American Martyrs

American Martyrs Genre: Thriller Tagline: America’s Martyrs: Shades of Grey in Fields of Gold Plot Outline: A veteran but controversial CIA officer develops an American suicide bomber program, with spectacular though increasingly disturbing results. Plot Summary: Withering criticism of the CIA in the aftermath of 9/11 terrorist attacks prompts CIA Director Whitley Barrow to fund several “offshore” counterterrorist programs. Barrow appoints his Agency classmate, CIA veteran operative and ideologue, Frank Wheeler, whose methods are unorthodox though effective, to recruit, train and deploy American borne suicide bombers to attack sensitive Islamic targets. The attacks are designed to appear as tribal warfare among Islamic sects and extremists. The program is perversely code named, “Gettysburg.” Congressional Oversight Committee Staff Chief and forensic accountant, Mona Hartel, discerns the blurry parameters of the undeclared “rogue” operation after a routine audit. Blocked at every attempt to alert her superiors, who now take a “gloves off” approach, she calls her old Georgetown U. flame, Rick Cahill, who is an FBI agent in the Washington Field Office. As Hartel and Cahill begin to trace Gettysburg, they are unexpectedly assisted by an anonymous source in Wheeler’s camp, who has grown increasingly alarmed at the mounting death toll of innocent civilians in Gettysburg suicide bombings. Cahill and Hartel, who are juggling a resurgence of sexual and emotional attraction, must also wrestle with ethical questions surrounding the means and ends of Wheeler’s increasingly lethal but effective program. Cahill and Hartel expose Barrow’s perfidy and Wheeler’s violence, just as the bombings are taking a new and more sinister turn. However, realizing that he is cornered, Wheeler personally undertakes one, final run….