by Scot McCauley

In a desperate scramble for energy, Japan and China are on a collision course––and Russia finds itself caught in the middle. Cole Palmer, and his wife, Liz, professors at the University of Indiana, but previously government operatives, find themselves plunged into this perilous situation when a close friend, Jack Tisdale, is wounded and trapped in a remote part of China. Tisdale had been dispatched by Secretary of State David Andrews to mount a covert US/Russian reconnaissance mission of a highly secretive Chinese research facility funded and directed by the international billionaire, Kenryo Chen. Rumors focus on a possible technological break-through in the area of directed energy.

Both Cole and Liz Palmer have good reason to be wary of Andrews, a man known to ruthlessly put people, even friends, in harm’s way to advance his personal objectives. Cole had been nearly killed during a previous operation set in motion by Andrews during the previous administration when Andrews served as National Security Adviser.

With a strong sense of loyalty and obligation to his close friend, Cole takes the lead and successfully rescues Tisdale. But returning to Washington, they are unable to extricate themselves from a vastly more sinister plot.

As Andrews prepares for the World Summit Conference in St. Petersburg, one to which China has not been invited; a priceless piece of intelligence is delivered to him by Cole and Liz. They have made contact with a highly placed Russian source, someone who believes that the intelligence will help Russia to move to the West. Cole and Liz will ultimately have to protect their source by spiriting him out of Russia using means that involve, without his knowledge, the President of the United States.

As the world powers focus on the upcoming World Summit Conference in St. Petersburg and escalating tensions of a global energy war, Kenryo Chen seizes the opportunity to play out his long festering hatred of the Zionist nation. The deployment of the Directed Energy Weapon to the United States foreshadows the first step of a well-conceived diabolical plan to destroy Israel.

The suspenseful account of this unexpected crisis raises the temperature to a boiling point. The outcome will prove to be as much of a surprise to Cole Palmer as it is to the reader. This is a thriller that suggests what the headlines might be in the very near future.