Showing results by narrator "Steve Rausch" in All Categories

In the wake of a global crisis, a covert action team goes to work on behalf of an enemy of the United States. When a failed assassination attempt on the Russian President rocks the global stage, U.S. President Eleanor Cashman, a hardline Russia hawk, faces a brutal decision: watch a nuclear-armed Russia destabilize, or prop up a weakened Russian leader to prevent the collapse.

Don Riley, head of the CIA’s Emerging Threats Group, has never seen anything like this. Riley and his team are tasked with identifying national security threats before they become tomorrow’s bad news. But shortly after an Iranian vessel delivers a surprise attack to a US Navy Warship in the Arabian Gulf, a series of seemingly unrelated attacks crop up around the globe.

When China launches a blitz attack on the island of Taiwan, the world order hangs in the balance, and the CIA must mobilize all forces to prevent the start of World War III. But in order to win, the US is forced to throw out the old playbook. What is required here is speed, audacity, and the application of the most advanced technology in the US arsenal. As the head of the CIA’s Emerging Threats Group, Don Riley has seen his share of crises, but nothing has prepared him for the choices ahead.

Winston Churchill called it Britain’s finest hour. The Royal Navy evacuated 330,000 soldiers from Dunkirk. But more than 200,000 were left behind. On the beaches, Jeremy Littlefield hides for his life. His path home will draw him through the iron will and the unbreakable heart of the French Resistance. Only a few miles away, his brother, Lance, rallies fellow soldiers to start a trek that will take them across Europe, sabotaging the Germans in a mission tantamount to suicide.

Japan has just attacked Pearl Harbor. In London, Prime Minister Churchill disappears. In Washington, President Roosevelt faces an alliance with conflicting objectives. In the Soviet Union, dictator Joseph Stalin watches a Nazi onslaught maul his country. From their isolated perch on Sark Island, feudal rulers Dame Marian Littlefield and her husband oppose their German occupiers in the only way left to them—through a battle of wits. They wonder about the location and well-being of their offspring, Paul, Claire, Lance, and Jeremy.

As the first Axis aircraft streak across English Channel airspace, so begins a battle for the ages; one that will determine the trajectory of the war. Braced for engagement on their individual fronts, the Littlefields plumb the depths of courage and ingenuity to defend their beloved Britain. Fresh from the slaughter of Dunkirk, youngest brother Jeremy is called upon to create a French Resistance network composed of former naval officers. At MI-9 headquarters, Claire Littlefield has devised an intelligence coup that could change the tide of the war.

Following their military defeat in the Battle of Taiwan, China opens a new front in the struggle for geopolitical supremacy. As China's Belt and Road Initiative brings together the final pieces of a 1000-mile rail and road connection between China and Tehran, a series of terrorist attacks rock the fractious states of Central Asia. A declining Russia, an isolated India, and a rising Iran all have a stake in the region. But who is behind the mysterious attacks?

Rare Earth Frontiers is a work of human geography that serves to demystify the powerful elements that make possible the miniaturization of electronics, green energy and medical technologies, and essential telecommunications and defense systems. Julie Michelle Klinger draws attention to the fact that the rare earths we rely on most are as common as copper or lead, and this means the implications of their extraction are global. Klinger excavates the rich historical origins and ongoing ramifications of the quest to mine rare earths in ever more impossible places.

In the heart of Central Asia, a strategic power play unfolds as the People’s Republic of China extends its military might. Under the pretext of protecting their Belt-and-Road projects, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) gains a stronghold in the region. Against this invasion, a courageous band of freedom fighters is the only challenge to the PLA forces. On this geopolitical chessboard, the newly elected U.S. President wants to make a bold statement against Chinese expansionism. Don Riley, recently appointed CIA Director of Operations, is chosen to spearhead the critical mission.

Ian Thomas is supposed to be dead. An international terrorist responsible for the bombing of the US Naval War College, he's been deceased for three years. But Don Riley, head of the CIA’s Emerging Threats Group, is staring at a social media post showing him to be very much alive and on the run in South America. The video of Thomas sparks a global hunt: The Americans want to bring him to justice. The Chinese want him to disappear. And the Russians want to kill him very, very slowly. But the world's most powerful nations aren't the only ones pursuing the most wanted man on the planet.

