Wars used to be fought on the ground.
Not anymore.
Troy Pearce left the CIA years ago to start his own company. Since then, Pearce Systems has become the world leader in drone security and unmanned aircraft technology. But when the American president, David Lane, offers Pearce the opportunity to run a new department being created under his administration called Drone Command, Pearce considers it his patriotic duty to take the offer.
Drone Command runs on black-ops funding, offering Pearce protection from congressional oversight and media scrutiny. That’s a big difference from his first go-around in a government position working with the Central Intelligence Agency, and an important component to him ultimately taking the job.
When it comes to politicians, Pearce doesn’t trust them as far as he can throw them. Too many of his friends and brothers-in-arms died fighting the war on terrorism, and some of their deaths were directly related to the involvement of Washington bureaucrats.
The one politician Pearce does trust, though, is Margaret Myers, the former president. While still in the early stages, he and Myers have a budding intimate relationship. She played an active role in his decision to run Drone Command, but the dynamics of their relationship are complicated. The two are cut from different cloth and, at times, struggle to see each other’s point of view.
After being approved by Congress, a tedious task that involved Pearce having to work closely with the vice president, a man he has a history of confrontations with, Drone Command goes live. And their timing couldn’t have been any better.
As the president shifts all his focus and attention to his upcoming Asia Security Summit, an event that’s being billed as “the biggest shift in American security policy in Asia since the Vietnam War,” a series of attacks are carried out on American soil.
It all started with a drone attack in Washington D.C. when a train was hit with tear gas, but things quickly escalated from there. On the night before the Asian Security Summit, a drone carrying a message and a package landed on the White House lawn. Inside the box was an ISIS flag. The message instructed President Lane to hang the black flag over the White House or suffer the coming consequences.
Lane refuses the outlandish demand, and the terrorist group makes good on their threat. Several more attacks are carried out, each new one bigger than the last. As a state of panic washes over America, Pearce and Drone Command are called upon to save the day. Yet to the president’s horror, even Pearce, who is supposed to know more about drone technology and their capabilities than anyone, has never encountered anything quite like the untraceable hardware used by the mastermind behind the attacks.
With American lives at stake and an economy in a downward spiral, Pearce and his team must find a way to expose the terrorists and take them out before it’s too late.
With all the current media coverage and debating about the future and ethics of drone usage, both in the military and civilian life, Mike Maden’s timely thriller reads like it’s ripped from next week’s headlines.
Someone tell Jack Reacher, Pike Logan, and John Wells to move over. Troy Pearce is a fantastic character, and Drone Threat soars high above the competition!
Book Details
Author: Mike Maden
Series: Troy Pearce #4
Pages: 344 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0399173994
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Release Date: October 11, 2016 (Order now!)