Firefight

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To my agent Barbara Levy, editor Mark Booth, Charlotte Haycock, Charlotte Bush and the rest of the team at Century

Rain fell in the darkness outside the Moschea di Roma, Rome's only mosque; but despite the cold drizzle outside, inside Abdul-Qahhar felt warm. There were many men here for evening prayer, filling the magnificent interior of the mosque with the heat of their bodies and the comforting sounds of their chants as they knelt towards Mecca. And as prayers came to an end, they stood up and shook hands with one another, smiles on their faces as they chatted with exquisite politeness under the huge, ornate, white dome of the mosque.

'I invite you to join us for tea,' said the man with whom Abdul-Qahhar had enjoyed a number of conversations in the past couple of weeks.

'Thank you,' Abdul-Qahhar replied. 'But tonight I think I will just go home. Allahu Akbar.'

The man shrugged his shoulders, but in a friendly manner.

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