Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lakshmi and Jack Berglund traveled together on the subway from Brooklyn Heights and then on foot to the company site where the Bluthund Community meeting was to take place, which they had been preparing during the week. It was a building located on Park Avenue, the headquarters of an insurance company whose CEO was Dr. W. Richardson, Master of the Bluthund Community in New York City and one of its founding and prominent members. Being able to meet on a Saturday in such an accessible, comfortable and elegant place was a great advantage for the members who had to attend, since in the past they had to resort to much less commendable places, including a garment manufacturing factory abandoned in a dangerous section of Brooklyn.

They were announced with the security guard in the lobby of the building, who already knew them and had instructions to show them in.

"Lou, has Dr. Richardson already arrived?” Jack asked.

“Yes. He's been at the office for over an hour. He and Mr. Watkins are putting everything together for the meeting.” Jerome Watkins was the Master of Ceremonies at the Bluthund events.

“ Has anyone else arrived?”

“Not yet ... but look at the door. The Japanese gentleman has already arrived.”

Lou opened the door of the building and greeted the newcomer.

“Good morning, Mr. Suzuki.”

Taro Suzuki was another founding partner and member of the Bluthund Steering Committee.

“Can we go up to the meeting room?” Jack asked after greeting the newcomer.

“Of course.” Lou replied. “It is the large room on the third floor, by the elevator in the middle.”

When the three guests reached the third floor they saw Richardson and Watkins in shirt sleeves carrying a heavy folding door to connect two sectors of the room that were usually separated.

"Can I help you?" Jack asked.

“Yes, bring seven chairs and place them around the table please. With that it will be enough.” Replied Watkins.

"What can I do?" Lakshmi asked.

“Distribute the jugs and glasses of water and put the coffee maker to heat.”

When everything was settled, at the agreed time of nine in the morning the two remaining members of the New York City Committee, Madame Nadia Swarowska and Dr. Dieter von Eichenberg, came up.

"Who else should come?" Asked the lady.

“Admiral Donnelly, advisor to the State Department for special projects.” Lakshmi replied. “In reality this man will be the contact of our Community with the areas of the United States government interested in this problem.”

"There will also be two experts on the subject." Added Dr. Richardson. “They are also Bluthund members from the European and Middle East regions respectively, who have traveled especially for this project.”

“Who are they? Do I know them? ”Asked Jack.

“I do not think so. One of them is Dr. Corrado Gherardi, a former Jesuit priest who specializes in the history of religions in the world.”

"Ex-Jesuit?" Lakshmi's question was accompanied by a strange expression on his face, evidenced by her furrowed brows.

“Yes, he was in Palestine and left the Order to marry a local woman, with whom he currently has five children.”

“And the other?”

“Dr. Tarek al Khatib, a Lebanese specialist in sects, particularly of Shiite origin.”

“Well, it is exactly what we will need, according to the information that we have at the moment.”

All the guests had already arrived and were sitting around the large conference table. The Master of Ceremonies Watkins formally welcomed the attendees.

“… and in particular we thank our colleagues Gherardi and al Khatib who have traveled so far to offer their advice. We also warmly welcome Admiral Donnelly, who is not a member of Bluthund and works at the State Department. Our local colleague Lakshmi Dhawan, who many of us already know well, will open the session. Lakshmi is an FBI agent and is well aware of the data that is known so far from the four killings in question.”

Watkins then sat in his chair next to Dr. Richardson. In turn Lakshmi got up and stood in front of the wide screen by the projector. She had a laser pointer in one hand and a remote control in the other. She meticulously narrated the known details of the murders, emphasizing in the photos showing the cuts in the victims' throats and the inscriptions painted on the alleyways with the legend Alamut both in western alphabet and in Arabic. Al Khatib got up and approached the screen to take a closer look at the Arabic calligraphy, then sat down with a brief comment.

“There is more than one hand in those legends. They were written by two or three different people, all of whom handle Arabic calligraphy very well.”

Laskhmi then summarized the results of the forensic analysis on the wounds.

“None of the victims offered resistance, so we presume that they were surprised by the murderers. The four were killed at the place where they were found and their bodies were not moved. The weapons have been oriental curved scimitars or Japanese katanas, both very effective in ritual crimes. None of the four was totally decapitated but had their throats cut, whatever the ritual significance of that fact is. The blows demonstrate training in this type of execution and in three of the cases great muscular strength.”

“What about the fourth?” Richardson asked.

“It evidenced less force in the arm but great precision in the cut. It is compatible with having being made by a woman.”

“A murderous woman with a scimitar.” Suzuki was surprised. “An additional enigma.”

