The Nemesis Mission

Drug lords forced out of Colombia and Shining Path guerrillas driven from Peru cooperate to establish a base in Mexico in this exciting techno-thriller. Key to the plan is a million dollars in drug money, to be flown out of Las Vegas with a planeload of hostages. But drug kingpin Simon Torres, in charge of the shipment, has a double-cross agenda. And the U.S. government has formed Task Force Enable to prevent the hostage-taking, recover the money and destroy the base. The clandestine operation depends on Nemesis, a solar-powered light aircraft able to land and take off almost anywhere, and to stay aloft for weeks collecting intelligence. When a Nemesis plane crashes in the Mexican jungle, the pilots, Wes Hardin and Colleen Morrison, are caught in the race between a CIA rescue team and revenge-bent guerrillas. Ing ( The Ransom of Black Stealth One ) maintains masterful control of his story line. As each subplot is resolved the reader sighs with regret, only to be swept forward into an even more suspenseful situation. The dialogue is crisp and the main characters convincingly portrayed, including a well-developed supporting cast, from an Israeli renegade agent to a Mormon archeologist. And it is refreshing to have civilian agencies like the CIA and the FBI play the central role which this genre usually reserves for the military. $75,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Oct.)