When Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent Brian Mullaney received his new assignment to protect the newly appointed US ambassador to Israel and what he thought was an insignificant box, he ended up with more responsibility than he could ever imagine. Inside the box was a messianic prophecy about the fate of the world that a dark enemy and the forces of evil at his command were determined to destroy. Not only that, agents of three ancient empires have launched covert operations to secure nuclear weapons, in direct defiance of the startling peace treaty Israel and its Arab neighbors have signed—the Ishmael Covenant. Mullaney and the ambassador have been targeted, and it’s up to him to thwart an arms race.
Mullaney has survived an explosion, being shot, and losing his best friend. He’s had enough and wants out. In Terry Brennan’s Ottoman Dominion (Kregel Publications), the last installment of the Empires of Armageddon trilogy, Mullaney has been drawn against his will into a dangerous international mission with world-ending implications—and his final assignment is going to pit him directly against the terrifying, evil entity known only as the Turk.
Q: Tell us about the entire Empires of Armageddon series, including the previous releases, Ishmael Covenant and Persian Betrayal.
The three-book series, the Empires of Armageddon is a fast-paced, modern-day international thriller, constructed around historical fact and fiction based on fact. The story envelopes the lives of nearly a dozen key characters, but is driven by three primary characters: Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent Brian Mullaney; Joseph Atticus Cleveland, the newly appointed US ambassador to Israel; and their enemy, The Turk, an immortal agent of evil who serves The One.
Out of the chaos and conflict of today’s Middle East, it appears that three ancient empires are about to resurrect themselves. One belief of the Islamic faith is that once an Islamic nation rules any part of the earth, it rules that part of the earth forever. So, ultimately, each of those empires would covet, and attempt to control, the same slice of land which each empire once ruled. The collision of those competing empires could trigger the climactic events in the Valley of Megiddo. The series explores how this potential clash of empires might impact current history, future events and the viability of the Jewish state.
The plot of the series, and the first book, Ishmael Covenant, is kick-started when the first of two Messianic prophecies, written in 1794 by the Vilna Gaon, is revealed in Jerusalem. When he arrives in Israel, Mullaney finds himself grudgingly in possession of a metal box that supposedly contains and protects a second prophecy written by the Gaon. Mullaney’s involvement with the prophecy and the box puts his life in terrible peril and in direct opposition to The Turk. The Turk and The One have been focused on a singular purpose for thousands of years—if they can prevent the fulfillment of one Messianic Biblical prophecy, they can eradicate the validity of all prophecy and change the end of the Book—the outcome of the Battle of Armageddon. What is contained in the Gaon’s prophecy could destroy their plans.
That theme, ultimate evil trying to overthrow the plans of God, fuels the story of the entire series. The series utilizes this supernatural cauldron of spiritual warfare, and its Biblical ramifications, as the backdrop for an epic testing of one man’s character when faced with multiple adversaries who threaten his family, his faith and his country. How Brian Mullaney responds to his calling could dictate the fate of this world—and the onset of the next.
Q: What is Brian Mullaney’s final mission?
Brian Mullaney is a highly regarded veteran of the Diplomatic Security Service, which protects American foreign service personnel. Mullaney is banished to Israel as Regional Security Officer and assigned to protect new US Ambassador Joseph Atticus Cleveland and all of the Foreign Service personnel in Israel. Mullaney, however, is also enlisted into another task.
Through the influence of the angel, Bayard, and the insistence of aged rabbi Mordechai Herzog, Mullaney finds himself responsible for a lethal metal box that has gruesomely killed anyone who touches it. Once the protector of the Vilna Gaon’s second prophecy, the “‘box of power’” now has a mission of its own, a mission that will put Mullaney’s life at risk and transport him into the darkest depths of hell on earth.
Bayard informs Mullaney that his assignment, and his destiny, is to be the “final guardian” of the box of power, and to personally carry that box of power on its final mission, to withstand and vanquish the malevolent agents of evil, The Turk and The One. In order to accomplish this mission, Mullaney must not only take the box of power into the midst of the Turk’s lair in Ankara, but he must also hand over the box—and its power—to those enemies who most want to destroy Mullaney, those close to him, and the plans and purposes of God in this earth.
Q: What was the Ishmael Covenant that was a part of the first book? What similarities did this fictional treaty from your book have with the Abraham Accord, an actual peace accord signed in 2020?
One of the foundational plot elements of the series was a fictional peace treaty and mutual-defense pact between Israel and its neighbor states—who fought three wars against Israel since 1948 and have been sworn to its destruction for seven decades. But pragmatic politics makes for strange bedfellows. Because of the growing menace of Iran and its nuclear intentions, not only is Israel concerned about the Iranian threat but the oil-rich Arab States along the Persian Gulf also see a common enemy. Instead of peace, it’s this Ishmael Covenant that actually ignites growing conflict within Israel, foments internal upheaval in Saudi Arabia and propels Iran to accelerate its race to nuclear weapons.
