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Red sky at night, sailors’ delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. —MARINERS’ PROVERB
Like a red morn that ever yet betokened, Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field, Sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto the birds, Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds. —WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, VENUS AND ADONIS
When in evening, ye say, it will be fair weather: For the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today; for the sky is red and lowering. —HOLY BIBLE, MATTHEW 16:2–3
just as war is too important to leave to the generals, science is too important to leave to scientists. Everyone needs to be attentive.”
The World Economic Forum tells us we are on the verge of a Fourth Industrial Revolution. Klaus Schwab, its founder and executive chairman, writes that the next Industrial Revolution “is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace. The possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited.
governments will gain new technological powers to increase their control over populations, based on pervasive surveillance systems and the ability to control digital infrastructure.” We would be wise to remember that a society’s primary organizing principle is its monopoly on force, its ability to control its populace and export violence in the form of war.
The topics I explore in my writing mirror a world that for a time I was honored to inhabit, that of special operators, intelligence analysts, paramilitary officers, contractors, and staff from what was then called the Special Activities Division of the CIA. My interest in what John le Carré termed the “secret world” began with my earliest memories as I watched the events of the Iranian Hostage Crisis unfold on television and in newspapers and magazines in November 1979. What happens in the secret world is often mirrored in fiction, and what happens in fiction can at times be mirrored in the
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“Modern conflicts involving states are increasingly ‘hybrid’ in nature, combining traditional battlefield techniques with elements previously associated with nonstate actors. The distinction between war and peace, combatant and noncombatant, and even violence and nonviolence (think cyberwarfare) is becoming uncomfortably blurry.” Which brings us back to the warnings of Shelley and Crichton. Remember, “Here be monsters.” Jack Carr July 6, 2023 Goldeneye, Jamaica
As of this writing, 4.2 million people hold SECRET security clearances; 1.3 million of them hold TOP SECRET clearances. In the Washington, D.C., area alone, more than 17 million square feet of space is dedicated to storing classified information. It is unknown exactly how many TOP SECRET data storage facilities exist outside the Washington, D.C., area, nor does the government disclose the precise number of Special Access Programs or the number of people with access to their resources.
There was no place in senior U.S. military circles for generals who bucked the system. That “system” had been in place since President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which had largely resulted in the disappearance of accountability from the armed forces.
he was unable to fully mask his disdain of the Chinese spymaster—COVID origins; fentanyl precursor drugs being shipped from China to Mexico and the resulting “accidental overdoses” he knew were more appropriately termed “intentional poisonings”; the manipulation of America’s youth through TikTok, an application that also gave the Chinese military and intelligence services unfettered access to all the data coming from phones attached to plans paid for by parents in politics, intelligence, tech, and defense; Chinese “donations” and business dealings with America’s political elite in what
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He landed on the deck, breaking his back and both legs. He managed one last breath, bringing oxygen to the side of his brain that still functioned, as the secondary gas bubble expansion lifted the sub upward, once again cracking the pressurized hull. His final thoughts were not memories of his life, of his parents or his wife. Instead, he fixated on a single question: Who betrayed us?
“And there is no indication, yet, that we left a trail?” “No. And there won’t be,” Hart responded. “We are light-years ahead of our competition and the inept government cybersecurity agencies.” “Let me remind you, this is an untested technology.” “Only because it is constantly evolving and learning, all behind a firewall the NSA doesn’t even know exists.” “For now.” “What, are you going to tell them?” Hart asked, that smile once again slowly creeping up the left side of his face.
All warfare is based on deception. —SUN TZU, THE ART OF WAR
And what of Reece’s concerns? Was he still worried that violence would find them? She knew better than to push. Reece would tell her in good time. And right now, it felt like they had all the time in the world. In the interim, she had a wedding to plan. Katie was so lost in thought that she failed to hear the sound of the approaching vehicle.
Reece had never cared much for orders coming from the top. Those removed from the blood, dirt, and grime of the battlefield often had different priorities. The consequences of violating orders did not weigh on him in the slightest or cause even a moment’s hesitation.
