“Good morning Sir,” Abe Marks said as his chief entered his office, “Can I help you with something, Sir James?” Sir James Hennessey, Head of MI6, looked very unhappy for some reason, which was unusual as he was normally a very laid back man, who never seems to let anything get under his skin. “What I want Abe, is to know how the BBC got hold of this story about the UIS call-up before we did, have you seen the news over the weekend?”
“Yes Sir James, I caught it on Saturday,” admitted Abe. “And you didn't think it was important enough to come into the office,” asked Sir James.
“I was away, family event, Sir, I do apologise.”
“No, no, Abe, it is I who should apologise, I just had the PM on my back for the past two days, of course you must put family first,” Sir James added. “Is there anything in this morning's dispatches.”
“I was just about to open the box Sir.”
“OK, when you've done that, let me know, I'll be in my office.”
Abe Marks opened the red dispatch box and withdrew the sealed file from the weekend's activity. The first was a report of a COM-satellite conversation between someone in the US NSA and a church official, about a prayer meeting, 'Not our bag' thought Abe. He quickly flipped through the other contents of the box until he found the hand-full of papers sealed together, stamped 'Middle-east Desk, Priority'. “Ah, here it is,” 'Why was this not on top', he never said. Abe quickly took the papers and started to read. Fifteen minutes later he was on his way to the top floor to see Sir James.
Sir James, looked up as Abe knocked on the already open door, having been waved through by Wendy, Sir James' personal secretary, “Come in Abe, what have we got?”
“In truth, not much more that we gleaned from the BBC report, Sir,” admitted Abe, “It seems that most of the Islamic states have aligned behind Iran and Iraq, with the exception of Kuwait and Saudi, who seem to be the Middle-east's voice of reason. There was a Union meeting on Tuesday of last week, but the reason we didn't hear of it was that it was a closed session between the ministers only, our man inside the UIS parliament is just an elected member. The ministers made the decision based on the Qur'an. Surah 7, verse 187: was discussed, this verse says:
“The meeting seems to have concluded that after the God Tapes and the recent flare-up of volcanic activity, they decided that we may be in the 'end times' and as the verse from the Qur'an that says the final battle will come upon them suddenly, and without warning, and that they are determined to be prepared.”
“And this has prompted over three-quarters of a million to sign up for military service,” asked Sir James.
“It would seem so, Sir.”
“With an army that size, it is rather dangerous, someone will inevitably get ideas about using it.' 'Yes Sir, my thoughts exactly,” agreed Abe, “one worrying aspect is, why Syria, and not Iraq or Iran, who seem to be the main drivers behind it. My guess, for what it's worth, is that Syria borders Israel, and tradition has it that Armageddon will be held on Israeli territory, so Syria will be, shall we say, more convenient from a muster point of view.”
“Good point Mr. Marks, do we know how the Israelis are feeling about this,” asked sir James. “They are not happy bunnies, but they are thinking that the commenced demolition on the Temple Mount has triggered this reaction, and nothing to do with Armageddon, can't blame them for that one Sir. They feel that they are following their destiny after the Ark of the Covenant was returned to them, and the Ark was always housed in the temple, so it's natural that they now want to replace the temple with number three.”
“You're Jewish yourself are you not Abe,” pointed out Sir James, “what are your feeling about this?”
“Well yes my ancestry is Jewish, but I am not a believer, my side of the family left that behind when they escaped at the beginning of the second world war, almost a hundred years ago now, Sir. Totally British now Sir James. However I believe that Israel will not stand by and allow a large army to mass on their border and do nothing.”
“I agree Abe, I think this will bring nothing but trouble.”
“My other thought was that the whole event is a engineered provocation.”
“Agreed, best keep our eye on this one, keep in touch with that cousin of yours, Ben, isn't it?”
“Yes Sir.”