Shadow of the giant

recognize him by
face guessed from the clothing and from the fact that he was a young black man
that their Caliph had come to see them. None of the common soldiers and few of
the officers suspected that General Rajam would not be happy to have a visit
from the Caliph. So they raised their voices in cheers—some of them in an
ululation meant to suggest the cries of Arab warriors riding into battle,
though all the soldiers here were Pakistani.
    The camera rolled as Alai raised his arms to receive the
adulation of his people.
    He strode through the checkpoint unmolested.
    Someone brought him a jeep, but he refused and kept walking.
But the vidman and his crew got into the jeep and rode along beside and then
ahead of the Caliph. While the Caliph's aide, Ivan Lankowski, dressed in
civilian clothes like the vid crew, explained to the officers who trotted
alongside him that the Caliph was here to bestow upon General Rajam the honors
he had earned. He expected General Rajam and those men he wished to have share
this honor greet the Caliph in the open square before all of the Caliph's
soldiers.
    This word quickly spread, and before long, Alai's progress
was accompanied by thousands of uniformed soldiers, cheering and calling his
name. They kept a path clear for the vid crew, and those who thought they might
be within line of sight of the camera made an especially exuberant show of
their love for the Caliph, in case someone from home was watching and might
recognize them.
    Alai was reasonably confident that whatever Rajam might be
planning, he wouldn't do it in front of a live satellite feed, with thousands
of soldiers looking on. Rajam would have had Alai die in a plane crash on the
way, or be assassinated somewhere far from Rajam himself. Now that he was here,
Rajam would play a waiting game, to see what Alai was up to, meanwhile looking
for some innocent-seeming way for Alai to be gotten rid of—killed, or trundled
back to Damascus and kept under closer guard.
    As Alai expected, Rajam waited for him at the top of the
imposing stairs leading up to the finest-looking building in the compound. But
Alai walked up only a few steps and stopped, turning his back on Rajam and
facing the soldiers ... and the camera. The light was good here.
    The vid crew took their places at the bottom of the steps.
    Alai held up his arms for silence and waited. The shouting
died down.
    "Soldiers of God!" he shouted.
    A huge roar, but it subsided at once.
    "Where is the general who has led you?"
    Another cheer... but one that was noticeably less
enthusiastic. Alai hoped that Rajam wouldn't be too resentful of the difference
in their popularity.
    Alai did not look—he counted on Ivan to signal him when
Rajam was near. He saw Ivan beckoning to Rajam to take his place at Alai's left
hand, directly in front of the camera.
    Ivan signaled. Alai turned and embraced and kissed Rajam.
    Stab me to death right now, Alai wanted to say. Because this
is your last chance, you treasonous, murdering dog.
    Instead, he spoke softly into Rajam's ear. "As my old
friend Ender Wiggin used to say, Rajam, the enemy's gate is down."
    Then he let go of the embrace, ignoring the puzzled look on
Rajam's face, and took his hand, offering him to the cheering of the soldiers.
    Alai raised his hands for silence and got it.
    "God has seen all the deeds that have been done in his
name here in India!"
    Cheering. But also, on some faces, uncertainty. They had
seen Virlomi's vid, including the most recent one. Some of them, the brightest
of them, knew that they could not be sure what Alai meant by this.
    "And God knows, as you all know, that nothing has been
done in India except by the will of General Rajam!"
    The cheering was definitely half-hearted.
    "Now is the day God has appointed to pay the debt of
honor that is owed!"
    The cheer had barely started when the camera crew pulled out
their machine pistols and filled Rajam's body with bullets.
    At first many of the soldiers thought it was an
assassination attempt on the Caliph, and there was a roar. Alai was glad to see
that these were not the Muslim soldiers of history—few fled from the bullets,
and many rushed forward. But Alai raised his arms and strode to a higher
position, above the body of Rajam. At the same time, as he had instructed them,
Ivan and the two men who were not holding the camera bounded up the steps and
stood in line with Alai and raised their weapons above their heads.
    "Allahu akbar!" they cried in