Stephen Coonts — Stephen Coonts Deep Black: Dark Zone

Orion 2005 Paperback, 352pp. The mission seems routine: go to London, meet someone in a park, obtain a list of computers that are being used secretly by terrorists to pass messages. But just as Deep Black operatives Charlie Dean and Tommy Karr are about to meet their contact, a sniper guns the stranger down.A Deep Black investigation begins. Former Delta Force trooper Lia DeFrancesca, a sexy ass-kicking woman and Dean's only weakness, gets called in to help. The investigation kicks into high gear when the murder is found to be connected to the disappearance of a 1960s French atomic warhead. Soon it becomes apparent that what was thought to be an elaborate plan to blow up the Eiffel Tower is only a diversionary plan for the real target: the Channel Tunnel. A nuclear warhead going off in the tunnel will create an earthquake, triggering a tsunami powerful enough to wipe out the coasts of France and England, killing hundreds of thousands.It is up to Deep Black to expose the plot and thwart the terrorists' plans on this, their most dangerous mission yet. It will require all their talents and teamwork to make sure that things go right and that justice is served. (ISBN: 9780752857329). Good.