Antitrust, a Novel

Al Isla is a small group of Islamist terrorists in the midst of rolling out an intricate attack on the United States. No car bombs or suicide packs. These terrorists run a California corporation called al Minia that makes carbon fiber. Al Minia invented nano-sized robots, called nanobots, that, when activated, can instantly transform at a molecular level the diamond-hard carbon fiber into a gel substance. Through bribes to a United States senator, murder and other evil cunning, the terrorists manipulated the US government to mandate massive use of carbon fiber in the manufacturer of thousands of airplanes, support cables in bridges, and as reinforcing materials in public buildings. After years of selling tons of the carbon fiber into these industries, the last step of the scheme is to trigger the attack from a space satellite orbiting the earth, which would destabilize the carbon fiber and cause thousands of planes, bridges and buildings to crash to the ground all in a single moment.

The attack would kill millions of Americans while crippling the American economy. If these men calculated correctly, the time was fast approaching when Islam would declare victory in the most epic war of all time, a war most of America didn’t even recognize was being waged. For the megalomaniac terrorists’ leader, Siraj Omar, this plan would make him the supreme and dictatorial leader of the United States – and the rest of the world would follow.

However, the United States files antitrust charges against al Minia claiming it was illegally conspiring to raise prices of its carbon fiber. The Saudi Arabian carbon fiber company retains Josiah Howard to defend it. He is a world-class trial lawyer with an almost unbeaten record who lives in a small, Sacramento suburb. Howard’s litigation genius creates a compelling defense to the conspiracy charges, despite the government’s ostensible slam-dunk case – which includes a smoking-gun memo in the defendant’s files chronicling price fixing meetings; indeed, in bold and capitals at the top of the first page it reads, “Destroy after reading.” Yet, no one had.

During the antitrust trial, Howard discovers the terrorists’ plot. What happens next? Will Howard win the trial? Will the terrorists win their war?