Five Twelve

This is in early 2001. Intelligence operatives have just acquired powerful evidence that there will be a vicious terrorist attack in the United States around the twelfth of May. If that strikes they cannot afford to be seen tracking and tormenting mere dissidents in America while ignoring violent alien terrorists, so they must eradicate the blacklist and every trace of it. A young man, Greg Lynch, informs Marko of this, in stages: his girlfriend, Deesha Deshmukh, has overheard her uncle, who helped supervise the list, identify people on it and she passes this revelation on to Greg.

Marko had already planned to file suit against government figures for acts of harassment, theft, surveillance and sabotage he had endured over the years. Now, learning he is one of the figures on the list, he manages to track down the others, one of whom was indeed almost killed in a rigged car accident, and works to have them cooperate in driving his case to its dramatic conclusion.

Coming to know their grievances intimately through his investigation, he concludes that the acts were mainly the doings of Alex Ferenci, a long-standing CIA operative who had been farmed out to Los Angeles as a reward for previous masterstrokes and is now working under guidance from senior government officials, principally Bristol Coleman, a high ranking former navy officer. Marko’s investigation triggers alarm bordering on panic in the minds of those operatives as his case gains momentum and it becomes clear that Deesha will be his key witness. They try to deport her uncle, who goes into hiding. With Deesha’s testimony and that of his fellow plaintiffs Marko swiftly brings his endeavor to a climax through his suit.