Brief

After an assassination attempt on the President fails, Secret Service agent Evan Harris is tasked with tracking the perpetrators down. Evan allies with the CIA's Patrick Stevenson and the cunning Mossad operative Dan Eyal. They go their separate ways on globe-trotting missions, hunting a shadowy mastermind figure known only as "The Chameleon."

What We Liked

This work stood out for its high stakes and its commercial appeal. Make no mistake-- This work is all about the action and spectacle, offering no shortage of popcorn cinema moments that will surely satisfy fans of the likes of Olympus has Fallen.

Film: This could work well as a film adaptation as its concept has seemingly been proven already-- The fact that Olympus has Fallen has blossomed into a series with two sequels bodes well for this work. It has no shortage of action and spectacle that will surely draw the attention of fans of the genre.

TV: This could work well as a TV adaptation as it seems to offer a viable foundation for expansion. Many of the characters in this would benefit from the time and consideration afforded by long form. Moreover, this work has no shortage of impact and action to sustain episodes of TV.

Key points:
1. The uncommonly high stakes.
2. The many diverse, often scenic locations.
3. The abundance of action and impact.
4. The unforgettable and impactful inciting incident.
5. The trio of diverse, intelligent, and complementary heroes.

Synopsis

As President-elect RUFUS BARKER is being sworn in, gunshots ring out on Capitol Hill, killing both the First Lady and a Supreme Court Justice. Barker is ushered away by loyal secret service agent EVAN HARRIS, 30s, as chaos breaks loose. 18 months earlier, Mossad agent DAN EYAL, 40s, brushes shoulders with medics on the ground in Israel, witnessing a child and his family get injured by errant shrapnel. He agrees to help the child's parents JAMILA and FAROUK get resituated. 3 months before the Inauguration, we meet KATARINA BELINKOVA, 3os, a sexy Russian bombshell working in the American Embassy in Moscow. She meets regularly with a mysterious Russian man, DIMA, on the bus. A week after the assassination attempt in DC, we meet the unassuming Iranian man HASSAN ABU SHIKRI, 20s, a guard at the Smithsonian, hiding out in a safehouse rented by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. We learn that two weeks before the Inauguration, masked men gained kompromat on Hassan by photographing him next to a woman they murdered. Thus, Hassan is forced to give them access to the Smithsonian's rooftop.

10 days after the attempt, we link up again with the president as he fills his cabinet, including MARCUS BARBOUR as CIA Director and FRANK DABUSH, a foreign-born former arms dealer, as Chief of Staff. At the CIA headquarters, Marcus puts counter-terrorism agent PATRICK STEVENSON, 50s, on the task of identifying the assassins. He links up with Dan Eyal and Evan Harris, who the President has released from his personal security to partner with Patrick. The men quickly deduce that Hassan, who has gone missing, was involved with the shooting. Evan works to track him down, while Patrick, Dan, and Marcus uncover a communication between Hassan and a figure known as "The Chameleon." Evan asks about Hassan at an Iranian religious building, and he is knocked off his feet by a massive car explosion when he leaves. Hassan manages to get a hold of a gun, and he kills his captors, while Evan is assigned a mission to Moscow, where he is to confront and perhaps kill Katarina, who is suspected of being a mole. Evan, Dan, and Patrick debate on Hassan's role and whether he was a cover for the true assassins. Evan recounts a destructive drone strike on a school, which might have spurred covert, retaliatory action from Iran.

Hassan's three victims are discovered, and Patrick helps interrogate the landlord of the safe house apartment that was rented under Hassan's name, trying to get a sense of where Hassan might be. On the ground in Russia, Evan confronts Katarina in her apartment. She tries to seduce him, but he knows she only fancies women. Evan drills Katarina on her communications with Russian intelligence, and Katarina convinces him that she is a double agent, working hand-in-hand with Marcus and the CIA. Soon, Katarina earns Evan's uneasy trust, telling him that her contact Dima likely knows who The Chameleon is. Just as they prepare to visit Dima, they cower from a barrage of bullets from the street. In D.C., Patrick visits the morgue to see the bodies of the three men slain by Hassan, and he espouses that they are Muslim Chechnyans. Meanwhile, President Rufus takes flight in Air Force One, but he and his entourage quickly find themselves targeted by missiles while over the Middle East. Air Force fighters come in to ward off the missiles, but the President's plane is eventually hit. The plane crash lands in the desert, killing several and leaving the POTUS in critical condition. All the while, Hassan has been hiding out in motels around D.C., careful to evade the road blocks and heightened police presence. Back in Moscow, Katarina and Evan evade what are revealed to be Russian contract killers, taking refuge in the U.S. embassy.

Thanks to Mossad operative Ben, Patrick works to mobilize a pair of refugees--Jamila and Farouk, who we met earlier--into the Muslim community in D.C., with hopes of gaining insight into Hassan and co. Meanwhile, while a physician tends to POTUS, Air Force One is surrounded and attacked by Jihadist militants. Thanks to a dedicated troop of Marines and diligent Air Force coverage, the Americans ward off the first wave of attack. Vice President Tom assumes the presidency under the 25th amendment, and the situation room operates to protect POTUS. Hassan heads to a Muslim cultural center using a fake name, but the IMAM recognizes him. The Imam is wary of Hassan, given what he is being accused of, but he invites him to stay with a new refugee family that just so happens to be Jamila and Farouk. With no other options, Hassan accepts. In the desert, after continued battle, a rescue operation is executed for the President and co. Meanwhile, thanks to Jamila and Farouk, the CIA locates Hassan, and they recover him after a tense hostage situation at the mosque.

Patrick follows clues gathered from the discarded assassination attempt rifle down to Colombia, tracing the path of the gun. He connects with an arms dealer and horse breeder, who tells of an unidentified gentleman who picked up the gun. Patrick waits while the source tries to figure out who the buyer was. At the embassy in Moscow, Evan and Katarina try to deduce who might have wanted them killed. Evan presses her on her allegiances-- Evidently, she has been working at the behest of the head of command of the CIA, yet Evan was mobilized to kill her if need be. Katarina tells of her contact Dima, who was apparently rubbing shoulders with the group that headed the assassination attempt-- The Chameleons. In the middle of the night, an attempt to rendezvous with Dima goes awry, and he is killed by a gunshot wound.

Evan and Katarina are smuggled out of Moscow and taken to London, where they are greeted by Dan and Patrick. On the plane back to the States, the group compares notes and findings, ruling out the theory of Jihadists trying to kill the POTUS. Soon, it becomes clear that the group has consensus on the suspected perpetrator and leader of the Chameleons. A meeting in the Oval Office ensues, headed by the POTUS himself. He calls in his cabinet to join Dan, Patrick, and Evan, and he outlines the theory of the motivation behind the assassination attempts. All signs point to Chief of Staff Frank Dabush--the foreign-born former arms dealer--whose only path to President would be with the President and Vice President dying, given that he was born outside of the United States. Frank, in the heat of the moment, seizes Evan's gun and uses Evan as a human shield, desperate to make an escape via helicopter. He shoots Patrick in the hip and trains the gun on the President while negotiating his escape. However, the lights go out, and Frank is quickly disarmed and apprehended by Dan. He's taken away by police while the others exhale and recover.

About The Author

Willie Hirsh's other works include Regicide, The Shadow King (2018), and Constellation: The Second Race to Space has Begun (2018), which was American Book Fest Finalist in 2018. When he is not writing spy and suspense novels, Willie enjoys traveling, photographing nature, and painting landscapes in oil. He pursued a career in engineering and currently works full-time managing a construction firm.