Reece had built trust with his men through his dedication to the profession of arms and his actions and decisions on the battlefield. Though his aggressive and creative mission planning and execution were dangerous to a constantly adapting enemy, his style and ideas often caused strain between him and those above him in the chain of command. “Making rank” and climbing to the next rung of the military advancement ladder never entered into his calculus.
Use the time you have, James. When you put down the gun, walk away. Don’t live in the past. Love your wife. Raise your kids. And don’t look back. Treasure each moment, because once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.
Camelot was as dead as its king. There was no going back. The world had changed, and if you didn’t change with it, you’d be buried just like those former presidents. Harding looked to the future. A global future. “America first” was a punchline.
That assassination had propelled Gale Olsen into the Oval Office, the first female president in United States history. But she had assumed the office by default. She had not been elected president. Not really.
A scandal was brewing. Harding could smell it a mile away. If there was anything that Americans liked more than an underdog story, it was scandal and a fall from grace.
Wealth, power, privilege, and influence were not just currency for barter in the city on the Potomac. Their appeal was global. Harding was going to take it to the next level. Discreetly. Discretion. That was the attribute lacking in Olsen’s husband. If you lived within the system, you could thrive. Money was a critical component. It greased the wheels and made the system work. In fact, what the media termed “influence-peddling” was legal in many respects. It was a gray area. A very wide one, but there were rules.
Whether they realized it or not, a deal had been struck with the citizenry. In exchange for this blatant political corruption, the people were to receive relative safety and stability. Politicians and those with whom they were connected could not thumb their nose at either the system or the American people. Working-class citizens could tolerate only so much. You had to pay them lip service. Don’t be obvious and publicly sell clearly hideous artwork to party donors or foreign agents after taking an interest in painting a week earlier. Even the most ardent party apologists and loyalists had a
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“Unrestricted Warfare,” Jin said. “They even subtitled it China’s Master Plan to Destroy America, though it was certainly not that. The U.S. dominates in only one sphere: direct state-on-state confrontation and conflict. They neglect all other types of warfare. They are focused on battlefield dominance to the detriment of all else.” “The colonels told them that ‘nonwar’ actions were the future of warfare.” “Master Sun said it two thousand years ago. Fei duicheng—asymmetric means,” Jin said.
“David Kilcullen spells it out in The Dragons and the Snakes. He is one of the few who not only study China as an adversary but understands us as well.”
“The death of some men is useful to other men,” Jonathan said.
When I was younger and just starting out, I was passed some advice: don’t let the old man in. That’s the key.”
He’s still got something to prove and, if he shared my company’s research with China back then, there is no telling what he will do to achieve his immortality.” “I believe Nietzsche had something to say on the subject.” “He did. He said, ‘One has to pay dearly for immortality.’ ”
“A man should look as though he has chosen his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care, and then forgotten all about them.” The source: Sir Hardy Amies, dressmaker for Queen Elizabeth II.
Jin placed the bag back over Reece’s head and snapped an order in Mandarin. “Time to get out of that jumpsuit, Mr. Reece. We want you at your most vulnerable.” Reece could hear the guards begin to converge on his position. One of them wrapped the bag tighter across his face and violently yanked it back. A second later the room erupted into chaos. Reece heard the far door slam into the wall, then shouting in Mandarin, followed by the unmistakable sound of suppressed gunfire.
It looks like she uses GPS, microphones, and cameras from every device on-site to image a target in real time. It’s almost cheating.” “If you’re not cheating…” “You’re not trying,” Ox said, completing the old special operations adage.
“I honestly would not be here had you not sent a hit team to take me out in Montana. I am not as invested as I once was in being the third option of U.S. foreign policy. To be truthful, I think we are in a steep decline, with the rights I care about being curtailed at an astonishing rate by the very people we elect to represent us in office. Basically, I think the majority of them are a cancer destroying a once-great nation and spitting on the graves of all those who sacrificed everything to give them the ability to destroy it from within.
“What I know so far is that you conspired with Elba Industries and Representative Christine Harding to steal classified data in transit after setting up one of your submarine captains to launch missiles at Hawaii. That data is now being decrypted by an Elba Industries quantum computer. When it’s decrypted you will have what you need to immobilize the U.S. Pacific Fleet. That quantum computer might also be powerful enough to sway an election. You want to get Harding in the White House and then take Taiwan as quickly as possible, my guess is without any U.S. casualties.
