Just in case you missed it - I posted two chapters at once. Chapter 35, the final chapter of the story, has been posted. This "Chapter 36" is more of an Author's Note.
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Author's Notes
I've had several people ask me where I came up with the ideas for this story. I was never able to think of a way to answer without giving away parts of the plot. Now that it's finished, I can answer!
Here we go...
I am a college student majoring in International Studies, with a focus on Middle Eastern studies.
Over the past several years, I have studied the Middle East in depth, learning about the history, culture, religion, and language of its nations, as well as the conflicts that plague this area of the world.
During a month-long trip to the region in the summer of 2010, I met many moderate Muslims; wonderful and friendly people who harbor no anger against the West and want to see peace in the Middle East, but are frightened into submission and drowned out by the radical extremist groups who are far more powerful and far-reaching than most people think.
In the spring of 2011, I took a class titled, "Terrorism, Crime, and Public Policy." We discussed non-religious terrorism and anti-government extremists (like Timothy McVeigh, the man responsible for bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City and killing 168 people in April 1995), hate crimes, white supremacists, and militia groups. Most of the semester was spent on Islamic terrorism, learning in depth about groups like Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, and the reasoning and ideology that compel Islamic extremists to become mujahideen (holy warriors for Allah) and shahideen(martyrs).
If you are interested in learning more about those things, I highly recommend the book, "Terrorism, Crime, and Public Policy" by Brian Forst. This was the textbook for my class. The book is filled with photos and excellent explanations of the origins of terrorism and crime, the threats posed by terrorist organizations today and their implications, and the strategies being used worldwide in the battle against them.
The terrorist attacks committed in this story are fictional, but they are based off of profiles of many real-world people and events.
Ansar Inshallah is a fictional terrorist group, but the possibility of attacks by sleeper-cell agents is unfortunately a very real and present threat. In Chapter 23, Agent Jake Ziegler says, "The question isn't if we will be attacked; it's when and where it will happen." Current Vice President Joe Biden made a similar statement a few years before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Part of the idea for this story came from reading case files about Seung-Hui Cho in one of my classes. Cho was responsible for a shooting rampage on the campus of Virginia Tech University on April 16, 2007, that killed 32 of his schoolmates and teachers and wounded 25. He left behind a 6-page letter and 27 videos explaining the reasoning for his actions – that he was disgusted by "rich kids, materialism, and hedonism (the belief that whatever causes the most pleasure is the right course of action)" and that the shooting was his revenge against them.
That is the same reasoning behind many Islamic fundamentalist radical groups – they are disgusted by the "corrupt and filthy" behavior in Western society, and see attacks against us as a way of removing filth and restoring honor.
I combined that ideology with the idea of sleeper cells being "hidden in plain sight" and emphasizing the thought that "no one is safe", and thus created Ansar Inshallah. The letters and video messages presented by its members are modeled after similar messages from various real-world extremist groups, and Ansar Inshallah itself is a composite of several groups, mainly Al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Islam.
Like the attacks and plans made by Ansar Inshallah in this story, most real-world terrorist groups focus on carrying out specific targeted attacks that are designed to inflict maximum damage, kill as many people as possible, and paralyze a nation with fear and paranoia.
In November 2009, US Army major Nidal Malik Hasan went on a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, killing 13 and wounding 29 of his fellow soldiers. As it turned out, Hasan was sympathetic to Al Qaeda's cause, he had communicated with high-ranking Al Qaeda members, and his rampage at Fort Hood was a terrorist attack.
In the first days after the shooting, several people wondered if there would be more to come. Soldiers have access to powerful weapons, and they undergo psychological evaluations but no formal background checks or investigations, which would give a sleeper-cell member the perfect opportunity to blend in and bide their time before acting.
Nidal Hasan is a perfect example of a terrorist hidden in plain sight. Somehow, several "red flags" about his behavior and thinking (and communications with Al Qaeda) were missed. No one suspected him, and no one had any idea of what he was planning until the day that he carried out his attack.
As I mentioned before, the plot of Mahmoud al-Qasim/"David Ahmad's" school shooting was based on my own experiences. I was involved in a school shooting in October of 2006. That situation could potentially have been much worse, but fortunately it ended well. Since June 2007, I have worked with emergency responders as a civilian role player for their training exercises. It is valuable training for them, and has been an eye-opening and very informative experience for me. Depending on the skills that they are working on in a particular exercise, I have played a lot of different and interesting characters! Two of the female students in Chapter 3 (the badly injured girl who Renee and Jack encounter, and Nicole, the panicked girl hiding in the bathroom) are actually characters that I have portrayed in school-shooting response simulation exercises with local police.
Anika Jankovic, the female Serbian mercenary recruited by Ansar Inshallah, is fictional, but there is truth to her character: Hundreds of Serbian paramilitaries, former members of Slobodan Milosevic's JSO Red Beret elite forces, have been hiring themselves out as mercenaries and private contractors in Iraq since early 2004.
The ordnance warehouse and training compound in Al-Bayji, Iraq, that Renee mentions in Chapter 27 is real. The deceased guards are a creation of my imagination, but the facility is real. By the time American soldiers discovered it in early 2003, the fencing around the compound had been removed, it was unguarded and deserted, and a frightening amount of the weapons were missing. The rest of the weapons and ordnance there were seized by the US military to prevent them from falling into terrorist hands.
The ambush in Nasiriyah that supplied Mahmoud al-Qasim with his weapon of choice, the M4 rifle, is based on the real-life ambush and capture of Army PFC Jessica Lynch on March 23, 2003. Her supply convoy took a wrong turn into the insurgent-stronghold city of Nasiriyah, and the soldiers were ambushed and captured by Iraqi insurgent forces. Six were captured alive and nine killed during the firefight; all of them were seized as trophies by the insurgents. Jessica Lynch and the nine deceased soldiers were recovered from a Baghdad hospital (which was being used as another insurgent base) on April 1 and the remaining five soldiers were rescued from another location on April 21, 2003.
This story was a frightening one to write, and I pray that we are never faced with a terrorist plot such as this one. I have said it before, but it bears repeating: Thank you to all of the law enforcement and government agents who protect our nation from threats like these. We may never know many of your names, but your service and sacrifice are greatly appreciated.
I know this story was a long one – it took me more than a year to write. Thank you so much for following along! I truly appreciate all of the reviews that were left. Your feedback made me smile, laugh, and think as I wrote and re-wrote these chapters. By taking the time to leave comments, ask questions, and tell me what you liked and disliked, you helped me to improve this story.
This is the most in-depth and detail-oriented fanfiction story that I've ever written! My two other long fics, "Lions" (Jack/Audrey AU fic after her return from China) and "Dangerous Times" (Post-Season 5 Jack/Audrey fic about Jack's time in China and his recovery), were lengthy and detailed, but actually writing them was fairly straightforward. This story, on the other hand, required lots of thought and planning. I looked through my terrorism class notes to double-check facts, asked my dad (former police officer) and police friends several questions about tactics and procedures, and searched all sorts of random things on Google!
It was all worth it, though – I LOVE to write, especially stories like this one, and I'm very proud of how this story turned out.
Thanks again for reading!
~Blue Kangaroo~