Alex Hawke

On the streets of Washington, D.C., a brilliant scientist, the brains behind a revolutionary fighter aircraft prototype in development by the Pentagon, is snatched by masked thugs and disappears. Now five years later, an elderly professor at Cambridge University has been murdered, a victim of bizarre, ancient Chinese torture. Alex Hawke teams up with Scotland Yard former Chief Inspector Ambrose Congreve to find the killer, but this death is merely the opening gambit in a tense and lethal game of geopolitical brinksmanship. In the United States, the president's behavior makes many question his fitness for leadership. Is his mental health deteriorating-or is there something far more sinister at work? The answer is crucial, for hostilities are rapidly escalating between China, North Korea, and the United States, as China launches a vastly advanced fighter far more sophisticated than any seen before-military technology that might leapfrog everything the U.S. and Great Britain now possess. With the situation edging closer and closer to the yawning abyss, Hawke faces a female Chinese mastermind and assassin named Chyna Moon. He must infiltrate enemy territory and neutralize their advantage . . . or risk the outbreak of World War III. Performed by John Shea

Intelligence officer Alex Hawke takes on power-hungry Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is wielding a terrifying new weapon, in the latest adrenaline-fueled thriller in Ted Bell's New York Times bestselling series. In corrupt Russia, an erratic Vladimir Putin is determined to forge his country into a formidable superpower once again. He intends to redraw the map of Europe, and will go to impossible extremes to realize his fantasies-including shooting down a civilian airliner packed with tourists bound for China. Kremlin scientists have developed a radical new weapon that could forever alter modern warfare. NATO, locked in a tense standoff over Ukraine, Poland, and Estonia, knows Putin will not hesitate to use it. But there is one man who can bring the world back from the brink: Britain's foremost intelligence asset, Lord Alexander Hawke. The intrepid MI6 officer's latest challenge begins in the Gulf of Aden and soon has him searching for the link to a series of bizarre assassinations. Spies are dying all over the world-from London, Washington, D.C., and Maine, to Moscow, and even the glittering Cote d'Azur. In the murky world of counterterrorism and high-stakes intrigue, the odds have never been higher. Once again, Alex Hawke must save the world . . . one bullet at a time.

On a ski vacation in the Swiss Alps high above St. Moritz, Alex Hawke and his young son, Alexei, are thrust into danger when the tram carrying them to the top of the mountain bursts into flame, separating the two. Before he can reach Alexei, the boy is snatched from the burning cable car by unknown assailants in a helicopter. Meanwhile, high above the skies of France, Vladimir Putin is aboard his presidential jet after escaping a bloodless coup in the Kremlin. When two flight attendants collapse and slip into unconsciousness, the Russian leader realizes the danger isn't over. Killing the pilots, he grabs a parachute, steps out of the plane . . . and disappears. Hawke has led his share of dangerous assignments, but none with stakes this high. To save his son, he summons his trusted colleagues, Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard Ambrose Congreve, former U.S. Navy SEAL Stokley Jones, Jr., and recruits a crack Hostage Rescue Team-a group of elite soldiers of fortune known as "Thunder & Lighting." Before they can devise a rescue plan, Hawke must figure out who took his boy-and why. An operative who has fought antagonists around the globe, Hawke has made many enemies; one in particular may hold the key to finding Alexei before it's too late. But an unexpected threat complicates their mission. Making his way to "Falcon's Lair," the former Nazi complex created for Hitler, Putin is amassing an impressive armory that he intends to use for his triumphant return to Moscow. Only one man can smash the Russian president's plan for domination-a master counterspy who will cross every line to save his son . . . and maybe save the world itself in the bargain.