The Fourth Order: A novel by Stephen Frey

Anti-terrorism run amok*** June 24, 2007

Stephen Frey departs from his usual financial shenanigans high stakes thriller to author a novel involving shadowy figures authorized by the US govt to execute innocent people with immunity. This Fourth Order, I-4, supposedly dates back to Lincoln's assassination. It is run by a four-member Directorate which includes a personal emissary of the US President. The chief protagonist of the novel is Michael Rose, Chief Financial Officer of Trafalgar Industries, who is hell-bent on acquiring Computer Information Systems (CIS), at the urging of the former Chief of Staff of the US President. But the Fourth Order is using CIS to channel funds to agents and companies that do work for it. This work includes the detention, interrogation and sometimes off-the-books execution of Americans, including innocents falsely suspected of being terrorists. For obvious reasons the Fourth Order is not keen on having Michael Rose inspect CIS's financial records.The plot revolves around the take-over attempt and the efforts to thwart it by I-4 operatives. They go so far as to allow terrorists to pull off a repeat of 9/11 airline hijackings in order to raise the American populace from what they perceive as its complacency. These are some bad lads.