Description
Mustafa al-Khalid is the spoiled only child of a very wealthy Turkish family. Through his exclusive boarding school in Switzerland and university in Munich, he is shunned by other Moslems because the source of his family’s wealth is alcohol. They own the largest brewery in Turkey. His ostracism pushes him into studying Islam where he meets and proposes to Jasmine, the only person he has ever loved. At their engagement party Jasmine, her family and most of his family are killed by a Hellfire missile fired from a U.S. Navy drone. Jasmine’s father was the head of the Moslem Brotherhood. Five other members of the high council were present and also killed.
As Mustafa slowly recovers from his own serious wounds, the Brotherhood make an easy convert of him. But he’s not going to waste himself or his money on suicide bombings or even massive attacks like 9/11. Instead, he is going to create the ultimate act of terrorism, the ultimate form of suicide: he is going to end the world!
As he learns the tradecraft of terrorism, he recruits radical German scientists, sells the Turkish brewery, and buys one in Russia from some generals who command tactical nuclear forces. His team buys a nuclear warhead from two colonels with a UN Disarmament Inspector from India as their accomplice. They smuggle the bomb into the US with the help of a county Sheriff in New York. They recruit a park ranger in Yellowstone who needs money and a new identity.
This crisis lands on the desk of Agent Michael Cornell of the FBI. All he has to go on are reports from their Russian counterpart, the FSB. The Russians caught the payments to their two colonels and the UN Inspector. They tortured the colonels to death and threatened the Inspector. They passed on what they learned to the FBI. It wasn’t much. And it was crazy. Was it really heading to the U.S., or was it targeted for Israel? Why ship it by boat – an almost 2-week journey? Why not by air? If it were coming to the U.S., where were they going to detonate it? Nothing made sense.
As the days tolled, Agent Cornell found himself working with the Chief of Naval Operations, a very attractive 43-year old blond, who got the job because she was the “father” of the “CyberNavy.” Together Agent Cornell and Admiral McNamara electronically sweep the North Atlantic looking for the ship carrying the bomb.
The U.S. Geological Survey is certain that the bomb is destined for San Francisco where it would not only flatten the city but would also set off a massive earthquake along the San Andreas fault, killing millions of people.
When the team is certain the bomb has reached the U.S., they are about to put a plan into effect to protect San Francisco when they are overruled by the White House. The Vice President of the United States, former governor of Hawaii and highly respected geology professor, says that the target is the Yellowstone Volcano. It is the largest volcano on the planet. The caldera is 55 miles across – the distance between Annapolis and Baltimore! It is over 1700 square miles – one and a half times the size of Rhode Island! Detonating the device in the Yellowstone Volcano wouldn’t just kill millions, it would kill billions of people.
The plan switches to Yellowstone. Agent Cornell recruits a former volcanology student of the Vice President working at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO). He is unaware she is the traitor’s girlfriend. She is unaware her boyfriend is the traitor. The terrorists arrive with the bomb. Everyone, including the 388th Fighter Wing, prepared for an air strike, converges on the YVO borehole drilled into the volcano’s caldera…..