By
JOHN SCHERBER
THE MAKING OF BEYOND
TERRORISM: SURVIVAL
I had been
thinking about terrorism now and then for a couple of years before I started
this novel two and a half years ago. Any terrorist group has a logistical problem in
getting their chosen elements of destruction across the United States borders.
For the 9/11 plotters, the weapons were already in place–four commercial
airliners. But that attack changed the rules of passenger flight forever and it
cannot be repeated, at least not in that same way. It seemed to me then and it
still does, that the next attack would use a bio-terror strategy. Something
that, unlike a nuclear device, could be carried on the body in small quantities,
or in harmless-looking containers, and would not set off any metal detectors or
invite the interest of explosive-sniffing dogs.
I imagined such
an element as lethal within hours, and spread by airborne particles and
personal contact. In short, a genetically engineered compound that could travel
on the wind. ISIS in particular has the financial resources to fund the
necessary lab work.
As for the
governmental response, I took a careful look at Washington and did not see that
it had the capability of handling such an attack. With either party in charge,
this is a government whose constituency is largely the corporate entities that
pay the campaign bills. Because of the money required to get through the nomination
process, we have elected people who can return the favor to their sponsors, but
are not likely to find the leadership qualities to respond to a real emergency
of this kind. With this constant gridlock, we are set up for a collapse in the
face of a major crisis. This is the background for the bio-terror attack on the
U.S.
I was not
interested in the typical formula for fiction books on this subject, the
gung-ho CIA heroes, the sexy women of doubtful allegiance, the relentlessly
evil enemy. Instead, I chose two normal people who were caught up in the first
wave of the attack. Their goal is one shared by everyone around them––survival.
Revenge can come later, and at quite a distance down the road.
I chose as my
protagonist a delivery guy, Brett, one who runs a package service in a state
bordering the Gulf of Mexico. He encounters a woman on the road, Lee, who has
run out of gas, and he gives her a ride as they head out of harm’s way of what
at first looks to them to be a local outbreak.
I had initially
drawn Lee as a Hispanic American. I live in México and I know the people well.
Working through a couple of drafts of this story, however, I found I was unable
to bring their evolving relationship to life in the way the book required.
Advice from a friend who is sophisticated about writing suggested that their
unity of goal prevented sufficient conflict from developing between them,
enough at least to bring the rough edges of their connection into sharper
focus. I decided to make Lee an African American woman, which added an entirely
new dimension to the mix.
Initially,
neither of them sees any possibility of anything developing between them, and
they have other, more critical things on their mind. Lee even says to Brett
early on, “I don’t know if I’d ever want to hook up with another white guy
again. On top of being a woman, it only gives me one more way to come in second
all the time.”
From the
beginning I had seen this as a story about our common humanity, about what was
required to survive when the institutions of government have failed above us.
It was about how far we would go when pushed up against the wall, and what
triumph would look like on those terms. The difference of race dragged in some
of the baggage of that very difficult history, one that still tortures our relations
in the United States. At a time when everyone was focused on their personal
survival, trust was already an issue, and when the tensions of race became part
of the mix, I found I had a realistic source of conflict that allowed me to
explore the problem of trust within the detail of a specific relationship,
unlikely as it was.
Although I have
no visible presence as a narrator in this tale, my own voice is evident
throughout. About a quarter of the way through, I introduced two more central
characters, one a young white woman, and the other a sixty-year-old African
American man, an educated garage mechanic with a thoughtful take on the harsh reality
that has caught up with all of them. The young woman is a loose cannon, whose
struggle to endure takes unscrupulous forms. Together, these four people forge
a path to survival through the ruined countryside.
While my thirteen mysteries are known for their humor and irony, I found no place for that in
this book. Although it’s a serious take on a potential debacle we all might
face some day, it also finds redemption in the end. This redemption does not
come from above, but from within. It affirms humanity over government,
connection over politics, relationships over rancor and hatred. It’s the story
of how we survive.
Beyond Terrorism: Survival is available in Kindle, Nook, Kobo,
and iTunes editions. A sample is available on my website:
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