Heat of Hydration - Morgan Dwight Jr.

'Best Pitch' award at Atlanta Writer's Conference May 2023

The new United Nations headquarters building is under construction. However, a motivated and skilled operator, code name "Pakistan," has influenced and altered its design so it becomes a giant bomb set to explode on opening day, assassinating leaders of the world's largest economies in attendance. The sudden vacuum in leadership will hugely benefit the one country behind it all.

To support this cause, a shocking fund-raising scheme is devised. A contract killer is hired to murder seven, ordinary, young Muslim men in major cities across Europe. The men's parents are in on the twisted plan. Their deaths will trigger insurance payouts that finance the strategy to change the balance of world power. Six men are killed. One gets away. Colton Gray, with Interpol, is called in to investigate the murders and is led to the U.N. project under construction. Cryptic clues are sent, warning of the impending disaster, but Colton needs help to figure it out.

Before "Pakistan" can carry out his mission, he meets and falls in love with a woman which dampens his desire for revenge. When he also learns he has been manipulated with misleading information, he doesn't know if he can extricate himself and stop the explosion in time.