Wired

by Ronson Duncan

Sometimes we don’t get to pick our battles ... they pick us! On a picture-perfect day, a day cruise ship is hijacked off the Florida coast and “wired” with explosives. At the same time car bombs explode across America—lots of car bombs. As these startling revelations unfold, the perpetrators turn out to be the ultra-violent "Los Zetas" who have joined forces with Al-Qaeda to exact the release of a Colombian drug lord jailed in Miami. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Ray Hanna has the ship surrounded but finds himself on a political leash. He can’t release Alvarez and he can’t storm the ship without endangering the 218 passengers. It's a standoff. When the hijackers begin blowing up passengers wearing life jackets rigged with C-4—makeshift suicide vests—Hanna receives 24 hours to end the deadlock or else, leaving him with just one unthinkable choice. For Captain Skip Myles, the situation transcends belief. The unimaginable shock of losing his vessel to armed terrorists a mere ten miles from port has left him a bewildered captive on his own ship. When the captain doesn’t come home from his evening cruise, his worried wife calls her ex-Navy SEAL brother in Detroit. Cal rushes to her side and later embarks on a lone mission to rescue Skip, convinced that if he doesn’t, no one else will. A few nights later, armed with a black-market Uzi and some borrowed scuba gear, Cal Stringer falls back into the Gulf of Mexico for his two-mile underwater swim to the Majestic Star, plunging headlong into a deadly showdown between the U.S. Coast Guard, Al-Qaeda, and the bloodthirsty Mexican Drug Cartel. This is where our story begins ...... WIRED is a high seas thriller that explores the entire spectrum of human emotion. It's about love, fear, self-doubt, determination, and self-sacrifice. It’s about how a single event changes the fragile landscape of ordinary people’s lives. Similar to the movie "Captain Phillips", the hijacking of the Majestic Star merely sets the stage for the drama. The real story is about how the ship captain, his wife, the wife's ex-SEAL brother, and the Coast Guard admiral, not only brave the crisis, but daringly meet it head-on. The WIRED movie script was a finalist at the Beverly Hills Film Festival for best screenplay. For more information on the script, contact Ronson Duncan at rduncan40@tampbay.rr.com.

480 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 2010

Reviews

[Katelyn Roadhouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so proud of my uncle Ron making this book love you Ron!(:

[Gino Cox]

Wired is an action-adventure/bromance set on a small cruise ship hijacked by a ruthless band of Columbian drug cartel enforcers aided by two al Qaeda terrorists, who hold the ship and its two hundred passengers and crew hostage, demanding release of two Columbian drug lords.

It is also the story of a friendship forged in the rice paddies of war-torn Viet Nam between two warriors and their lifelong bond, which was further strengthened when Skip married Cal’s sister Kate. Cal finds financial success but no joy in a career as a lawyer. Skip finds satisfaction, but limited financial rewards in the merchant marine, eventually taking command of a small ship that ferries gamblers on afternoon and evening excursions just beyond the legal boundary.

When Skip’s ship is hijacked and the various government agencies not only fail to act, but refuse to provide information to the families, Kate enlists 55-year-old ex-SEAL Cal to launch a daring one-man rescue mission. Cal must evade detection by both the Coast Guard and the hijackers to board the ship and rescue Skip and his passengers. His trials test the limits of courage, endurance and commitment, as well as the bounds of friendship and conflicting loyalties.

The book provides a fascinating and authentic glimpse into the operation of the United States Coast Guard. The characters are three-dimensional with authentic sentiments and conflicts. The narrative is deftly crafted.