Squint

by Michael Gabriele

It moves through space, covering five black miles every second. Its brain, a multiprocessing supercomputer; its heart, a digital imaging relay system. And its eyes. Eyes so powerful that Squint 11 has become the worlds most covert spy satellite.But Squint is new, and is still being tested by NSA engineer Drew Montana and software contractor Laura Robbins. Their job; test and evaluate the satellite, but do not explore. That will be the National Reconnaissance Offices job in a matter of weeks. But while testing Squint over a civilian target, its eyes see more than random buildings, vehicles and people. It sees murder. The concealed assassination of the republican candidate for president.The hit is quick, isolated, and well planned, away from the public eye and the watchful probe of authorities. But not hidden from the vigilant eyes of Squint more than a hundred miles overhead.Suddenly armed with the most classified, implicit images ever taken from space, Drew and Laura find themselves faced with the decision of dumping the test from the main computer in accordance with NSA security code, or figuring a way to funnel the photographs to the most effective federal agents. When they choose to carefully set the incriminating pictures into motion through the system, the impossible happens. Elite officials are suddenly found dead inside the impregnable walls of the NSA.Their lives now targeted by some of the most powerful men in the world, Drew and Laura are on a race to stay alive, and at the same time struggling to find the truth, a truth that leads them to the highest ranks of organized crime, both government and mafia.With narrowing odds, the two computer analysts have no choice but to fight back, seek justice, and keep Squint 11 from being uncovered.

344 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 2001

About the author

Michael Gabriele is a graduate of Loyola University Maryland. He received first-place honors at the Hollywood Film Festival for fiction writing and has been a professional writer for more than 25 years.