The Big Dog

By Patrick M. Sheridan

Like most of his predecessors,

President Preston Armstrong had

a serious domestic agenda for his

second term in offi ce. A challenge

to his plan is presented which threatens

the historic interpretation of the U.S.

Constitution and the future confi guration

of the United States.

A series of events including assassinations

of high profi le Americans, both in and out

of the government, further interfere with

his domestic agenda. Debate within the

White House is divided between whether

or not these murders are random acts of

violence or harbingers of worse things to

come from organized terrorists. President

Armstrong asks his new Vice President

Mike Henning to work with his personal

covert operative, Tim Shannon, to learn

from his sources in the Middle East

whether a major terrorist attack against the

United States is planned.

Despite Osama bin Laden having been

killed by the CIA in 2011, al-Qaeda

continued to grow and spread their terrorist

attacks throughout the world. Now that

al-Qaeda had a martyr, recruiting became

even easier.

Tim Shannon and his team of his twin

brother Jim, plus John Murphy, and a

couple of new players undertake their

new assignment with their usual expertise

and foreign contacts. But the clock is

running down to identify, fi nd, and arrest

the men behind the greatest terrorist threat

in history against the United States, and

destroy the plan and its operatives before

they can carry it out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463410711

Patrick M. Sheridan

Emailed separately NOTE TO AUTHORHOUSE As you did with my other hardcover books, please put the author biography on the inside flap of the back cover so that the back cover contains only my photograph. Thank You

Book preview

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY - FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY - SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY - EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY - NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY - TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY – THREE

CHAPTER THIRTY – FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY – FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY - SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY - SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY - EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY - NINE

CHAPTER FORTY

CHAPTER FORTY – ONE

CHAPTER FORTY – TWO

CHAPTER FORTY – THREE

CHAPTER FORTY - FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY - FIVE

CHAPTER FORTY - SIX

CHAPTER FORTY - SEVEN

CHAPTER ONE

WASHINGTON, D.C.

John Murphy left the meeting with the Secretary of Homeland Security, Ben Park, and turned his cell phone back on. There was one voice message.

Hey Murph, this is the smart twin. I should have texted you but I was hoping to catch you on your cell. Tim will be in town tomorrow night. We’re meeting for dinner at Smith & Wollensky’s at 7:00 p.m. I’ll make the reservation for three and hope you can join us. Text me at your convenience.

The message brought a smile to his face and put him in a better mood than the briefing he had just attended. John and the other regional directors of Homeland Security had been personally briefed by Secretary Park, and then they had a brainstorming session on the current threats to the country’s national security.

The recent increase in raids and arrests in Detroit, Brooklyn, Dallas, Miami, and Phoenix had made them all aware that not only had domestic threats risen dramatically, but they were the most likely source of future terrorist acts. Recruiting Americans had become the primary objective of terrorist groups around the world. Since he was the regional director of the New York Region, which included everything north of Washington, D.C. and east of Detroit, his primary concern was the threat from the New York area. What he had not known until this meeting was that the CIA’s intelligence operations and Homeland Security’s intelligence had both concluded that there was now a greater probability that the next major attack would come from American citizens who were Islamic terrorists or sympathizers than it would from foreigners. Additionally, based on internet and phone chatter, they believed that it would come within the next six months.

While the department limo drove him to Andrews Air Force Base for his flight back to New York, he thought about the message from Jim Shannon. He had been close friends with the identical twins, Tim and Jim Shannon since they met in grade school over forty years earlier.

Jim was a technology genius and was now the President and Chief Operating Officer for NANOTECH, Inc., the leading company in the world at developing microscopic devices on an atomic or molecular scale. He had served for years as the company’s Chief Technology Officer and was still the most creative computer geek in the company. Jim was also one of the world’s greatest hackers and could have made a fortune counseling companies and governments on how they were going to be hacked if he had chosen to follow that career path. It was just a matter of time, Jim always told them. Jim lived in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, not far from the New York regional office of Homeland Security, but even closer to Smith & Wollensky’s, Jim’s favorite steakhouse.