Ishmael Covenant was released in February of 2020. Six months later, in August, Israel actually entered into a peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. This peace agreement is called the Abraham Accord and other Muslim states in the region are lining up to participate. There are similarities between both the countries involved and their motivation. Peace in the Middle East is a possibility.
Q: What aspects of your story are based on historical fact?
The Vilna Gaon, whose prophecies are one of the catalysts of the plot, was a real person. The foremost Talmudic scholar of his time, the Vilna Gaon (or Genius of Vilnius, Lithuania) was renowned not only for his knowledge of Jewish scripture, but also as a scientist and mathematician with intelligence far beyond his age and his time. His disciples still operate a synagogue in Jerusalem. In 2014, the Gaon’s great-great grandson actually did reveal a prophecy the Gaon wrote in 1794, a messianic prophecy warning that, when Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula, Jews should prepare for the coming of Messiah. Only a few months prior to the prophecy being revealed, the Russian army actually did occupy Crimea and parts of Ukraine.
Many of the agencies and circumstances in the series are based on actual fact: the Diplomatic Security Service are armed law-enforcement officers tasked with, among other things, protecting American Foreign Service personnel overseas; the military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is America’s most elite and effective quick-strike force; the history of the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem is accurate as written.
The ancient Biblical conflict between the nation of Israel and the people of Amalek—the descendants of Abraham and Ishmael—is a fundamental element in the conflict driving the series. Other historically accurate elements of the book include the rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq in 2014; the worldwide confiscation of Iranian financial assets following the hostage crisis in 1979; NATO’s nuclear sharing project which still has 61 nuclear bombs in bunkers at the Incirlik Airbase; the geo-political weapon that water has become in the Middle East and the history of the Jews in Turkey. All were vital to the development of this fictional series.
Q: The author’s notes in the back of Ottoman Dominion are proof of how much detail from actual events and locales are written into the story. What did your research for the series involve? Have you always been interested in history and the politics of the Middle East?
In college, I studied to be a history teacher. I didn’t teach very long, but I’ve had a life-long interest in history. I’ve become much more engaged in the history and politics of the Middle East over the last twenty years or so, even before I started writing my first trilogy, the Jerusalem Prophecies series. It was in the midst of that first series that my wife and I made an extended trip to Israel, and Jerusalem in particular. Other than that “boots-on-the-ground” experience, my research for both series was informed by friends who lived in Israel and particularly by a long-distance email acquaintance with a Masters student of Jewish history who lived in Jerusalem.
More mundane, but necessary, research took place at the New York City Library system’s main research library and, of course, online. You might be surprised at how much a writer can glean from Google Maps and its ability to go “street-level” in so many places around the world.
Q: The entire series has been released this year—that’s quite the quick turnaround, which is sure to please readers. The story took place in a short span too, but did the writing process itself flow that quickly and smoothly?
It was a quick turnaround that had my head spinning. I wrote the first draft of Ishmael Covenant in May 2015 and submitted the final manuscript two years later. We finished editing the third book, Ottoman Dominion, in August 2020. So, it took five years for me to complete the series from start to finish. Sounds like a long time. But the reality is that during a three-year span from submission in May 2017 to this past August, I had all three books of the series at some stage of the editing process at the same time.
So, when I submitted the final manuscript for book three, my editors at Kregel and I were still working on the editing for the first two. Now that was a challenge, keeping everything straight. There were times I asked myself what book am I working on now?
The primary action of the entire three-book series took place during a two-week period, from July 9 to July 23, 2014. There were some preliminary “set-up” chapters and a few “wrap-up” chapters at the beginning and end, but most of the story takes place during that two-week stretch. A very compressed time frame for the development of three complete novels.
For me, the writing never flows quickly and smoothly. As a writer, I’m a gardener, not an architect. A seed gets planted, watered, the sun shines on it, and we see how it grows and what directions it will take. The same with the characters. While some authors have everything mapped out before they begin, I have an idea of where we’ll start and where we’ll end up, but the rest is the adventure of seeing where the story goes. But, because of the tight timing of the books, and the compressed editing schedule, I was forced to develop an Excel spreadsheet that helped me to keep track of the date, time and location for each of the scenes throughout the entire series and for each book.
Q: What can readers expect in the conclusion to this series, Ottoman Dominion?
The closer Brian Mullaney gets to hunting down the murderous thugs who have engaged in a reign of terror; the closer Ambassador Joseph Cleveland gets to unmasking a traitor in the highest echelons of the State Department; the closer the two of them get to thwarting an act of nuclear terrorism in the Middle East—the closer they both come to falling under the dark power of the evil incarnate who lurks in their path and lusts after their souls.