When mercenaries attack in Eastern Ukraine, the world is thrust into turmoil. Russian President Luchnik is quick to respond, launching a full-scale military invasion to quell this “national emergency” in the former Soviet country. The United States, reluctant to put boots on the ground in yet another regional conflict, takes a different path. President Serrano hires Sentinel Holdings, a private military contractor, to hold back the Russian threat. Don Riley, head of the CIA’s Emerging Threats Group, sees trouble ahead.

In Los Angeles, FBI counterterrorism agent Quinn Traynor receives an urgent call from CDC agent Madeline Hamilton. She’s discovered the first victim of a lethal, unfamiliar virus. Their joint investigation uncovers an imminent bio-terror attack, and their only hope is to identify the terrorists carrying the disease. With just two days remaining before it’s too late, the FBI and the CDC race to prevent a pandemic. The ensuing nightmare will hit closer to home than they ever anticipated, and one of them will pay an unimaginable price for protecting the country.

The Blitz is in full force. Bombs rip relentlessly through London, destroying buildings, and rattling confidence. As Britain falls further into chaos, the Littlefields - ever-dedicated - must keep fighting. Jeremy prepares to fly a mission without his trusted Eagles. Still held as a POW at a high-security facility, Lance grows more, and more desperate to make an escape. And thousands of miles apart, Claire and Paul - both armed with top-secret war intelligence - experience a similar struggle: They know more than they can say. And that knowledge places their siblings in grave danger.

For B-24 bomber pilot Al Lycoming, the mission was history in the making. For Women’s Airforce Service Pilot Vivian Wright, it was a chance to put her skills to the ultimate test...and share in the burden of combat. Dispatched to Benghazi on mysterious orders, Al Lycoming finds nearly 200 other B-24 bombers being assembled...and a top secret assignment that will catapult them all into seemingly impenetrable Nazi defenses.

The Roman Empire is the most famous in history, and the center of the far-reaching empire's activities were located in the Forum, a low area between the Capitoline and Palatine hills in Rome. The topography held a great deal of significance for Romans, and consequently so many layers of myth were laid on top of the landscape and buildings that it is difficult to separate legend from actual historical fact.

It has long been a maxim that it is easy to forget when one is at war who the enemy really is, and that can certainly be said for the Ebola virus, which recently catapulted into headlines and instantly became the most feared disease in the world. In the case of the fight against Ebola, the enemy is not the person who has contracted the disease, nor is it the region where the virus has flourished. The enemy is a microscopic virus that, when seen under sufficient magnification, looks like a piece of loosely knotted rope.

On the threshold of opening the moon to tourist excursions, a private space firm owned by a visionary billionaire takes a team of non-astronauts to the lunar surface. To address concerns that the moon's barren rock may not hold long-term allure for an uber-wealthy clientele, the company's charismatic owner reveals to the group the ultimate discovery: life on the moon. But what is initially a triumphant and world-changing moment soon gives way to unrelenting terror as the team experiences firsthand that the moon still holds many secrets.

Until about 200 years ago, the writing of the ancient Egyptians was an enigma to the world, but that changed when an ancient Egyptian monument known today as the Rosetta Stone was discovered (or rediscovered serendipitously) by French soldiers in Egypt in 1799. Now one of the most famous monuments in the world, the Rosetta Stone is a black granite stela that was inscribed with texts in Greek and two different scripts of the ancient Egyptian language: demotic and hieroglyphs.

Jeremiah Ward was just another convict, a disgraced investigator who once worked the Martian beat, now serving his sentence in a mining colony on Mercury. When a member of a powerful faction goes missing on Titan, Ward is given an opportunity he cannot pass up. In exchange for investigating the disappearance of this figure, he gets a clean slate and a second chance...Instead of investigating a missing person’s case he becomes embroiled in a centuries-old conspiracy and Ward comes to realize his one shot at redemption may cost him his life.

Tracking and killing demons is all part of the job for the Hand of God, Victor McCain, God's bounty hunter. In this fast paced sequel to The Hand of God and The Watchers, Victor learns facing his inner demons may be deadlier than the real ones. Turning to the bottle to drown out the memories of a lost love, he begins to take risks which could get him killed.