Lakshmi completed her dissertation and added.

“ I am going to leave Admiral Donnelly to instruct us on what is known about the personality of each of the victims.

Once the State Department member had finished his explanation, there was a moment of silence while each of the assistants processed what had been heard until then.

"Since only two of those killed were clerics of rival fractions of Islam, I understand that a series of settling of accounts and concatenated revenge is not the motive for these murders." Said Madame Swarowska.

“No, and also not quarrels within enemy groups between drug gangs or others.” Watkins added. “What do we have left?”

“Apart from the similarity in the execution methods, the most relevant thing that these murders have in common is the Alamut inscription.” Added Jack Berglund. “It is the common thread of this skein.”

"What would they leave them for?" Suzuki asked.

"To send a message." Gherardi's comment, who had remained silent up to that point, suddenly expressed his thoughts.

"What message?" Asked the Japanese.

“Here we are! We are back!”

The ex-Jesuit's explanation was surprising to the rest of the attendees. Richardson asked him.

“ Corrado, can you elaborate that please?”

“Yes, although I will leave the details to Tarek, who is a specialist in the rituals of the sects. I will limit myself to explaining the religious context in which these sects acted. As the exposure can be long I will do it sitting.”

He took a sip of water and started.

“When the Prophet Muhammad died without heirs in 632 A.D., his supporters braided themselves in fierce struggles to settle who would lead the growing Muslim community, culminating in a schism from the very beginning of Islam. On the one hand, the followers of Muhammad son-in-law, named ibn Ali Talib's maintained that the position belonged to their leader, due to his condition as a direct living male relative of the Prophet. This group eventually gave rise to the great branch of Islam that we know today as Shiite. This argument, however, was not accepted by the other leaders of the Muslim world, who claimed that the right to be the leader could correspond to any of them. This sector would in turn be the origin of the Sunni branch, today the majority in Islam and in the world.

The Shiites initially gained ground by the spread of Islam to non-Arab areas, particularly among the Persians, ancestors of what is now Iran, and a very powerful kingdom in those days. But the teachings of the Koran among the Persians were less widespread than among the Arabs, and there was also a very strong religious background among them of the pre-existing religions, particularly Mazdeism, which had reigned in that area for a long time. The teachings of the Koran thus fused with previous beliefs, forming a syncretism rich in esoteric and symbolic elements, which soon collided with Sunni orthodoxy, so that between both branches a gap was deepened based not only on power disputes between the leaders but between the doctrines themselves. At the beginning, Shiism was a secret doctrine, veiled for most of the faithful, who only had access to the literal reading and interpretation of the Koran and the observance of Islamic Sharia law. This divorce deepened his esoteric and occult character and the alienation of the Arab majority from the Islamic world.”

Gherardi stopped and took another sip of water. Then he continued.

“As time goes by, within this esoteric context, a subgroup of the Shiites called Ismailis arises, already constituted with all the attributes that today we would attribute to a sect. Its original members, devout and highly educated men, moved as missionaries throughout the Islam, avoiding being repressed by the acting powers through an effective clandestine organization, deepening over time their isolation and therefore their sectarian character. A certain messianic expectation related to the arrival of a Mahdi or enlightened was progressively giving this group a subversive character feared by the holders of power. It is noteworthy that until that time the Ismailis had a minority character within Shiism, in turn a minority in Islam. Can you follow my explanation so far?” Asked Gherardi?

The consensus among the attendees allowed him to keep going.

“Revolutionary preaching allowed the Ismailis great development in North Africa, where they created a Fatimid Caliphate in Tunisia and later conquered Egypt. The tolerance of that sect towards members of other religions and the achievements of the sages flourished in Cairo, which became a cultural center around the 10th century. Finally, the Caliphate of Baghdad fell into their hands, marking the highest historical point of expansion of the Ismailis, who seemed to be defeating the Sunnis in the control of Islam.”

Gherardi paused again to put his ideas in order. Then he continued.

“However, the emergence of the Seljuk Turks in the Muslim world, supporters of the Sunni side, altered the politics of the Middle East and stopped the growth of Shiism and all its component groups, causing the predominance of Sunnis that reaches our days, when they represent approximately 80% of the Muslim world.”

At that point Gherardi concluded his introduction and said.

“In order to explain the issues related to the Ismailis from that point on, and in particular of the so-called Nizaris, it is best that my colleague Tarek take the presentation from here.”

Richardson checked his wristwatch and added.

“Okay and I thank Mr. Gherardi for his excellent introduction, but I think we all deserve a coffee break.”