The Pardon

As a consequence of committing more tax fraud while in prison, Timothy Bell is facing an extended prison sentence. Determined to obtain an early release, Bell diverts one hundred billion dollars from the United States Treasury and threatens to steal an even larger sum unless he is granted a presidential pardon.With negotiations for a pardon having stalled, Bell is close to bankrupting the federal government. While the government struggles with its mounting debt obligations, a Wall Street billionaire uses insider information to derive hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal trading profits at the expense of investors not privy to confidential information.Yielding to political pressure, SEC officials decline to pursue charges against this person for insider trading. However, the FBI is ordered by the president to run an undercover "off the books" sting operation in order to recover the financier's ill-gotten gains. To do so, the FBI must use someone with the unique skills of Timothy Bell to plan the sting operation.Using a team of FBI agents and an unemployed alcoholic actor in an elaborate plan of deception, Bell agrees to work with the FBI and plays to the billionaire's greed in order to entice him to purchase the DNA of the greatest race horse in history. However, in a series of unexpected developments, a mysterious figure manages to abscond with the five hundred million dollars that the FBI had planned to recover. This theft sets into motion a frantic search for the money.In a wild conclusion to a tale of complex suberfuge, the author will keep the reader guessing until the end as to its ultimate outcome.