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  Within a month, Ibrahim had been invited to the consulate to talk with the Consular. The Saudi representative thought his health center was a great idea to help counter the rise of Islamophobia sweeping across America. The Saudi government agreed to provide Ibrahim with ten million dollars to get the clinic up and running and deliver an additional three million dollars a year in funding. With the seed money and support from the imam and the center, Ibrahim moved forward with establishing the only Islamic medical clinic in the city of Chicago.

  *******

  Ibrahim had focused his talents on treating his patients and building trust within the community, particularly the low-income ghettos of Chicago. He sponsored several other Muslim doctors from the Middle East to work at his clinic as it grew in size and popularity within the community. His free walk-in clinic hours on Mondays and Fridays were a big success in a city where the cost to see a doctor was often outside the financial reach of many. He was happy to be making a difference in people’s lives.

  Life was moving on, and he was felt he was returning to some sort of normal, at least until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Like many Muslims, Ibrahim was skeptical about the Americans’ intentions. Then, when the news stories came out about what the American soldiers had done to Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Ibrahim became more politically involved. He began to listen to more radical imams’ teachings online, and made several pilgrimages to the Haj, where he resolved to dedicate his life to the advancement of Islam, even if that meant through jihad. It was during one of his yearly visits that he was invited to meet with one of the lower-level princes in the Saudi royal family.

  Ibrahim had been a bit bewildered that he had attracted the attention of royalty, but he was very grateful for the invitation. When he arrived, he was overwhelmed by the utter opulence of his surroundings.

  And this is supposed to be one of the princes lower down on the totem pole? he marveled.

  The prince extended his hand immediately in welcome. “It’s very good to meet you in person, Ibrahim,” the mysterious man announced. “I’ve heard of the great work that you are doing in Chicago. You have become a pillar of the community, even providing free medical services to poor and struggling Muslims.”

  “Thank you, Your Royal Highness,” Ibrahim responded. “The honor is all mine, however.”

  The prince asked, “Ibrahim, hypothetically, if a person had been wounded while waging jihad, would you provide the man medical treatment, or turn him in to the police?”

  Ibrahim replied, “I am a doctor, and I would follow the Hippocratic Oath. I would not turn him into the police.”

  This answer satisfied the young prince, who said, “The Saudi government may, from time to time, send a patient to America to receive medical treatment. We will direct the individual to your clinic to be treated by you.”

  Ibrahim nodded in agreement. The prince continued, “Once the patients recover, we will have them request asylum based on their converting to Christianity while in America. Each one will need to claim that if he returned to Saudi Arabia, he would be killed.”

  Ibrahim looked confused, as if he were about to ask a question. The prince signaled for him to wait. Leaning in closer, the prince continued, “We’re going to begin to place sleeper cells in the US. Your clinic will be the conduit. We want you to be the leader for the American Midwest region.” He slowly sat back in his chair to gauge Ibrahim’s response.

  At first, Ibrahim didn’t know if he was being tricked into agreeing to work with Islamic extremists, or if he was being offered the opportunity he so longed for—the chance to strike at the American infidels, the same infidels that had taken away his livelihood with false allegations—the same brutes that had tortured his fellow Muslims and carried out indiscriminate drone strikes.

  Could this Saudi royal really be working with Al Qaeda? he wondered.

  No one said anything for a couple of minutes. Finally, Ibrahim nodded in agreement. The prince smiled and clasped his hands together with Ibrahim’s as he leaned forward. “I am excited to be working with you, Ibrahim. Your imam, Imam Abdullah, said you would be a great warrior for Allah. From time to time, you will be asked to attend meetings at the Saudi embassy. It will be at those meetings that I, personally, will brief you on any missions you may receive. In the meantime, you will continue with your work, and we will continue to fund your clinic.”

  The following day, Ibrahim flew back to Chicago a changed man—a man with a new purpose and mission, a new jihad.

  Over the following three years, nearly two dozen children and their families were flown to Chicago and treated at his clinic. Eighteen of the nineteen families were successful in obtaining religious or political asylum and began their new lives undercover in America.

  Chapter 4

  The Knights Meet

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  Burj Al Arab Jumeirah Hotel

  There was a sandstorm forming off in the horizon. Maktoum bin Rashid observed the coming tempest from the floor-to-ceiling panoramic glass window of his presidential suite. At $37,000 a night, this seven-star hotel had amazing views of Dubai from any vantage point. Maktoum bin Rashid, also known as Sheikh Maktoum, was meeting a close friend of his to discuss some business opportunities and push him to move forward with what was perhaps their most radical agenda to date. The war on terrorism had made their group incredibly wealthy, but the Islamic State had given them something unique, an opportunity to bring the Islamic war to the streets of Europe and America.

  He heard the beep of the electronic card entry for the room and turned around. As expected, his long-time friend, Prince Nawaf bin Abdullah, came around the other side of the door. He greeted Maktoum warmly with a hug and a kiss to each cheek. “Sheikh Maktoum, Asalaam Alaikum,” he said.

  “Alaikum asalaam, my friend,” Maktoum replied, motioning for his friend to sit down.

