Karim clenched his molars tightly after confirming Murad’s death.
He had bitten down so hard that blood seeped through his tightly pressed lips.
His body trembled with rage.
He clenched his fists.
Karim and Murad had never gotten along well.
Even so, Karim liked Murad.
Karim thought of Murad as his father.
They disagreed every time, but it wasn’t that he disliked him.
It was the sort of common father-son conflict found in many families.
A son who couldn’t understand his father’s intentions,
and a father frustrated by such a son.
It was an ordinary father-son relationship that could be found anywhere.
Karim and Murad were no different.
Karim kept saying that dialogue alone wasn’t enough and that harsher measures were necessary,
but Murad tried to convince Karim that was not the answer.
On some days, Murad frustrated him, while on others, Karim understood him.
Though the two never perfectly understood each other, they did not hate each other.
On the contrary, they cared for and looked after one another.
That was one of the reasons the BLF had been able to exist until now.
But that same Murad had been shot and collapsed.
By a sniper’s rifle, no less.
The only rebel group capable of obtaining a sniper rifle was Abu Sayyaf.
Amir had killed Murad.
.
.
.
They formed a team.
A ten-man death squad that would go and kill Amir.
Ten elite operatives who would not return until they had taken Amir’s life, no matter what, were waiting to set out.
The operation was code-named “Maut” (death in Arabic).
It expressed their firm resolve that only death could bring the operation to an end.
Was it certain that Amir had killed him?
It didn’t matter.
They could use this opportunity to kill the hated Amir.
Moreover, at the place presumed to be the sniper’s position,
they had found seeds unique to Abu Sayyaf.
There was a fairly expensive fruit grown only in Abu Sayyaf.
It was a small fruit shaped like a cherry, and because it was easy to carry, Abu Sayyaf’s men often carried it around and ate it.
They had probably eaten the fruit while waiting for the shot and spat out the seeds, which we had found.
That was enough to make it certain.
And even if it wasn’t certain, it didn’t matter.
Karim wanted to lead the team himself, but everyone tried to stop him.
“No. With Murad-nim gone, at the very least, you must remain here and hold your position, Karim-nim.”
“That’s right. Leaving your post at a time like this is absolutely out of the question.”
“We can’t send you to such a dangerous place.”
“You need to stay here, reassure the people, and keep them calm, Karim-nim.”
Unable to go against the protests around him,
Karim had no choice but to send only the ten selected operatives.
To them as well, Murad had been a father, a friend, and a mentor.
For Murad’s revenge, they could easily lay down their lives.
And so.
Late that afternoon, the ten-man death squad left the base to capture Amir.
All Karim could do after sending them off was wait.
.
.
.
“Still no word from them?”
“I’m sorry. I’ll try again.”
“No. Leave it. They’ll contact us.”
Twelve hours had passed since the death squad departed, but there had been no contact.
It was more than enough time for them to kill Amir and return to the base, yet there was still no word.
An ominous feeling settled over him.
Karim waited for the death squad, desperately trying to erase the bad thoughts filling his mind.
They would return.
They had to return.
Then, in the distance, a box truck slowly approached.
A white flag had been planted on it.
Karim dashed outside,
and the others rushed after him as well.
The box truck, which had been approaching at a slow speed, came to a stop,
and the man behind the wheel extended both hands out the window.
“Don’t shoot! I have no weapons. I’m here to make a delivery.”
The man shouted.
“There’s something in the back, in the cargo hold.”
The man continued speaking with his hands held out,
and the people went to the back of the truck and opened the cargo doors.
Creak.
When the doors opened, ten members of the death squad who had gone to claim Amir’s life, filled with valor,
were lying there as cold corpses.
Those who saw the bodies were so shocked that they could not move.
Karim was no different.
Then a telephone began to ring.
The phone was lying among the corpses.
Karim answered it.
“Hello?”
—Judging by the fact that you answered, I suppose they arrived safely.
“Amir?”
—Oh, you even remember my voice? I’m honored.
“Did you kill our men?”