His twin brother, Tim, was a free lance consultant, living in London, who traveled the world for a few select clients. He was also the President’s Doer, handling a variety of black book operations directly for President Armstrong, although he primarily worked through the President’s closest friend, Vice President Michael Henning. Tim had reported directly to Mike Henning since he was appointed Secretary of State at the beginning of President Armstrong’s first term. Shortly after being sworn in for his second term, the then vice president had suffered a severe stroke and the best specialists at Walter Reed Hospital informed the vice president and President Armstrong that the vice president would never recover movement on his left side nor ever speak clearly again. The vice president had full mental capacity but he told President Armstrong that he couldn’t do the job as well as the country deserved and he resigned.

President Armstrong nominated Mike Henning to become vice president. Henning had been viewed as an intelligent, effective and a fair-minded secretary of state by both parties and the nomination sailed through the confirmation process with over eighty percent of the vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This is one of the few occasions in history when the House of Representatives is involved in a confirmation process.

Tim’s name did not appear on any list of federal employees and he worked totally off the books. He had resolved a number of threats for President Armstrong that would have caused tremendous disasters if they had been successful, and would have caused wide-spread panic if they were even leaked to the media.

John had worked closely with Tim and Jim earlier in successfully thwarting a terrorist bio-chemical attack on the major rivers in America. Except for the president and Vice President Henning, only Jim and John knew about Tim’s role as the president’s doer. John decided he would clear his schedule and do everything possible to attend the dinner the following night.

NEW YORK CITY

When John arrived at Smith & Wollensky’s, Tim and Jim were already seated in a small private room in the back. They shook hands, got the initial needling started and sat down. Jim had already ordered a drink for John, and as was their custom, they offered a toast in memory of Eddie Allan, a very close friend of theirs who had been killed in an act of extreme bravery and dedication to his country when he played an invaluable role in thwarting the bio-chemical terrorist attack. Prior to his death, Eddie had always joined them in these dinners.

There are four place settings, said John. Does Tim finally have a date, and is he making her drive herself to our dinner? he asked as he looked at Jim.

I had also noticed that when I came in, John, said Tim, but I didn’t say anything. I just guessed that Camille had shortened your leash and I wanted to see if you brought her along.

The extra place setting was my idea, said Jim. Let me ask you both a question. If you were going into a dark alley up against five or six guys intending to do you serious harm and you could bring one person with you, who would you bring?

Hands Lambert, they both said instantly and simultaneously. Then they both laughed.

John turned toward Tim and said, No offense.

None taken, said Tim, and added, And backatcha.

Well, first, I take offense that neither of you even gave me a thought, said Jim. I’m the exact same size as Tim, and probably as fit as he is.

Doesn’t matter, said John, still laughing. You’re no Hands Lambert.

Can’t argue with that, said Jim. Well, Hands called me this afternoon and asked if we still got together for dinner from time to time. He has a meeting with his New York office tomorrow morning and landed a couple of hours ago. I told him his timing was perfect. He’ll be joining us at 7:30. So if anyone has anything confidential to mention, do it in the next few minutes.

I don’t, said John. Shit storms are brewing all over the globe but there’s nothing I need help on at the moment. Besides, Hands probably knows everything I know since I keep his New York FBI counter-terrorist folks pretty well informed.

I don’t have anything hot either, said Tim. I met Vice President Henning today and he wants me to check out some things in the Middle East and the Far East. I leave tomorrow. I won’t be back in the states for the next few weeks. Unless something else comes up, I shouldn’t need any help from either of you for a while.

Then they started to talk about Hands Lambert. Hands had been an only child and from the day he was born, his hands were slightly larger than normal and noticeably strong. The obstetrician even commented when Hands grabbed his finger, he could feel the baby’s hand tighten, unlike most newborns that just lay their fingers on the doctor’s hand.

