Showing results by author "Chip Bell" in All Categories

The year is 1888. The mines have flooded. Silver prices are falling and Tombstone, Arizona Territory, is bleeding its population. The Earps and their supporters have long fled the Territory . . . the “Vendetta Ride” ending in flight to Colorado and beyond. Many will have a place in the history of the Old West, but one, Sherman McMaster, a minor participant in the feud between the Earps and the Cowboys, has returned to Tombstone as a Deputy U.S. Marshall for the Arizona Territory.

Arrested for the murder of a prominent businessman, Jake Sullivan finds himself the object of a conspiracy to take away everything he has as one piece of evidence after another builds the case against him. Jake's best friend, Mike Lang, comes to his aid and his investigation reveals that Jake is to be transferred to an island prison from which there will be no return. Mike arranges an escape with the help of some island characters found only in the southern latitudes.

Design and construction industry practitioners collaborated to bring you Transforming Design and Construction: A Framework for Change, the first of LCI's Transforming Design and Construction series, to encourage discussion, learning, and experimentation around Lean processes. The short chapters focusses on various Lean topics. They are not designed as a "how-to" for Lean tools, but as a framework for learning and to guide you along your Lean journey.

Jake and Mike are sent to Puerto Rico by Jordan Fletcher, CEO of Fletcher Security and Investigations, to insure that a referendum on the future of the island’s relationship with the United States is not tainted by outside interference. Trying to discover who might be behind such a scheme leads them on an investigation of current players and old pirate legends.

Following leads discovered in their Cayman Islands adventure, Jake and Mike track down the whereabouts of the enigmatic Ernesto Truffant to the island of Hispaniola, trying to determine if Group 45 has a new leader, a new home, and a new plan of attack.

What appears to be an accidental death on Grand Cayman Island turns suspicious when Jake Sullivan’s name is found on the body. As more deaths occur, Jake and Mike join the local police force as they hunt for the killers and a legendary treasure.

Intelligence agencies in both the United States and France have uncovered information that Group 45 has reorganized under new leadership after its disastrous collaboration with the Broker. The most recent French elections have caused the president of France to include some far-right candidates in his Council of Ministers, and he has had to accede to several of their demands, one of which was the removal of Phillip Rostand as head of the DST.

Jake and Mike have arrived in Martinique, closing in on the elusive “Broker”. Tipped off to a location, they join an assault force provided by the French government through the head of the DST, Philip Rostand. Fighting their way through a beautiful island estate, Jake and Mike become separated, and when Jake makes his way into a secret study, he is attacked from behind and knocked unconscious. Waking momentarily, he sees the shadowy outline of his attacker leaning over him, a form he seems to recognize before darkness claims him again.

When the head of the French DST, Philip Rostand, an old friend of Jordan Fletcher, comes to FSI and provides information that he and his counterpart at MI5 have credible intelligence that Group 45, due to past setbacks, is in financial difficulty and may be using their new nemesis, “The Broker”, to gain a treasure trove in the Caribbean, Jake and Mike are sent to investigate.

When a United States Treasury Agent detailed with investigating an arms deal between a Mexican cartel and a European far-right group goes missing in the swamps of Southern Louisiana, FSI is soon on the case. Jake and Mike are sent by Jordan Fletcher to investigate whether or not a mysterious new financier involved in the deal is a part of Group 45 and responsible for the Agent’s disappearance.

Jake Sullivan is back. After waking from his coma and rehabilitating his mind and body, he heads to Key West with Mike Lang to combat a new threat. But he is still plagued with severe headaches, lack of focus, and trouble remembering important details of the night he was shot. A late night assault at his office turns out to be the catalyst that allows him to concentrate and focus once again.

Mike Lang is on a mission...a mission of revenge. As his best friend, Jake Sullivan, remains in a coma, near death, Mike is on a hunt for his assailant, the leader of Group 45. Traveling to Cuba, he seeks out an old friend for help, only to find that it is his help that is needed. Trying to discover the plot behind a new biological weapon and watching his back, as he closes in on the Leader, Mike is forced to confront old ghosts and new dangers. Passions run hot as a final confrontation will only allow one survivor.

Learning that nuclear weapons have been smuggled into the United States, Jake and Mike are charged by President Fletcher with finding them and the terrorists involved. Joined by an over-the-road trucker who has innocently become ensnared in the terrorists’ web, who provides Jake and Mike with vital information to aid them in their search, they follow lead after lead, some true and some false, ultimately finding themselves in the Arizona desert.

“Everything’s changed.” So says Jake Sullivan as he recalls his recent past. Dealing with private and professional turmoil, Jake, and his best friend Mike Lang find themselves on the hunt in Key West, trying to unravel an assassination plot in this tropical paradise. Only here could a high school reunion, a vice president elect, and thousands of Parrotheads attending a Meeting of the Minds, all play a part in their attempts to take down an evil mastermind.

Jake Sullivan has just returned from a life-and-death struggle in Mexico and still faces an ongoing battle with Group 45. He soon finds himself in a confrontation with a late-night assailant, the descendent of a minor historical figure of the 19th century, who provides Jake with an amazing tale and a strange drawing that may hold the key to solving a murder clouded by history and finding the long-lost City of Gold. Once again, Jake and Mike embark on an adventure, aided by a knowledgeable young intern from the Federal Institute of Native Studies.

Simon Branson is on the run, and Jake Sullivan and Mike Lang head to Paris to track down a killer. Charged by President Fletcher with verifying the incredible secrets found in the Group 45 documents, they are moving ever closer to finding the truth about the package. Surviving a murderous attack in the City of Light, they follow another clue to the Bavarian Alps, where the scattered remains of Group 45 are coalescing around a neofascist proclaiming himself the savior of Western civilization.

Having narrowly escaped a deadly attack in Bavaria, Jake and Mike return to Washington, D.C., and reveal what they believe to be the true identity of “The Package” and the role played by Group 45 in its disappearance. Still in need of the key to break Simon Branson’s code, and ordered by President Fletcher to verify the identity and whereabouts of “The Package”, Jake and Mike travel to South America and then Mexico in search of the truth.

Organizations need to offer customers breakthrough products, services, and solutions to effectively compete in today’s innovation-hungry economy. The challenge is customers often don’t know precisely what they want. As Henry Ford is reputed to have said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

A frantic late-night phone call from his estranged wife, Linda, brings Jake Sullivan back to his hometown in Western Pennsylvania. Jake's childhood friend and law school classmate Simon Branson is about to be appointed a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania when his wife is brutally murdered and he is charged with the crime. Turning to Jake for help, Branson pleads his innocence and claims to be the victim of a political plot to wreck his judicial appointment.

A Jamaican drug dealer surrenders to authorities after coming ashore in the Florida Keys and tries to bargain for his safety with a fantastic tale of lost pirate treasure and its connection to the Shower Posse drug cartel, the CIA, and more. When a brazen daylight attempt on the dealer’s life leaves American citizens dead on the streets of Miami, President Jordan Fletcher asks Jake Sullivan, chief federal prosecutor in the Justice Department’s Miami office, and his investigator and best friend, Mike Lang, to join a special DEA task force and go to Jamaica to investigate.