Dead Man’s Switch

Present Day:

An Irish American woman called Mary Berman travels to Ireland to see Ian Morton. Morton was in “The Troubles” and is one of the most dangerous men in all Ireland. Mary Berman wants to know how to build a “Dead Man’s Switch” that will blow her and all the men who come for her to kingdom come. One of the guards with Ian Morton asks what she has done and she answers that so far she has done nothing. The man then says “what the hell are you doing here” but Ian Morton holds a hand up and tells her he will listen to what she has to say.

Flash forward six years and Mary Berman and five other teams are at six different points twenty miles outside Washington D.C. At precisely 8 pm all teams fire crossbows with steel wires attached to them. Steel wires arc over power lines at six points around the city. One minute later the power goes out all over Washington D.C. It stays off for four days.

So begins the hunt for Mary Berman and the group she founded. Early on the government comes for a key member Paul Spencer. Rather than be taken Paul Spencer leaps out of the window and dies when he lands head first on the roof of a police car. Always in the background is a shadowy figure known as “The Scarecrow” or “The Wicker Man”. Over the years membership of the group waxes and wanes, sometimes down to just a few key members. But persecution grows and with persecution so does membership. Soon membership is in the thousands, the group becomes unstoppable and the government knows that now things are out of control. Helen Trantor is brought in to hunt down Mary Berman. Trantor is a real dangerous bitch and many times citizens have died after she has taken over an interrogation. Trantor’s assistant John Markham is told that if he doesn’t get results he will be posted to Iran or the hell-hole that is Syria. Markham gets inside the mind of Mary Berman and sees that all this is being driven by just one thing. Without Berman the group would have fallen apart years ago. Eventually Mary Berman is cornered and the government homes in on her, unaware that Ian Morton’s “Dead Man’s Switch” is ready to be activated. Back in Ireland Ian Morton has been watching the news and is amazed that the young woman who came to see him has achieved so much. If Mary Berman dies then Morton will travel to the Caribbean and if he does that then his target will be a major Senator. There are a lot of balls in the air and the government is in the position where it might just drop all of them. What will happen? Read on and find out.