the former government were dealt with swiftly and made into public examples in a brutal show of force.
Still, various factions of the military and police fought against the army units that were supporting the coup and the Islamic State militants. Though they had the passion and spark of those who were fighting for their very survival, they lacked adequate firepower to combat Ismail’s forces and quickly became outnumbered. The rebels were quickly pushed into the backwoods of the countryside, unable to emerge for fear of annihilation. By Saturday, Ismail Mohammed was running the new Indonesian government.
As Indonesia fell, the next piece on the chessboard was moved and it was time for the Malaysian group to act. Islamic State militants waited until the dead of night to approach Kuala Lumpur, dressed in urban camouflage and hoisting large amounts of explosives. However, even with months of planning and with moles inside the inner circle of leadership, there was a wrench in their best-laid plans that they had not anticipated.
Two nights before the attack, the Commander in Chief of Malaysian Armed Forces woke up in a cold sweat after a vivid nightmare…and since he held the dream world in high esteem for its power to inform, he quickly set a plan to change patrol routes along the outside of the city. The Islamic State walked right into a network of Malaysian Forces, and were met with swift action. The explosives they brought with them were quickly turned against them, and with their diminished forces, the men were prevented from attacking the capital directly and were forced into a house-to-house fight in the suburbs.
The Malaysian Army quickly squashed the uprising within their country, rooting out the Islamic State extremists within the military and the government who had participated in the plot. While Indonesia fell to the militants, Malaysia was able to hold out.
Back in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Abbas was watching the news about India and Indonesia on Al Jazeera with particular delight. As the unofficial leader of the Islamic State, nothing brought him greater joy than to see infidels lose their power and their lives. He stepped out on his balcony and smoked a cigarette, quietly looking out at the city. Then he answered the evening call to prayer before getting a surprisingly restful night’s sleep; he had a busy day ahead of him.
Mohammed woke up the next morning to his usual routine. However, unlike most days, Mohammed had a morning meeting with the King to discuss the modernization of the Saudi economy. Saudi Arabia had followed the same path the United Arab Emirates had chartered in the early 2000s, and had begun a transformation of their economy from being heavily reliant on the oil industry to being a banking and manufacturing hub. They had built an intricate network of high-speed rail networks linking the country, and more importantly, the major ports and manufacturing hubs. Saudi Arabia (under Mohammed Abbas’s influence within the Royal Family) had developed the first Middle East automobile industry, providing reliable and inexpensive vehicles for numerous Middle Eastern and African nations.
Saudi Arabia also developed an intricate banking sector that handled the majority of the financial dealings of OPEC and the Middle Eastern Sovereign Wealth fund. Unlike most countries in the world, the Saudi banking system refused to share information of their account holders with the American Internal Revenue Service and the EU financial governing bodies. The IRS and EU had threatened to cut Saudi Arabia out of the global financial world, for which Saudi Arabia leveraged their influence within OPEC to retaliate against such a move by imposing an oil embargo against the US and EU. Ultimately, the American de Blasio administration and the EU backed down from their threat.
This firmly established the Saudi banking system as the most secretive and protective way to hide the wealth of the rich elites of the world as these individuals sought financial safe havens away from their own governments and taxes. This became a financial boon for Saudi Arabia, and led to a rapid expansion of their new banking system, bringing in trillions of dollars to the country.
It had taken Mohammed decades to build an intricate network of loyal workers across the country and throughout the Arabian Peninsula. While he was at his day job, he managed to maintain the façade of loyalty towards the royal family; in his spare time, his only focus was fomenting anger and insurrection against the various monarchs that ruled the Middle East, and preaching the need for a new Caliph and Caliphate to emerge and lead the Islamic world. Despite his secret private life, he had slowly worked his way into the upper echelons of the royal family’s inner circle through his economic modernization plans.