—Uh… I did kill them, but maybe I didn’t? It was my men who killed them, not me, so does that mean I didn’t kill them? What are you supposed to say in a situation like this? Did I do it? Did I not do it?
Karim’s rage reached the top of his head at Amir’s calm voice.
“You… fucking bastard!”
—Whoa, whoa. Calm down. I’m the one who’s wronged here. I was just sitting quietly, and you sent people to kill me. I’m the one who should be angry right now. Not you.
“You killed Murad.”
—I told you, it wasn’t me. I didn’t kill Murad. I don’t particularly like Murad, but I don’t hate him enough to kill him, either. You’re misunderstanding things.
“How am I supposed to believe you?”
—You don’t have to believe me, but from my perspective, it’s a little unfair.
“Go settle your grievance in hell. Wait for me. I’ll come there myself and cut off your head.”
—Ah! Right. That’s why I called. I was a little angry that you came to kill me. If I had it my way, I’d wipe you all out right now, but Muslims can’t do that to one another, can they? So I’m going to give you a chance.
“A chance?”
—Yes. Your last chance to survive. You and the BLF will surrender unconditionally and come under Abu Sayyaf. That’s my condition.
“Wahahahahaha! Are you insane?”
“I think you’re the insane one here. We’ve had plenty of opportunities to subdue the BLF by force, but we never did, for the sole reason that we are fellow Muslims. And now, following Allah’s teachings, I’m showing immense mercy by forgiving you for trying to kill me. So you’d better think carefully.”
“You crazy bastard, listen to yourself.”
—Heh-heh. Your language is rather crude, isn’t it? Even so, I’m a magnanimous man, so I’ll give you until midnight tonight. If by then you haven’t surrendered and said that you’ll offer up the BLF, I’ll really wipe you all out.
“My answer now, and at midnight tonight, will always be NO. You bastard. Do whatever the hell you want. You won’t be able to do it once you’re dead, so I’ll come and kill you soon.”
—I’ll be waiting. But when are you coming? I think it would be faster if I went to you.
“Come or don’t come. Either way, the fact that you’re going to die won’t change.”
.
.
.
After hanging up, Amir fell into deep thought.
He really was angry.
They had sent people to kill him?
Ten of them, at that?
If not for the spy he had planted in the BLF, he would have been caught completely off guard.
It was a method he had never anticipated.
He and the BLF had snarled at each other, but never actually scratched.
This was clearly the result of someone sowing discord.
They had misunderstood and believed Abu Sayyaf had done it, even though Amir had not.
But it was also a good opportunity.
Too good to simply let pass.
Murad was gone, and Karim had picked a fight.
They had even sent an assassination squad to kill Amir.
And there was the gold mine, too.
The justification was on Amir’s side.
Even if Abu Sayyaf attacked the BLF now, no one could fault Abu Sayyaf.
No matter how he looked at it, this seemed like the opportunity.
The BLF was something he could crush at any time.
But opportunities to secure a legitimate justification did not come often.
If he failed to take the BLF now, there was no telling when another chance would arise.
Amir made his decision.
“All personnel, prepare for battle.”
.
.
.
If the enemy’s combat power was ten and mine was one hundred,
what percentage of my combat power should I allocate to the battle?
Twenty percent? Fifty percent?
No.
One hundred percent. I had to commit everything.
That way, the battle ended quickly.
There were fewer casualties.
And more spoils remained.
That was why, whenever a battle began, Amir poured in every available resource and won in the shortest time possible.
That was Amir’s way.
This time, too, he would deploy all his forces.
He would end the battle in an instant through overwhelming superiority.
In case they lacked weapons.
In case they ran short of ammunition, he bought weapons from an arms dealer.
Amir had received weapons from headquarters, so he had never imagined that weapons could be this expensive. But they were more expensive than he had expected.
Still, now was the time to buy them.
Amir had finished preparing.
.
.
.
Karim was moving around the area surrounding the BLF base, preparing for the battle that would soon break out.
He had told Amir to wait,
but actually going to attack Amir would be difficult.
If they were only trying to kill Amir through guerrilla warfare, perhaps it would be possible.