Q: In the middle of trying to keep peace in the Middle East and halting the end of the world, Mullaney is fighting his own spiritual battle. Can you tell us about his spiritual journey?
Brian Mullaney’s faith is steadfast and determined, just like Brian. He is not a “go-to-church-on-Christmas” kind of Christian believer. His close, personal connection to God, which took years of nurturing from his youth to develop, is evident throughout the series as he prays urgently and fervently on several occasions.
And, often, Brian needs those prayers to be answered. His two-decade marriage is in danger. Abby and their daughters remained in Virginia when Mullaney was unfairly banished to Israel. Mullaney is attempting to solve the mystery of his downfall by navigating the back rooms of the State Department while at the same time upholding his duty as the man most responsible for the life and safety of Ambassador Cleveland and the other personnel.
But Mullaney’s greatest spiritual challenge falls on him unexpectedly. In addition to chasing a band of murderous thugs around Tel Aviv and trying to thwart an act of nuclear terrorism in Turkey, Mullaney finds himself being asked to take on a daunting spiritual responsibility as the final guardian of the box. And only the fate of the world, the integrity of Biblical prophecy and the personal safety of those he loves most hangs in the balance.
Q: Do you think readers will be surprised by the ending?
I hope so. There are cliff-hanger situations at the end of the first two novels of the series, and I wanted to be faithful to the first two in completing the third. So, while I believe the ending of Ottoman Dominion will bring about a satisfactory conclusion to both the novel and the series, I would be very surprised if any of the readers are able to predict the ending. In fact, I didn’t figure it out myself until halfway through writing the third book.
Q: What message do you hope readers walk away with?
Spiritual warfare is real. Evil is real. And they are both present on this earth today. But, in order for there to be a tangible and ongoing spiritual conflict, good must also be real. The result of this battle between good and evil, evidence of which we can often see around us, is far more than “good wins.” The result that matters is where did we stand? What did I do in my life to hold back the forces of evil? Because we are not ordained to be observers—we are enlisted to be warriors.
Q: Obviously, we aren’t battling the forces of evil on the same level as Mullaney, but how do we as Christians face spiritual warfare on a daily basis?
Early in Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, he writes in verse three of chapter one, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Later, in verse 19 he writes, “That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”
The Bible I love and cherish most is an NIV Study Bible my wife gave me. Worn, beaten, re-bound, and marked from beginning to end, it has study notes, sometimes extensive, on nearly every page. The study note to Ephesians 1:3 states. “At stake are God’s eternal purpose and the titanic conflict between God and the powerful spiritual forces arrayed against him … the spiritual struggle of the saints here and now is not so much against ‘flesh and blood’ as against the great spiritual forces that war against God in heaven.”
Think about that for a moment. There is a war against God in heaven with spiritual forces arrayed against him. And MY life here, today, is having some kind of impact on that battle. Because the same rulers, powers, authority and dominion that God is fighting in heaven, we are also fighting here on earth today. Different, sure. But real none-the-less. That’s stunning, awesome and, to a degree, frightening.
2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Paul here is reminding us that we wage war here, in our world, but not as the world does. We are talking about weapons of divine power to demolish strongholds.” How do we face spiritual warfare? We demolish every ungodly mental image and take captive every thought and bring it to Jesus.
Q: For those who aren’t quite ready to say goodbye to the series yet, what bonuses do you have available for readers who sign up for your newsletter?
There is a host of unique, free material I supply to readers who subscribe to my website. First off, there are two unique and exclusive short stories that I’ve written for subscribers and those who request the special offer in the Author’s Notes from the back of each book in the series. The first short story is titled The Gaon’s Revenge. And I’ve just written a new one, Under the Radar, which looks into the early history of the character who is only identified as “the man in the Panama hat.” In addition, I send out a monthly newsletter that offers an in depth look into one of the items listed in the Author’s Notes. Subscribers also receive invitations to special events (such as virtual launch parties) and book giveaways.
Q: Now that this series has come to a close, what’s next for you? Do you have another book in the works?
This year, with three books released over just nine months, my life has been dominated by the marketing side of being an author. I’ve launched a blog, been writing the short stories, and sending regular newsletters.
It’s been hard to find time to write, but, I’ve written a non-fiction book titled Rescuing the Hidden Hearts of Men. It’s a very different book for me. It’s still a work in progress, so there’s no set plans for release yet.
In addition, I have a few projects “in the works.” There is a book I wrote ten years ago that needed a lot of work then and still needs a lot of work now. I’m trying to get that one in better shape. And I’ve started outlining an Irish mystery/thriller that is set over three generations and plays out extensively in late 19th century Manhattan. And I’ve just started thinking through a contemporary thriller, also set in NYC. Those projects may take some time.
Learn more about Terry Brennan and his books at www.terrybrennanauthor.com. He is also on Facebook (Terry Brennan) and Twitter (@terrbrennan1).
