My Lust System: I Inherited The Sin Of Lust And His Three Wives

Chapter 369: Karim Haddad Dead

Three days after the President’s emergency meeting, the search for Karim Haddad had spread farther than anyone inside Lebanon could have imagined.

American satellites watched highways crossing the Bekaa Valley. Intelligence analysts worked around the clock examining intercepted phone calls, unusual military movements, and financial transfers tied to senior members of the Blood Dunes. Anonymous informants suddenly found themselves being contacted by foreign intelligence services willing to pay fortunes for even the smallest piece of information.

Within the inner circle of the Blood Dunes, unease slowly transformed into panic.

Deep beneath a heavily fortified government compound, several senior commanders gathered around a polished stone table. Every man present wore the traditional black robes of the Blood Dunes, though none of them displayed their faces openly. Above them, enormous banners bearing the crimson symbol of Wrath hung from the ceiling while incense filled the chamber.

One of the commanders placed several classified documents upon the table.

"Our foreign surveillance has increased nearly four hundred percent in seventy two hours."

Another slid forward intercepted satellite photographs.

"American reconnaissance drones have altered their patrol routes. They’re searching for Haddad."

Silence settled over the chamber for a while. Finally, the eldest among them slowly leaned back.

"If they find him alive..."

No one answered but they all understood. Karim knew too much about their organization and that’s why they even bothered going through the effort of killing him several times. If foreign intelligence ever gained direct access to him, years of careful infiltration throughout the Middle East could begin collapsing one confession at a time.

"We relocate him."

A commander immediately shook his head.

"They’re watching every route. I suggest we silence him permanently."

Again another voice objected.

"If he simply disappears, suspicion falls upon us."

Silence returned. Then another commander smiled beneath his veil.

"No."

His fingers slowly tapped the table.

"We don’t make him disappear. We make an example of him."

Several heads turned toward him.

"Frame him for a crime and execute him. Once the people watch him die."

___

Far beneath an abandoned military prison outside Beirut, Karim sat alone inside a damp concrete cell. His beard had grown during captivity and bruises covered his face and wrists where restraints had repeatedly been tightened.

Despite everything, his expression remained strangely peaceful. Every night he still dreamed of endless golden dunes and every morning he woke believing that somehow he had not been abandoned.

For the past few days Damian had visited his enclosement and found himself watching this man with mixed thoughts. Honestly, he considered saving Karim but for his plan to work, the man he promised a future in Lebanon will have to die for it.

Heavy footsteps echoed through the corridor and the steel door opened. Four armed members of the Blood Dunes entered and one threw a black robe across Karim’s lap.

"Dress."

Karim slowly looked up.

"Where are we going?"

But no answer came. Instead they chained his wrists before pulling him toward the exit. As he emerged outside for the first time in days, bright sunlight struck his face.

Hundreds of soldiers surrounded the prison yard with military trucks, armored vehicles, television cameras and Government journalists. Only then did Karim understand that this was not an interrogation. It was an execution.

By noon every national television station carried the same emergency broadcast. Citizens throughout Lebanon stopped whatever they were doing, restaurants raised television volumes, shopkeepers gathered around screens and families watched from cramped apartments.

Government news presenters appeared unusually serious.

"We now interrupt all scheduled programming. The Ministry of National Stability has captured terrorist collaborator Karim Haddad."

The screen shifted. Karim stood upon a raised concrete platform surrounded by dozens of armed Blood Dunes soldiers. His hands remained bound and despite his injuries, he stood upright.

The announcer continued speaking.

"Evidence confirms that Karim Haddad accepted foreign funding to destabilize the nation, spread unrest, and assist hostile powers seeking to destroy Lebanon."

Across the country, millions stared at their televisions in stunned disbelief. Everyone knew Karim, some had attended his speeches, others had watched him defend families whose relatives had vanished and simply knew him as the only man willing to criticize the Blood Dunes publicly. Nobody believed what they were hearing but it didn’t matter.

