SUNRISE CARTEL
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
PROLOGUE Chad Donegan stared through the Cormorant’s sapphire dome as the sleek underwater vehicle nose-dived into the abyss. A harness held him securely to the fitted body support as the vehicle reached a terminal velocity of 500 feet per minute. A glow surrounded the dome as the vehicle plowed through colonies of marine organisms that gave up their energy as flashes of light. The Cormorant rocketed downward, shedding an eerie contrail that marked its path. “PacEx. How do you read me? Over.” “Loud and clear,” came the reply from the ocean explorer’s support ship. “Passing five thousand feet. Will transmit again from bottom. Over.” “Roger. Out.” Each minute felt like an hour as the OAS painted a line across the top of the screen that displayed the distance to the bottom. Fifteen hundred feet below and closing. The Cormorant shot through the darkness, being dragged toward the seafloor by a two hundred pound descent weight attached to the vehicle’s nose. One thousand feet. Eight hundred. Six hundred. Four hundred. “Dropping descent weight,” he said, transmitting his status to the surface. Three hundred. Two hundred. “Pulling out of dive.” One hundred. The Cormorant glided effortlessly through the water and began to fly at an altitude of fifty feet above the bottom. “Target straight ahead,” he said. No acknowledgement was desired.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
In Sunrise Cartel, the rematch begins! Machine vs. machine, man vs. man-wits and cunning compete in a fight to the death. Chad Donegan tried to balance his recent marriage and his desire to explore the ocean depths; what he saw on the horizon was insecurity and financial ruin. Lurking in the depths nearby was Chad's nemesis-Kenji Nomoto-waiting to attack with his technologically advanced systems. With a ship filled with students and a career-driven Washington bureaucrat, Chad and his crew find themselves once again pitted against one of the world's most ambitious and devilish opponents. Nomoto is pumping drugs into the veins of America's youth in his quest to destroy the country's next generation; Chad just wants to survive the voyage and return home to his pregnant wife. From San Diego to the Atlantic Ocean, this high-tech thriller throws Nomoto and his mole, Chad's crew, a Navy SEAL team, and all their combined technology into the ultimate underwater conflict.
About the Author
Robert Wernli is an international expert in the technology that weaves throughout Sunrise Cartel; he has chaired 15 international conferences in related technology in the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Norway, Taiwan and Japan. He holds mechanical engineering degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara and San Diego State University. A former Navy qualified diver, he has spent his career developing unmanned underwater robotic vehicles and work systems. Recently retired from a Navy research center in San Diego, California, he now works as a consultant in underwater robotics and technology as president of First Centurion Enterprises. Robert Wernli is the author of Second Sunrise, the award-winning prequel to Sunrise Cartel. He has co-authored two non-fiction works: a comprehensive book on CD-ROM on underwater vehicles, Operational Effectiveness of Unmanned Underwater Systems and, recently released, The ROV Manual.
He lives in San Diego, California with his wife, Beverley, and does his writing at their mountain cabin retreat in Idyllwild, California.