The truth of the end of suffering. He walked across the room and exited onto the deck in the afternoon sun, where Ox was leaning against the railing. “What’s the fastest way to Indonesia?” Reece asked. “Why? What’s up?” “We need to prevent World War Three.”
“And war broke out in Heaven.” —REVELATION 12:7–9
Each time Reece passed through security into an embassy complex, he couldn’t help but think just how exposed those brave young Marines were as they stood their posts. Reece remembered the story his father had told him about Marine Corporal James Conrad Marshall, who was killed defending the embassy in Saigon during the Tet Offensive in 1968. And he thought of Lance Corporal Robert “Bobby” McMaugh, who was killed along with sixty-two others on April 18, 1983, when the embassy in Beirut was targeted by a terrorist using a truck bomb in an attack that foreshadowed what was to come that October.
The sky and ocean were both unforgiving mediums in which to operate. After the air experience a day earlier, Reece was glad to be back home—in the water.
The lights all went on at once and the image in the VR headsets instantly switched from grayscale to color video as perimeter lighting turned night into day. The tech mogul and the general watched the three men by the shoreline drop to the ground as RPGs impacted at the tree line and the RPK machine guns opened up from the flank, raining lead down on the intruders. “You see, General.” Then everything went black.
This was war, not a war between nation-states or even proxies or factions in which industrialized nations adhered to a set of rules or principles. This was a war in which the rules did not exist. Reece had become war before. It was who he was. It was in his blood. And this war wasn’t over. He still drew breath. He was mobile. And it was time for him to do what he did best.
Reece ejected the Beretta’s magazine out of habit, confirming that it was empty. He then reinserted it and performed a press check. One round in the chamber. “Alice?” “Yes, James.” “Stay with me and help me confirm what Hart tells me if I can find him in time.” “I will. In the meantime, I have work to do.” “What’s that?” “I need to avert a war.”
Is this how it ended? President Olsen thought. Watching the world’s nuclear destruction on video monitors? Farber was right. There is no choice. Olsen opened her mouth to give the order when another voice resonated through the room. A monochromatic female voice. “Hold fast.” Alice!
Flooding the tunnel with us both inside was quite the reward for his loyalty.” “He was a mercenary.” “What does that make you?” “I’m a tech entrepreneur, a businessman, a visionary.” “But not an American.” “Not anymore. The idea of America has been dead since they killed Kennedy. Tech has given us the ability to leave the United States in the dustbin of history, where she belongs.”
To the living, one owes consideration; to the dead, only the truth. —VOLTAIRE, LETTRES SUR OEDIPE
TIME MACHINES EXIST. THEY exist in stories. All that is necessary to open the portal is a trip to your local library. Browse the bays, select your title, and settle in to be transported into history.
We are all here today because our ancestors listened to those stories, heeded their lessons and in turn passed them along to the next generation. We all share this connection to the past. We are all here today because of the power of story.
Red Sky Mourning is in your hands today, or you are listening to Ray Porter bring the narrative to life via audiobook, because of those authors who provided the foundation on which I now build.
I did not read the masters as a student in the academic sense, rather I enjoyed them. I was inspired by the magic in their pages. This book exists because of their efforts.
This seventh James Reece Terminal List series novel is a tribute to Ian Fleming and 007. It is an homage to his influence on me, on the genre, and on popular culture. Admirers of Bond’s creator will no doubt have recognized the elements from Fleming that I incorporated into the pages of Red Sky Mourning, some subtle and others not so subtle. My goal was to honor Fleming and Bond while illustrating the differences between the two characters.
The year 2024 is also the fortieth anniversary of The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy. The prologue is a nod to the master of the modern technothriller who burst onto the scene in 1984 when Reagan was in the White House and the Cold War was in full swing.
I was introduced to Joseph Campbell and the “Hero’s Journey” in 1988 through a series of interviews he did with Bill Moyers that aired on PBS called The Power of Myth. It has stayed with me.