What they believed hasn’t mattered in a while.

The lead execution officer stepped forward.

"Karim Haddad. You have been found guilty of treason. Guilty of conspiring with foreign governments and guilty of inciting rebellion. The punishment..."

He slowly raised one hand.

"...is death."

The cameras zoomed closer andThe officer remained focused on Karim.

"Do you have any final words?"

Karim remained silent for several long moments. Then he slowly lifted his head. His eyes wandered across the soldiers and beyond them. As though speaking directly to every Lebanese citizen watching.

"My only crime was believing this country deserved justice."

His battered voice echoed across the prison yard and the officer’s expression darkened but Karim continued anyway.

"They can imprison a man. They can torture a man. They can even kill a man."

A faint smile appeared upon his bruised face.

"But fear cannot rule forever."

Several soldiers shifted uncomfortably. Even some government cameramen looked away.

Karim took one final breath.

"If I die today let my death remind you that Lebanon still belongs to her people."

He smiled toward the heavens and the executioner’s hand fell. A deafening volley erupted as Karim’s body collapsed backward and the broadcast ended immediately.

Standing atop the clouds while witnessing this, Damian looked neither happy nor sad. Just numb. He inhaled deeply and exhaled loudly before snapping his fingers as a pink light loomed in his eyes.

[Desire Bandit!]

For almost ten seconds the entire nation remained silent. Their hearts bleed at the death they just witnessed. Usually, their fear would overwhelm the pain they felt now, however, Damian robbed the nation of its fear and gave them rage instead.

In second Beirut exploded and people poured into the streets. Students abandoned classrooms, lawyers left courtrooms, Doctors walked out of hospitals still wearing white coats and even mothers carried photographs of disappeared sons.

Entire neighborhoods marched toward Martyrs’ Square. By sunset nearly two hundred thousand people had gathered. It simply happened. They carried flowers, Lebanese flags, pictures of Karim and candles.

"Justice!"

"Justice!"

Within minutes the entire square thundered with the same cry.

"Justice!"

"Justice!"

"Justice!"

Government buildings trembled beneath the roar. Inside armored command vehicles, Blood Dunes officers watched growing panic unfold across their monitors.

The state could not allow the riot to continue. The order came shortly before sunset.

"Disperse the gathering."

Soldiers advanced behind armored vehicles and loudspeakers echoed through the square.

"This gathering is illegal. You have five minutes to disperse."

Nobody moved. Instead thousands raised photographs of Karim higher into the air. The tension was high with each passing second we both stared the other down until the timer expired.

A commander slowly lowered his hand and the first shots rang out.

Screams instantly replaced chants, people scattered in every direction. Some fell while others rushed back to carry the wounded. Clouds of tear gas swallowed entire streets as military trucks blocked escape routes. Masked Blood Dunes units surged through crowds, dragging away journalists, students, lawyers, professors, and anyone holding a camera.

Television crews were beaten, broadcast vans burned and Independent reporters disappeared before their live streams abruptly ended. Hospitals filled beyond capacity before soldiers entered those as well, searching room by room for wounded protesters.

Entire apartment blocks were raided before dawn and hundreds vanished during the night. Families woke to broken doors and empty bedrooms. The entire country was in chaos just as Damian wanted.

Among those arrested were several dual American and Lebanese citizens working with humanitarian organizations. Two embassy-contracted logistics personnel disappeared while attempting to evacuate injured civilians. An American aid worker documenting medical shortages was caught in the crackdown and never checked in with her embassy again.

Within hours, encrypted reports reached Washington. The names matched the missing persons lists already sitting on the President’s desk. What had begun as the search for one missing reformer had become something far larger.

Karim Haddad was dead.

But in killing him, the Blood Dunes had transformed one man into the face of a nationwide uprising, and for the first time in decades, the attention of the world’s most powerful governments had turned fully toward Lebanon.