Thomas Secomb receives a phone call from Clint Garrison, his former salvage partner in the Middle East.  Clint needs to borrow money to salvage a new aluminum vessel for Lloyds of London. But Tom is now an economics professor and is reluctant to get involved.Secomb could not know that finally agreeing to the loan sets off a chain of events that leads to his and his partner's involvements with the Russian KGB and renegade Iranian military officers bent on revenge against the U.S.Russian economic analysts think the world is headed for a severe financial crisis and a possible Depression worse than the 1930s. Their research shows that a Long Wave Economic Cycle is due to bottom out, a Kondratieff Cycle. The KGB has a plan to make the ensuing crisis worse.Clint Garrison discovers that a ship, the Dachow, that sank in the Persian Gulf, was carrying millions in gold and precious jewels from the former shah of Iran's fleeing military officers. The challenging task of salvaging the precious cargo draws the two Americans into a web of conflicting associations with the sinister Iranians and Russians.Iran's officers exact their revenge on the U.S. Manipulating Russian KGB officers use expendable patsies to cover up their involvement. Only when it is too late to back out do the salvage divers face death from shark attacks and Iranian marines. Only then does Tom discover the purpose behind their deadly work. As a result of events, circumstances are set in motion for a financial crisis worse than any since the Great Depression.

Linchpin

Cates, Ralph L.

Abyss Publications

Black October

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Thrillers & Suspense

Iron Oak Press

CIA operative Kurt Valdez is reassigned from his base in Afghanistan to the U.S. because of heightened cross-border infiltration. Terrorist activities worldwide are being ruthlessly crushed, and the organizations must make one last, desperate stand-on U.S. soil. The "Snow Leopard", an international terrorist, resurfaces after four years to carry out the mission. The CIA receives a tip and Valdez must now confront the man who eluded him twice before. Homeland Security's tenacious analyst, Krysta Mazur, working with an Arizona sheriff, provide Valdez with intelligence and assistance at a crucial moment. Set in the southwest U.S. against the backdrop of international tensions, global terrorism, and the ruthlessness of the ideologically driven, " The Phoenix Agenda " is a gripping, 366-page read with the most exotic life-or-death struggles you'll find this season. This is the stuff of block-buster movies and nightmares about weapons of mass destruction that could well be the stuff of near-future headlines.

The Phoenix Agenda

<p>“Peak Oil” is currently one of the hottest topics among world political and economic pundits and analysts. The peaking of the world’s oil supplies and the desire of Muslim terrorist organizations to inflict a mortal wound on the West by attacking the softest targets and most prolific oil facilities in Saudi Arabia is the theme of Black October. The novel weaves together the convoluted strands of an American expatriate family working in the Arab country, a terrorist cadre on a mission to acquire nuclear weapons for the long-planned attack, and CIA operatives and special forces risking their lives to protect U.S. interests.Lionel Hunt, a con man and former manager on Saudi oil facilities, discovers he can acquire quick wealth by selling whisky to Saudi Royal family members. His wife Terri, has accompanied him to Arabia, a country where he twice fled to, to allow Statues of Limitations to expire on his US convictions. Just before the September Eleventh attacks, Lionel is arrested and sentenced a notorious Saudi prison on the edge of the Rub al Khali, the Empty Quarter, one of the world’s severest deserts.Meanwhile, Kurt Valdez, a CIA Non Official Cover or Combatant (NOC), hunts al Qaeda’s top leaders in Afghanistan. September Eleventh changes everything. Kurt and CIA paramilitary forces are assigned to take out top personnel of Pakistan’s intelligence service and members of the Saudi royal family when it is learned they were involved in planning and supporting the attacks. The quest leads Kurt to Saudi Arabia where he meets Lionel.Al Qaeda, bent on destruction of the Saudi oil facilities, obtains nuclear weapons from a former Russian general, Mikhail Antonov. The terrorists need only a means to deliver the bombs, a hijacked plane. Lionel thoroughly understands the oil facilities’ vulnerabilities, so he receives pardons from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. He and Kurt discover terrorist plans. Their race to avert destruction and financial disaster brings them together with U.S. Special Forces and Saudi Prince Mohammad al Rashid’s Intelligence Agency. Black October is a fast-paced thriller that exposes frightening susceptibilities to nuclear vulnerability and America’s oil dependency. It asks the question, what would happen if a large portion of the world’s oil supplies were interrupted for an extended length of time? It reveals how dependency on oil from the Middle East has caused the western world to compromise its historical culture, democracy, and tradition, in a pact with a dictatorial monarchy beholden to fanatically religious wahhabi fundamentalists.</p>

Literature & Fiction

United States

Mystic Pub

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Books by Cates, Ralph L.