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This thriller, set in 2013, introduces the International Marine Police, an agency of the United Nations set up to fight 21st Century piracy, an annual $18 Billion crime wave which has cost hundreds of sailors their lives. Leading the fight is the IMP, established six years ago. The agency is the brainchild of former Merchant Navy Commodore William Smart, whose last ship was attacked by a vicious and sadistic pirate chief, Carlo Pietri. In the attempted hijack, Pietri and his murderous crew butchered the Commodore's parents.
In recent times, though, Smart's IMP units have fought back and inflicted much damage on pirate chiefs around the African coastline, attacking their gangs and rescuing hijacked ships and crews. Whilst Smart's back room teams plan the missions, his senior field commanders lead their units from the front.
Most IMP commanders are from the Merchant Navy or Special Forces and two of them feature highly in this opening account of the battle against maritime crime. One, Ellie Bannerman, is an ex-senior Marine Engineer who was attacked in an attempted rape at sea. She was supported through her ordeal by the Commodore and left active service to join his IMP. Here, Ellie returns to sea as Chief Engineer.
The other is Ben Petersen, an ex-Chief Officer whose wife was murdered during an unsuccessful hijack attempt off the Somalian coast. Like Ellie, Ben has been unable to build a new personal life but is dedicated to the IMP and its fight against piracy.
These two commanders lead their force of IMPs and special service personnel against Pietri to try to bring him to justice.
The story starts with Pietri slaughtering an IMP unit in a botched hijack off the east Coast of Africa. The murder of his people is the final straw for Smart who plots the pirate chief's downfall, using Jasmina Omondi, the UN Secretary General as bait in a trap to tempt Pietri out of hiding.
Omondi, who helped Smart set up the IMP, has forced Governments who gave safe havens to pirates to give those same murderous criminals up. Through her efforts Carlo Pietri himself has been driven from his sphere of operations, losing millions of dollars in ransom money. He wants revenge.
When Smart asks Omondi to travel as a passenger on the MV Orcoma to tempt Pietri out of hiding she knows that her very life will be in danger. But accepts the challenge, trusting that only the very best of the IMPs will be chosen to protect her.
So, Ellie joins the ship on her outward voyage and Ben and his fighting force are secreted aboard before the trap is sprung. It will be Ellie's responsibility to keep the world's leading diplomat safe and Ben's to help her close the trap on Pietri with his support unit of IMP personnel and US Navy SEALs.
This thriller tracks the struggle to bring Pietri to account. As the Orcoma speeds from England, through the Caribbean and on to the South American coastline, the tension heightens. Worsening weather conditions and an increasingly brutal Pietri lead to the climax as the Orcoma is hijacked off the coast of Peru.
The leading characters are ably supported by Jake Stanley, a highly experienced US Navy SEAL; Pete Davey, an International Marine Police officer; Captain Geli, a South American tugboat captain and IMP undercover agent; and the Commodore's own back room staff.
But, with the UN Secretary General's survival at stake, it falls to Ellie and Ben to use all their expertise, skill and wits to prevent Pietri from wreaking a horrible revenge on the United Nations and all those who fight piracy and hijacks.
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