  The two comrades talked socially for a short while before getting down to business. When it was time to change the conversation, Maktoum began, “The situation in Syria presents an opportunity for us, Nawaf. As the violence of the Islamic State continues to get worse, more and more refugees are going to start fleeing the country.”

  Prince Nawaf nodded. “Yes, but that creates a potential problem for all of us as well.”

  “I agree, but just look for the bright side,” Maktoum replied. “When we founded our clandestine organization, we agreed we would do whatever was necessary to spread Islam across the world and to make it the dominant religion. We’ve funded tens of thousands of madrasas across the world and made hundreds of millions of dollars in political donations around the world. The refugee crisis that continues to get worse in Syria gives us the opportunity to relocate millions of devoted Muslims to Europe and America. It also gives us the perfect cover to infiltrate hundreds if not thousands of Mujahedeen into the West.” Maktoum spoke as if he was talking about a corporate merger.

  Prince Nawaf’s eyes drifted briefly toward the window. A wall of sand moved ever closer to the city. “You always did have a head for these things, Maktoum. However, I caution you about being overly zealous.” He motioned toward the windowpane. “You see that sandstorm?”

  Maktoum nodded.

  Prince bin Abdullah continued, “That storm is like us. We need to move slowly and steadily, like an unstoppable force that will slowly envelop everything it encounters. Islam is already the dominant religion in the world. Through our proxy, the Center for Advancing Global Islamic Relations, and the political donations we continue to make to the American and European political parties, it won’t be long until we envelop the West.”

  “I concur, but now is the time to make our move,” Sheikh Maktoum countered. “We have a receptive American president who will not openly challenge us, and a willing proxy that can be manipulated into doing our bidding. What I need your help with is identifying an intermediary who can be the go-between for the Knights, ISIS, and our various contacts in Europe and America. Someone who has exceptional
intelligence training, a person who can be trusted.”

  The prince furrowed his brow. “What do you want the end state of this next venture to be? I mean, aside from further enriching the Knights.”

  “What we have all agreed upon—to further the spread of Islam through any means necessary,” Maktoum responded. He finished off the brandy in his glass and began to pour himself another one. Neither of them were strict Salafist Muslims; they took full advantage of the philosophy that they had been taught, that the Quran allowed them to drink alcohol or do whatever else was necessary to fit in with their enemies.

  “If you want my help on this, then I need more details. Be specific,” Nawaf said, reaching for his own glass of brandy.

  Maktoum pulled out a folder and began to organize several pieces of paper. He had listed primary objectives, secondary objectives, and a separate column with the types of companies and investment instruments they should finance.

  “Stage one: escalate the destabilization of Syria, Libya and the rest of North Africa. This will cause massive waves of refugees to flood into Europe. Our psychological operations group will develop a media campaign that will focus on the human suffering of the refugees. A comprehensive media effort to expose the travesties of the humanitarian crisis will be pushed throughout every group and affiliate we have in Europe and America.”

  Maktoum pulled out another paper with a map on it before he continued, “The challenge with getting the refugees to America is geography. Our plan to overcome this is twofold. The first is that, in Canada, we’re going to make a push for them to establish a refugee program. A similar platform will be driven forward in America via CAGIR. These refugee programs will be our conduit for moving the ISIS fighters into America. Of course, they must be under strict orders to keep a low profile and stay under the radar until they’re activated.”

  The prince responded, “OK, so America will take time. I agree that that’s the best approach. What about Europe? What are the plans for them?”

  “Europe is easier—we already have a strong presence there. With the influx of refugees, our people are going to start using the cover of this mass migration crisis to stir up antirefugee and, more importantly, anti-Islamic sentiment. We’ll start small at first and then begin to initiate actual terrorist attacks. By the time the strikes start to take place, millions of refugees will have already made their way into the EU. When the EU governments begin to realize that they have a terrorist problem, I will ensure that our partners at the UN put forward a strong resolution to condemn them over their anti-Muslim attitudes. We’ll begin to hold demonstrations and rallies all across Europe.”

  Nawaf laughed and then reaching for his own glass of brandy. “You are devious, my friend—truly a mastermind.”

  Smiling and shrugging off the compliment, Maktoum responded, “I’m merely the money man. I create long-term opportunities for us to make substantial profits, which we in turn reinvest into the spread of Islam.” He paused for a moment as he rearranged his folder, and then changed the topic. “Nawaf, do you know how the Chinese defeated the Mongol empire?”

  “No, but I’m sure you are about to tell me,” Prince bin Abdullah smirked.

  “Through assimilation,” Maktoum explained. “The Chinese couldn’t beat the Mongols militarily, just as us Muslims can’t beat the West strictly through brute force. What the Chinese did was intermarry into their culture, integrating their culture and customs into their education system and government. It took multiple generations, but one day, the Mongols were no longer Mongols; they were Chinese. That is how we are going to beat the West. The refugee crisis in the Middle East and North Africa is going to be our means of accomplishing this mission.”

  Nawaf stroked his beard in thought. “Tell me more about the plan.”

