A Common Thread in Domestic Violence: A Thriller

How does one find a common thread when searching for the electronic footprints of people you do not know, in places you have never been, and left behind by smart men and women who took great pains to conceal them?

That is Mike Paxton’s rhetorical question to the President of the United States of America when he’s asked to lead the cybersecurity effort to identify those who masterminded and executed the attack on America - an attack that annihilated a quarter of a million people and endeavored to destroy the transportation infrastructure of the entire nation.

Mike Paxton promises dogged persistence in the collection of the bits of data that will come from literally tons of physical evidence left in the wake of these hideous crimes. He also vows to employ every possible resource at his disposal, from the support of an international group of world class hackers whose trust he has already earned, to the off-beat use of honeybees to help sniff out storage lockers which may have been used as explosive depots for the nationwide chain of destruction.

The scope of the attack and the utilization of weapons of mass destruction required massive amounts of money, manpower, and coordination. Who are these people? What was their agenda? State supported terrorist groups? Al-Qaeda? ISIS? Or some combination thereof, as well as others? Perhaps a drug cartel, or a consortium of cartels, upset by DEA’s efforts to confiscate their billions in profits?

No one claims credit for the attack. Whoever they were, Mike Paxton and his team know they’re smart, patient people - lethal people who clearly raised the bar. So, what exactly is the common thread in DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, A Thriller?