His father owned a lumber yard, and Hands loved to work in the yard with his dad. As early as the first grade, he rushed home from school every day to help out around the lumber yard. His dad stressed safety above all else, but let him do minor chores and carry things. As he grew, he became much stronger than others his age and his hands, not only continued to grow slightly larger than most boys his age, but had become hardened, and he had a vice-like grip. By the time he was in the seventh grade, he could palm a basketball as easily as any high school center. He never lifted weights or engaged in formal exercise programs, but he always chose the most strenuous tasks around the lumber yard to perform and his strength grew considerably as he entered his teens.

The week after he graduated from grade school, his father suffered a heart attack and died. After the funeral, he had a long talk with his mother and offered to quit school and work full time in the lumber yard. She held just the opposite view and felt that his Uncle Phil, who had worked for years as the number two man in the yard, could now run it, and it was time for Hands to cut back his hours. She wanted him to get the maximum out of his high school years, so he could achieve the academic record necessary to go to college, something neither she nor his father ever did. She said as long as he kept his grades up and engaged in sports or other outside activities at the school, he would be allowed to work at the lumbar yard on weekends.

Hands started to protest but realized that she was right. He also had the highest regard for his Uncle Phil. He loved school and had been an all-A student. Although he had never played sports in grade school, he would consider them all and promised to work diligently on his studies.

One of the problems many public schools faced every fall, especially in New York City, was keeping non-students out of the building. Six feet tall and very muscular, Hands looked lean in his long sleeve shirt. His face gave his age away, as he only looked as old as all the other fourteen-year-old freshmen.

As he entered the school on his first day, he saw three older guys had a girl pinned to the wall about twenty feet ahead of him. One guy stood on each side of her and the apparent leader was pinning her tight to the wall and was groping her as Hands neared.

Please let me go, she begged and tears were coming down her face.

Stop fighting it, bitch, said the leader. "Just come into the men’s room with me. My boys will see to it that we’re not disturbed and we’ll be done in less than five minutes.

Hands walked up to the guy and said, Let her go, now.

The guy glanced at the youthful looking Lambert, and said. Fuck off, punk, or I’ll fuck you when I’m done fucking her.

Most of the students were at the far end of the hall as everyone had stayed clear of the three thugs that had dropped out of that school several years earlier. None of them ever saw the punch that Hands threw, but they all heard the crack of the leader’s cheekbone. He staggered for a second and then dropped unconscious to the floor. The guy nearest to Hands reached into his pocket to grab his knife. Before he could pull it out of his pocket, Hands had grabbed his neck with his left hand and picked him off the ground. His face turned red as he fought to breathe and both of his hands were desperately trying to pry the suffocating fingers off of his neck. Just as he was on the verge of passing out, Hands dropped him and he fell next to his friend as he coughed and sputtered.

Hands turned to the third guy and said. Are you students here?

No, the guy said.

Take your friends out of here and don’t come back for the next four years.

A minute later, he and his coughing friend carried their still unconscious leader out to their car.

Are you okay? Hands asked the girl. Did they hurt you? Do you need help getting to your class or the office?

I’m okay, she said, wiping away her tears. Thank you.

No problem, said Hands as he took the class schedule out of his pocket and started looking for his assigned room.

I didn’t get your name, she said, but he had already turned a corner.

The incident was the talk of the school for the next couple of days but the first member of the faculty to hear about it was fascinated, and he set out to find and meet the freshman. He was the football coach.

Three of the other freshmen, who had heard about the incident, were seated together in the lunch room waiting for Hands. When Hands walked into the lunch room, they stood, laughed, and applauded. One of them, John Murphy, walked over to Hands, introduced himself, brought him over to their table and introduced him to Tim and Jim Shannon. The four of them ate together every day after that.

Hands made all-state tight end and middle linebacker and the season highlight film included dozens of his one handed catches and one handed tackles where he grabbed an ankle, a shoulder pad, or even a wrist and took down a runner. His full body tackles always brought groans and cheers from the viewers. He started for three years at Boston College but was too slow to be drafted by the pros. After graduation, he joined the FBI in Boston, and slowly worked his way to Washington as deputy director, heading up the FBI’s nationwide counter-terrorist unit.

