Stoic Revenge

The story is about two individuals--Captain Michael Brady, a US Army Ranger, and Omar Saeed, an insurgent in Afghanistan during Desert Storm. The two meet in battle and find themselves the victims of a cave-in, where they both are dropped into one of the many tunnels created by the insurgents. While trapped shoulder-high in dirt and debris, they hurl epithets and rocks at each other. They are soon worn out and reduced to an interesting dialectic of their respective religions and philosophies.

Many years later, Brady learns of the senseless killing of Saeed's family in an errant American bombing mission at the end of the war. After the war, Saeed goes on to complete his education, excelling in computer sciences and quantum mechanics. Saeed harbors a stoic desire for revenge against the US and is obsessed with punishing Americans for the loss of his family. Saeed is a genius in the field of physics known as quantum mechanics, and has mastered the art of hacking into the most complicated algorithms and advanced cyber transmissions.

Brady works up from a position of bank security officer to head of security for a large national banking conglomerate. Brady is drawn in by an old Army buddy to assist the NSA in catching an unknown terrorist threatening America, which turns out to be Saeed. Brady learns who Saeed really is and uses Saeed's only son to reconnect with Saeed.

The story is an existential battle between good and evil.

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