  Maktoum pulled out a map of the US that had several cities circled on it. “Once we have our people in place, we will awaken our sleeper cells. Prior to each attack they carry out, strategic investments will be made that’ll enable us to capitalize on that event. The first wave of assaults will take place in Chicago. That’s how we’ll initiate the intensified culture war between Islam and the West in America. I anticipate this phase of our plan will last about six months. We’ll leverage ISIS to turn Chicago into a war zone, and while that’s happening, we’ll make a fortune shorting the impacted segments of the US market.”

  “How are we going to keep the suspicion away from our group as we start to post substantial profits?” asked Prince Nawaf.

  Pulling out a separate paper with a list of companies, Sheikh Maktoum replied, “I have dozens of shell companies established in various offshore locations. Each has a substantial amount of cash already available on their balance sheets. Prior to the attacks, those entities will make the shorts and stock purchases. Once the profits have been made, they will sell off their positions and then transfer the cash into Bitcoin. The Bitcoin will then move to other offshore investment companies. We’ll repeat the process over and over. Using Bitcoin and then closing the shell companies after they have made their transfers will not only cover our tracks; it will make it virtually impossible for anyone else to be able to connect the dots. Bitcoin is impossible to track and will provide us the anonymity we seek.”

  Maktoum spent some time walking Nawaf through how Bitcoin worked and how they could leverage the dark net as a means of moving money from one company to another, bypassing the traditional banking system.

  With one corner of his mouth turned up in a mischievous smile, the prince replied, “Maktoum, Maktoum…ever the strategist. I like the idea, but it sounds complicated. We are also going to need to establish a few new layers of intermediaries between us, the shell companies, and ISIS. We can use ISIS as our proxy for this, but we will need multiple levels of go-betweens to ensure our plan can never be traced back to us or the kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.” He paused for a moment, thinking, then declared, “I have an operative we can use. I’ve used him for some complicated missions in the past.”

  “Can he be trusted with something like this?” asked Maktoum, a bit unsure.

  A broad smile swept across Prince Nawaf’s face. “Yes, he can be depended upon. He was the man our government used to place those WMDs in Iraq in 2002 as a false flag. Through that ruse, we managed to fool that idiot Ahmed Chalabi into believing that Saddam had an active and flourishing WMD program, and he in turn made a very strong case to the West.”

  Sheikh Maktoum chuckled as he lit a cigarette. “That was probably our greatest coup ever, getting theWestern intelligence agencies to believe that gullible fool. To think all we had to do was place some stolen chemical warheads in an abandoned military base, and they fell for it.” He took a long drag off his cigarette. “It’ll be just like 9/11, my friend. We’ll make a fortune, and the Islamic cause will be furthered.”

  The two of them talked for several more hours as they began to establish their plan of action. This next initiative would probably last ten years or more. It was a high-risk proposition but would yield an incredibly great reward if they were successful.

  They ordered room service and continued their conversation. After they had finished their meal, they concluded their meeting, agreeing that they would need to bring in the others and obtain a consensus before they moved forward.

  *******

  Throughout history, the world has been rife with secret organizations and cabals vying for control. Over time, many learned about the Freemasons, the Illuminati, and the Rothschilds’ New World Order, but few knew about the Knights of Islam. They were the modern Islamic version of the Illuminati, bent not on military or financial domination but rather religious domination. Their end goal was to see Islam as the religion of the world, eventually eliminating all others.

  In the early 1980s, Sheikh Maktoum had formed this secret society. The members of the group were carefully selected and only admitted once they had completed a comprehensive background check and been sworn to secrecy on threat of death. Sheikh Makto
um and his four closest friends tightly controlled the leadership of the organization, and they were all members of either the Saudi or United Arab Emirates royal families. They were men of great wealth, with significant connections and influence in the Middle East.

  These five men had developed their friendships during their teen years while at boarding school in Switzerland. They had continued those connections as they went their separate ways to attend various universities. Several years after completing his education, Maktoum formally established the clandestine organization as a private equity and investment firm, with the secret aim of promoting Wahhabi Islam within Europe and America.

  When Maktoum’s younger brother, Khalil bin Rashid, graduated from Harvard in 1985, he went to work for Goldman Sachs. Since Khalil was a member of the UAE’s royal family, Goldman Sachs wanted to curry favor with their father, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed, a managing partner of the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund. Khalil was moved up quickly and began to work in the mergers and acquisitions or M & A group within Goldman.

  This position gave him insider access to the M & A deals Goldman was working on, and familiarity with the fine inner workings of the companies who were pursuing mergers. Despite the penalty for sharing insider information, Khalil routinely divulged his knowledge to his father, who would have the UAE wealth fund immediately invest in the best companies. His brother Maktoum, who had started Gulf States International or GSI, would also get in on the action. In exchange for looking the other way as to what Khalil was doing, Goldman was privy to opportunities within the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which were booming with infrastructure and construction projects. The UAE and Saudi Arabia also held a large portion of the nation’s sovereign wealth fund with Goldman Sachs, making them one of the largest investors in the bank.