But in an all-out war, the BLF had no chance of winning.
Yet the attempt to kill Amir had already failed.
The ten-man death squad had returned as cold corpses.
They could not use the same method again.
Amir would already be taking every possible precaution.
If anything, Amir might use this as an excuse to invade.
They had to prepare for that.
They had to prepare for battle.
They stockpiled supplies
and maintained an emergency combat posture.
They blocked off the routes through which the enemy could enter and posted guards.
They also bought weapons from an arms dealer who had recently changed owners.
They were somewhat expensive, but there was nothing they could do in the current situation.
But what was with demanding payment in Candycoin?
What a strange man.
******
“Boss, we’ve received word that Abu Sayyaf has finished preparing.”
“Really?”
Denis came to report first thing in the morning.
“Yes. All preparations are complete, and they’re just waiting to set out.”
“By the way, what’s the situation with the New People’s Army (NPA) that I told you to look into?”
“According to the information we gathered, they’ve hidden themselves even deeper. Apparently, they’re worried about getting caught in the middle of a whale fight and have cut off all outside activity, choosing to remain in hiding.”
“Then it seems the New People’s Army (NPA) won’t stab us in the back. In that case, let’s start preparing as well.”
“We’ve nearly finished our preparations, too.”
“Good. Let’s make sure we can leave at any time. We have a lot to do once we get there.”
We had been preparing for this battle for a long time as well.
No—we were the ones who had prepared longer than either Abu Sayyaf or the BLF.
We were the ones who had set up the whole board and made the plan in the first place.
We were the ones who had made the two sides fight and stirred them up.
Things seemed to be unfolding according to the picture we had drawn overall, but when we were troubled by the lack of detailed information,
fortunately, the rebels’ purchases of weapons from us allowed us to extract specific plans and intelligence.
We had lured them in with the lie that we were merely consulting them on an appropriate weapons lineup.
The more than two hundred Damaya soldiers completed their preparations in full battle gear.
Each carried a rifle and wore a pistol at the waist.
The vehicles behind them were packed with 60mm and 81mm mortars.
We divided them into formations.
Red Team was the team that would engage the enemy.
Blue Team was the team that would pound them with mortars from the rear.
Green Team was tasked with planting bombs along the enemy’s escape route.
We would ensure that not a single one of the men waging this war escaped.
That was why the operation was code-named Ibada (extermination in Arabic).
*******
We took up positions on the outskirts of the BLF’s territory.
We sent a drone high into the air to assess the situation.
“Abu Sayyaf is on the way. They’ll reach the BLF in one hour.”
“Okay. Keep observing and reporting.”
“Yes.”
Green Team, which was responsible for planting bombs along the enemy’s escape route, had split off from us and was waiting near the approach route.
Once Abu Sayyaf entered, they would plant the bombs there.
No one would make it out alive.
“Thirty minutes until arrival.”
We continued tracking the enemy’s positions with the drone and watched the situation closely.
“The guns have been laid out. We can fire at any time.”
“The bombs are ready.”
“Everyone, stand by.”
.
.
.
Amir was heading toward the BLF with his entire army.
Amir’s forces were superbly armed.
Their equipment was excellent as well.
They even had armored vehicles.
A great many men were heading toward the BLF.
.
.
.
A quiet silence descended over the BLF’s headquarters.
The BLF knew as well.
They knew Abu Sayyaf was coming.
Everyone waited for the signal from their respective positions.
Some had dug into the ground and were lying in ambush,
while others had taken up sniper positions on the mountain.
This was the BLF’s home ground.
No one could come and go here as they pleased.
Today, they intended to teach the arrogant Abu Sayyaf that fact.
“Abu Sayyaf is coming. Three kilometers ahead.”
“They’ve advanced to within two kilometers.”
“Abu Sayyaf is one kilometer ahead—”
Boom!!
Before the report was even finished, Amir began shelling with the armored vehicles.
It was a declaration of war: he would give the BLF no time to prepare.
And so, the war between Abu Sayyaf and the Bengsamoro Liberation Front (BLF) began.
The war that would come to be known as…