The three lifelong friends were still laughing and telling Hands Lambert stories when Lambert arrived. He was directed to the private room by Smith & Wollensky’s maitre’d. They all jumped up and took turns welcoming him with handshakes and half-hugs.

You look like you could still play middle linebacker, said John.

I heard you’re the new head of the Intelligence unit for the FBI, said Tim, I thought you’d look a little smarter than usual.

A waiter walked in.

Scotch, rocks, said Hands, and refill the lowlifes.

They talked, ate, laughed, drank, and recalled old times until after midnight.

After Tim and Jim left in Jim’s car, Hands and John stood outside the restaurant for a few minutes.

How’s the new boss? asked John.

Good, real good, said Hands. She’s bright, tough, fair, gets the facts before she makes a decision. Being the first female director of the FBI, she’s under a lot of scrutiny, but I think Sue Englestad will come to be considered one of the best directors the FBI has ever had.

Sounds like you enjoy working with her, said John.

I do, said Hands. She’s all business, no bullshit, just the way God intended bosses to be. I heard your meeting in D.C. yesterday was pretty brutal, said Hands.

Not only is everyone expecting another incident like the one at Fort Hood, the screw-up in Times Square, or the moron who planted explosives in his underwear, said John, but it seems like the brass is expecting a bunch of them. Here’s my car. I’ll drop you off at your hotel.

We’re hearing the same stuff, said Hands. My top priority is to ferret out sleeper cells.

It looks like we’ll be working together more closely than usual, said John.

CHAPTER TWO

PURWAKARTA, INDONESIA

The Gulfstream G550 touched down at one of the six hundred and eighty three airports in Indonesia. It was a private airport near Purwakarta. The airport consisted of a single landing strip, completely surrounded by a ten foot wall, with no cameras of any kind on the premises. There were no records, official or otherwise, that would ever indicate that the Gulfstream had ever been there. Less than fifty kilometers north of the airport, more than 10 million people lived in the crowded city of Jakarta. None of them would ever know that anyone had landed in Purwakarta that day.

The Gulfstream had filed a flight plan from New York to Singapore with two refueling stops. Ron Bayner, the American who owned the Gulfstream had several business interests in Singapore. The airport records at Singapore would show that the jet had landed three hours ago, which it did, and then sat on the ground until late afternoon, which it did not. An envelope filled with cash had always insured that the records reflected what Bayner wanted them to show, and that there were never any questions.

Bayner was the only passenger on the flight. He was a silent investor in a privately held company that had two major subsidiaries. One was Global Security, Inc., which had become the world’s primary source of mercenary soldiers. It was a new corporate name as they had been changing the name of the company more frequently lately to try to hide their troubled past from prospective customers. Their reputation had deteriorated significantly due to their reckless disregard for the safety of the local citizens in locations where their mercenaries were engaged. Their motto seemed to be: shoot first, and let the U.S. military deal with the locals later. In recent wars, there were times when the United States military was employing as many soldiers from Global Security, Inc.’s army as they were deploying U.S. military soldiers.

The other major subsidiary was Worldwide Resources, Inc., a company that did practically everything except fight for the U.S. armed forces. It was one of the largest companies in the oil business, and the largest non-government arms dealer in the world. It not only handled all oil and arms purchases for the U.S. military, but also ran the mess halls, supply rooms, field hospitals, prison camps, and a variety of other chores which enabled the military to use its soldiers for training, fighting, patrolling, and other risk taking responsibilities.

The group had been organized several years earlier by Zheng Guangchun, who was one of the most powerful bankers in The People’s Republic of China, but had become personally wealthy through private transactions in which he had insider knowledge. Zheng had very close relationships with several members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which still held the ultimate banking authority in China. He maintained those relationships with what he laughingly called a profit sharing plan, in which he shared the profits of his ill-gotten gains with direct bribes of those members of the Central Committee who were his closest friends.

