Straits of Power

Straits of Power by Buff, Joe. hardcover edition. ISBN: 0099455024952.

The next world war rages. With the Allies at a stalemate with the Berlin-Boer Axis, every battle takes on a new significance. But in a conflict fought with billion-dollar technology and campaigns comprising millions of soldiers, the outcome may rest in the hands of a single man ... Commander Jeffrey Fuller, captain of Americas most sophisticated and deadly fast-attack nuclear submarine, the USS Challenger, is accustomed to victory in battle. But for his latest mission he is informed that the only way he can succeed is if he crosses into enemy waters -- without firing a single shot. His objective: recover a spy. The world of espionage is unknown territory for Fuller. He is ordered to locate an asset, code-named Zeno, who may hold the key to staving off a crippling Axis attack. But this new world is full of lies, feints, and betrayals. In combat, Fuller always knows who his enemy is and how to defeat him. In the shadow world of covert operatives and counterintelligence, the distinction between enemy and ally is far more elusive. And it only gets more complicated. Steaming toward his target, Fuller and his crew begin to suspect that the spy they have been sent to retrieve may in fact be a subterfuge, a ploy intended to lure the Allies most dangerous weapon into enemy hands. With the clock ticking down to an invasion that could alter the course of the war, Fuller suspects that his new "friend" could even be a double agent, intent on using Challenger as a weapon against his own allies, destroying the fragile ties binding nations in war. Fuller is accustomed to the codes of the Silent Service, where loyalty is taken for granted, orders are followed without question, and battles are as precise as a torpedos firing solution. But now he must adapt to a world where betrayers become the new patriots and lies are the instruments of destruction. With the lives of his crew and the fate of his country hanging in the balance, he will have to risk everything on the word of a man who has, for the last two years, served Fullers most bitter enemies.