Follow the Money

Who could hate America so much they would inflict the greatest single day loss of any nation in the history of mankind? Mike Paxton pondered as he grappled with the magnitude of the attack on America. Lives lost, transcontinental transportation, oil and gas production, the petrochemical industry devastated, and a thwarted effort to demolish the electrical grid and water supply of a third of the country. He hated what they stood for, and what they did, but was impressed with the professionalism with which they had carried it out.

These people had a plan and had been working the plan for years. Even on the black market the costs are staggering. Cold War vintage “suitcase” nuclear bombs, military grade drones, gallons of deadly military grade organophosphate poison, a boxcar of TNT, hundreds of thousands of pounds of ammonium nitrate, and a small army of trained personnel. This attack cost billions.

How could you raise billions over an extended period while keeping the international monetary community unaware? One option, laundering illicit drug money on a grand scale. Worldwide nearly 300 million people, most under the age of 35 used drugs last year. it’s a 360-billion-dollar industry. Standard laundering fees would net more than 20 billion. If that were the case, even more people were involved. Paxton smiled to himself, a long hard road lay ahead but his experience told him, more people meant more opportunities for mistakes. And mistakes would lead to those responsible in Domestic Violence: A Thriller.