His black shape now moved stealthily up and around the other general’s cave to a spot on the shelf of rock just above its entrance. Once there, he quietly unpinned one of the grenades he had pilfered from the dead guards, angled his arm back behind him and pitched it with a powerful throw in a high arc to land well outside the camp’s perimeter. A moment later the explosion shook the night, awakening a hornet’s nest.

Just hoving into view in the sky above, one of the satellites noticed the disturbance. The AI still believed Shahim to be sleeping peacefully in his cave many miles away over the border in Pakistan. The sudden explosion at the encampment brought the AI’s full attention and Shahim registered as it informed him of the situation, unaware of his complicity in it. It began scanning the area closely, broadcasting a live signal of the unfolding events into his head. It also told him it did not know the source of the commotion. Good, thought Shahim, let us hope it stays that way.

On the ground, the camp sprang to life, warriors running from their caves, and lookouts searching the night sky for the attackers they assumed were upon them. Shahim silently unpinned another grenade as the men started to run about, hoarse whispers racing throughout the night. A moment later the night was rocked once more by a fresh explosion twenty degrees around the perimeter from the first. The night-sensitive eyes of the fighters that happened to be looking in that direction were stunned, leaving them blinded and disoriented as an even more profound darkness settled around them now. Several started firing, confusion and fear fueling their madness. Finally, Shahim sent a third grenade into the top half of the valley, near the entrance to the first general’s cave, careful so as to avoid having it land too close to the men running out from it.

Amidst the shouts, explosions, and random gunfire, he now sensed that there were only three people still remaining inside the cave under his feet. He had no doubt that the second general was among them, probably cowering with some of his personal guard. He took his fourth and final grenade and uncorked it, bending and tossing it into the chamber.

He was already stepping away when the explosion, contained and amplified by the cave’s rock walls, obliterated the three men inside. The blind fear and anger of the fighters reached critical mass. Different groups of the same army were shooting at each other in the confusion and Shahim compounded this by shouting into the madness, “The generals are dead. Run! Run for your lives! The Pakistanis have killed our beloved generals!”