Retribution

Decades of American foreign policy decisions have had
consequences, one of those consequences has come to America in the form of
vengeance. That vengeance is named BESDE HOZANT. During the First Gulf War, she
watched her father being gunned down while waiting for American help that never
came. Besde blames America for betraying her parents. During the Second Gulf
War she lost her husband and children. Her people, the largest ethnic group
without a homeland in the world, allied with America again and again. Her
people held up their end of the bargain, the feckless Americans did not. Most
recently, before the pull out of Afghanistan, America abandoned the Kurds to
the deadly wrath of their enemies.

Besde grows up to run a terrorist organization inside
Turkey. A deal between Syria, Russia, and herself is struck to secure their
safety from continued Turkish massacres after the American pullout. With money
and weapons from Russia, she sets her sights on teaching America a lesson. She
takes Charleston, South Carolina hostage with escalating attacks on oil
refineries, chemical plants, and bridges in and out of the peninsular city.
Besde desires a measured attack that will scare America out of the Middle East
for good. However, her Russian backers desire a calamitous attack that will
force the US to embroil themselves in another drawn-out war, while pursuing its
own territorial objectives.

The cost of her first lesson is the death of hundreds of
firefighters in an explosion at a fire, effectively reducing Charleston’s
ability to respond to her attacks. She doesn’t want the death toll to mount any
higher and so she reaches out to the local Emergency Manager, whose books she
read in order to find Charleston’s weaknesses. He is an African American and
so, she rationalizes, can relate to her anger towards America. She does her
research on him and learns that he has an on-again, off-again romantic
relationship with one of America’s top news anchors, making him a valuable pawn
in her game. It’s a long shot, but maybe he can even be an ally.

Besde threatens to detonate dirty bombs she has hidden in
ports across the country if federal troops attack her or enter Charleston. DR.
OCTAVIUS CATTO Charleston’s Emergency Manager and RETRIBUTION’s protagonist,
has the knowledge and resources to mount a response, but when the terrorist
calls him out by name, he becomes the only option for the city to save itself.
Octavius has 24 hours to keep his hometown from being razed into sand and ash.
An ex-lover, corrupt politicians, war profiteers, hackers, nuclear devices, a
giant chlorine bomb, and an insatiable news executive get in his way as he
tries to save the citizens he serves. With the help of old friends and new
friends, Octavius surmounts the physical and moral challenges he faces to save
the day and grow as a person.