Lanterna Rally

Author: Thomas Carson

Publisher:

Published: 2020-06-21

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 9781089746867

Drum Bailey's latest adventure begins once again at his Serendipity Island in the Assawoman Bay just west of Ocean City, Maryland. Preperations have begun for his wedding to Kat Matarozza that is only a little more than a week away. When the bloated, headless body of a young teenager named Patel washes up on Drum's beach, the proverbial "monkey wrench" is thrown into the plans. After locating the dead boy's father, the grief-stricken man hires Drum to find his son's killer. Drum accepts the task but added to his original mission is another "black flag" mission by his former I.C.E. partner, Colonel Donny Trew. But there's a catch. Colonel Trew has Drum hooking up with a grizzled former Vietnam Vet named Funk to accomplish two things. First, find the killer of the young Patel and assist Sergeant Funk in locating the man known as the "Sandman" who runs an international sand pirating cabal. The "Sandman" operates teams dredging sand from ocean beaches and river bottoms situated around the world. These sand pirates are causing devastating effects on the earth's ecology. Before the mission begins, Drum meets Dr. Goldfarb, a respected geophysicist who is on the verge of discovering a way to convert as of yet unusable desert sand into a new form of sand for concrete that can revolutionize the entire international construction industry. When Drum learns that the person who patents the formula could make billions he knows this could be a dangerous adventure. Knowing he might need more than simple weaponry, Drum brings his friend, Jimmy "The Teenage Prick" and his trunk full of drones to be safe. They meet Colonel Trew's man, Sergeant Funk, and the team is complete. The journey takes them to the distant shores of the Far East where Drum runs into an old nemesis. Buck Morrisey, known in South-east Asia as the "Cowboy", wants nothing more than to kill Drum whom he blames for the death of his daughter a few years ago in Colorado. Tension mounts as Drum and his team pursue the "Sandman", the "Cowboy" and young Patel's killer through the Vietnamese jungle and eventually back to the United States where the final conflict explodes into a plot-twisting finale.