In addition to Zheng and Bayner, there were two other members of the group. There were no records of the meetings, no appointments in secretary’s calendars, no proof that any one of them even knew any of the others. They had been meeting once each quarter for almost five years. The group jokingly called itself The Cartel. A cartel is an international syndicate which regulates the price and output of a product, usually a commodity such as drugs or oil.

The product that this cartel was most interested in was power. For the past several years, they had exerted more influence over regime changes, alliances, and the cost of money and the value of different currencies than any single power in the world except the U.S. Federal Reserve. Very few government officials around the globe even suspected that an outside source could wield such political, military, and financial influence. They affected the economic prosperity and currency value of target countries and their governments by directing acts of terror.

The others would be arriving soon, also stopping to refuel at locations in Southeast Asia where they had business interests. In Rangoon, Ho Chi Minh City, and Bangkok, friendly airport authorities were easily bribed. They had considered changing their meeting location when they had seen the quality of the satellite photos available to their governments, but decided that with thousands of private planes landing at hundreds of private airports around the globe each day, there was no reason for anyone to take notice of a few jets coming into Indonesia.

Zheng and Bayner were among the richest men in the world. When Forbes magazine started publishing the list of the richest men in the world, most were Americans. Now, Americans made up less than a quarter of the total, and more than 60 countries were represented on that list.

Both Zheng and Bayner had a personal wealth in excess of twenty billion dollars, and neither was even on the Forbes list. Zheng was omitted from the list because China did not publicly disclose financial data on all of its citizens, and a large percentage of the Bayner’s wealth came from illegal drug and weapons trade, never recorded on the company’s books. Both had decided long ago to put their own financial interests ahead of the welfare of their own country.

The other two members of the cartel were not personally wealthy, but controlled devoted followers, and vast resources.

An hour after Bayner had landed; the others arrived and were seated at a round conference table. Not only had the room been swept clean for listening devices, but there was no one else left in the building. Armed guards stood at the four entrances to the building, having escorted each member of the catering and maintenance staff as they left the building through the main door and exited the compound.

Although Chinese was becoming the number one language on the Internet, and was becoming the most common language in use throughout much of the business world, English was still the dominant language in the financial markets, and it was the language the cartel spoke during their meetings.

Zheng had developed a very close relationship with several Japanese bankers. In recent years, as the U.S. dollar floundered and its trade deficit exploded, the Chinese and Japanese banks had each lent trillions of dollars to bolster America’s liquidity needs. Most of those loans were made directly to the U.S. government and when the American economy finally failed to keep up with the growth of their deficit, China and Japan became very powerful players on the world’s financial stage. Zheng’s banker friends in Japan had no idea how he had such great foresight, but he always kept them informed on his views of which currency he felt should be bought or sold, and his forecasting skill was amazingly accurate.

One of the members, Khalid Mohammad bin Laden was a Muslim who hated America for their blind loyalty to Israel and its sixty year imprisonment of the Palestinian people in their open air prisons called the West Bank and Gaza. Khalid was a cousin of the late Osama Bin Laden and had been fully supportive of al-Qaeda’s goals. With Osama’s blessing and support, he had spun off from al-Qaeda and formed a new terrorist organization operating out of Yemen and Iran. He remained friendly with Osama’s closest advisors and visited them about once a year and kept them well informed on his own plans and recruiting success. Khalid never personally attended a meeting of the cartel because it was very difficult for him to travel beyond Yemen, Iran, and the caves in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. One of his most trusted advisors, Abdullah al-Rahmi, attended the meetings as his representative.

The other man in the group was a Russian, Dmitri Bulganin. He was an individual Russian investor, who had made a fortune in every war, irrespective of what countries were at war, and which side had won or lost. He said that his motives were identical to the Chinese banker and the American military industrial businessman, but he made no secret that he looked out for Russia’s interests when he came to the meetings. He was close to several political figures in Russia, all of whom had spent their entire lives hating America and Western Europe and were determined to make Russia a superpower again as they had been during the forty year cold war.

