If you enjoy action, adventure and suspense, here is a selection from…
(A Cary Parker Thriller - For fans of Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Jack Higgins or WIlbur Smith).
OMAR: A Novel
Brief Synopsis: In 1995, the CIA / FBI jointly uncovered secret plans to recover priceless treasure from 2077 fathoms below the North Atlantic Ice Barrier, aboard RMS Titanic. A terrorist organization competed against divers, hired by a billionaire, which set off a complex web of intrigue and suspense. Dr. Cary Parker, Woods Hole oceanographer and maritime law specialist, was recruited to beat both teams to the ship's grave. A wave of global terrorism was set into motion, as Parker challenged the terrorists on his own turf. And a rare, priceless, early 20th Century book became the primary focus of a triadic search.
A short excerpt from the suspense-thriller, OMAR: A Novel. Dr. Cary Parker and his crew unwillingly head into the North Atlantic during a powerful a storm:
THE NORTH ATLANTIC
ABOARD NEPTUNE’S KNOT
"HOW many more hours of this damned storm?" the barrel-chested John Holt yelled in exasperation to no one in particular, as he piloted Neptune's Knot through the thrashing North Atlantic disturbance.
An immense uprising swell kept anyone on the bridge from answering. Holt's dark chiseled face was taut from the strain of piloting through what he had called a suicidal mission. Yet, if anyone was trusted with the helm, it was Holt. As Parker's chief navigator for the past ten years, he was held in high esteem by the crew.
Six years after graduation, with a Master's Degree in Political Science from Howard University, Holt had traded the politics of Washington for adventure on the high seas. He had found several Washington politicians and their handlers to be " . . . insidious, self-serving phonies with little interest in assisting constituents."
Calder always said it didn't take much to set Holt off when politics came up. With See-Life's team for nearly fourteen years, Holt had told Parker, "It's safer in the pit of an underwater volcano than in a room of congressional staffers. I'd rely on my instincts in a ketch in the middle of a typhoon, before I'd trust those bastards."
Though he had seen too many instances of under-the-table vote buying with Mafia-controlled unions and crime-syndicate bosses, to want to remain in politics, he felt he might have to eat his words, after this storm … that is, if they ever made it through.
Holt's rock-hard muscles throbbed with pain as he held tight to the helm and steered a sinuous course. He looked for lulls and windows—to avoid broadsides that had ambushed their ship from every angle for more than twelve hours.
Neptune's Knot moved in lateral motions, back and forth, in and out of the few breaks and troughs that came between hits. Windshield wipers only pointed out the futility of the moment, with their inability to clear the glass for more than a micro-second.
"Can't see a damned thing," Holt yelled over the storm.
Gale force Arctic winds ripped across the Atlantic Ocean, and tore at the research vessel. And the Neptune pitched and rolled in the high seas and cold, pelting rain that bombarded the ship.
"Big one off the bows!" Parker called out. "Wedge in between something and hold on tight."
"Brace yourselves!" Holt ordered.
The wave struck directly at the bows and rolled up over the bridge, as tons of seawater covered the ship and darkened its interior. The vessel pitched forward with the downside of a swell, and Holt turned his head quickly left and right to check for potential broadsides—his bronze eyes glowing in the dimmed light of the bridge.
With their Omega life vests donned for the duration of the storm, the entire crew was alert to the danger as wave after wave assailed their ship. Then, two hundred yards of roiling sea surged toward the Neptune from its port side, as white foam devoured the dark green sea ahead.
Holt spun the wheel around and guided his ship head-to.
The Neptune rose almost vertically as it maneuvered into a potentially backbreaking heading—straight into the wall of water. The bows hit the crest.
Then, water exploded to port and starboard as it cut across the razor's edge, putting a chink into the wave's armor. Neptune's full weight carried it out and over the top at full throttle toward another open cavity below.
"Ready to reverse engines," Parker warned. "Ready… " The white foam crashed against the hull with a vengeance and sped along its perimeter in a maddening race to the stern.
"Reverse engines," Parker commanded. "Hold on! Here we go!"