There was a fifth member of the cartel, whose identity was unknown to most of the others. He was known only as the leader, and he communicated through a personal courier, who did not attend the cartel meetings.

Zheng Guangchun began the meeting by bringing everyone up to date on their latest project. It was the largest and most dangerous undertaking they had ever considered.

My bank has received fifty million Euros that I deposited to our joint account, as well as another fifty million deposited from America and Russia. The cartel had decided to conduct their financial affairs using Euros after the Euro recovered from the problems caused by Greece a few years earlier. It had been strengthening against the dollar steadily for the past several years as the U.S. deficit continued to spiral out of control. The one hundred and fifty million Euros balance will more than cover our support for the projects we are financing, continued Zheng Guangchun. The first and second phase of the operation will cost less than twenty million Euros and we will know the results of those phases before we proceed with the final phase of our plan. Most of the money will be used to exert our influence after phase three. I’d like each of you to ask whatever questions you have, state your concerns if any, and then reiterate your commitment to the operation."

Events must move very quickly, said Bulganin. We need to advance from phase one and two to the final phase as rapidly as possible before our plan is discovered. We will make billions on stock and bond speculation, the currency manipulations, the changes in power around the globe, and our influence in determining which countries and governments to support.

Zheng Guangchun agreed. "We have loaned over a trillion dollars to the United States. We have a great deal riding on the value of the dollar. We absolutely must control the world wide impact of currency changes. Whatever happens to the American economy is our primary concern. Even though problems in the American economy ripple throughout the world, when major financial institutions and investors see the rest of the world stabilize, the markets outside of America will return to normalcy.

When will we be ready? asked Bayner.

Zheng Guangchun looked around the room, got a slight nod from Abdullah al-Rahmi, and, as he always did, thought for a moment before he spoke.

We are ready now, said Zheng. The operation will begin within the next few days. We anticipate that the American financial markets will not have much of a reaction to phase one but will begin to deteriorate rapidly when phase two is launched.

Bayner chimed in, Is there any event or occurrence that could throw off our timing, or worse, put our entire plan at risk?

No, said Abdullah al-Rahmi. America has most of its combat troops tied up in the Middle-East and the Pacific Rim, and no one else is interested in starting any trouble. Their financial markets have been crawling back toward pre-recession levels for years. If anything, a major catastrophe in America might even speed up our time table and add a degree of certainty to the outcome we seek.

The Europeans will be furious, said Bulganin. This will catch them completely by surprise. The Euro could take a bigger hit than the dollar.

They have no one to blame but themselves, said Zheng. They’ve had decades to get their act together on the European Union, the Euro, and their problems with any of us. They prefer to battle each other to settle old scores rather than to work together to maximize their collective potential. If they had worked together, we might be too late to execute our plans.

What can you tell us about your man leading the operation and the people he will use? asked Bulganin.

The leader is an international executive who travels throughout the world. He works through a courier. His courier is a German business executive whom I have known since we worked together in Shanghai many years ago. He has traveled extensively to America and the United Kingdom. No one else knows anything about our operation and no one knows who we are except for the courier and the leader. Anyone else involved only knows the courier.

Can anything that happens be traced back to any of us? asked Bulganin.

No, said Zheng. Most of the operatives will never even meet the courier. If the courier is ever caught, he will commit suicide before they could ever make him talk. He is old school, very old school. Even if they ever find out who we are, they can’t touch us. Since The People’s Republic of China regained sovereignty of Hong Kong from the British in 1997, the Americans can’t touch me. They can’t even talk to me. China does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. Neither does Russia, so they can’t touch Bulganin. Khalid is already on their most wanted list and they can’t seem to touch him despite years of trying. That only leaves Bayner, who owns one of the largest and most powerful military operations in the world and Ron, if you can’t disappear at the drop of a hat, you deserve to be caught.

For the