Showing results by narrator "Jeffrey Kafer" in All Categories

When black-ops specialist Jon Reznick receives a voice mail from FBI assistant director Martha Meyerstein, hoping to explore their relationship outside of the federal government, Jon starts to imagine a new future, one where he can leave his past behind. But an unhinged killer with a grudge has other plans. He’s setting a trap for Reznick, one he knows the operative won’t be able to resist. In a picturesque fishing village on the Mediterranean coast, a luxury yacht has gone up in flames. Was it a terrible accident or something much more sinister?

Secrets and warships combined to turn the tide of the Siege of Legatus, delivering the capital of the Republic of Faith and Reason into the hands of their enemies. With Damien Montgomery called away to lead the entire Protectorate of Mars, fighting the war falls to Mage-Admiral Jane Alexander and Mage-Lieutenant Roslyn Chambers. As the Martian Second Fleet moves against the remaining Republic worlds, Captain Kelly LaMonte’s covert stealth ship sweeps the worlds away from the conflict, searching for the Republic’s government-in-hiding and a chance to end the bloody conflict.

Human beings are primates, and primates are political animals. Our brains, therefore, are designed not just to hunt and gather but also to help us get ahead socially, often via deception and self-deception. But while we may be self-interested schemers, we benefit by pretending otherwise. The less we know about our own ugly motives, the better - and thus, we don't like to talk, or even think, about the extent of our selfishness. This is "the elephant in the brain". 

It was the end of World War II. FDR's New Deal had redefined American politics. Taxes were at an all-time high. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had created a fear of total annihilation. The rise of secret government agencies and sanctions on business had many watching their backs. America's sense of freedom was diminishing... and many were desperate to take that freedom back.

The beginning is always the best place to start when reflecting on what has been. Thinking back on it, my life had been perfect. Middle class girl in high school with a happy home life. My life had been full of nothing but promise. Life was good. Everything was great. And then my whole world went to shit. In one day.  

We hide in shadows. Our planet is lost. We are the last humans, and we must go home. Two thousand years ago, aliens destroyed Earth. Our fleets shattered. Billions died. The last humans fled a burning planet, heading to the stars. Today we are still refugees. Hungry. Afraid. Our enemies hunt us everywhere. So we hide. On distant asteroids. In rundown space stations. In deep caves on frozen worlds. And we dream. Of green hills. Blue skies. Golden fields. We dream of Earth. And for the first time, we have hope. 

Jon Reznick is a “ghost”: a black-ops specialist who takes his orders from shadowy handlers, and his salary from the US government. Still mourning the loss of his beloved wife on 9/11, he’s dispatched to carry out a high-level hit. Reznick knows only that it must look like suicide. It’s textbook. But the target is not the man Reznick expected. The whole setup is wrong. 

Blamed for the death of his sister, Rory Waring escapes the farm by enlisting in the Aquarian Imperial Marines, but life as a marine recruit is not what he expected. The ranks are divided, with rumors of secret traitors among their number. Who can he trust when his life is on the line? 

Weaving tales of the everyday world transformed into an unrecognizable place, where reason no longer exists and logic ceases to explain the workings of the universe, Clive Barker provides the stuff of nightmares in packages too tantalizing to resist. This first volume contains the short stories : "The Book of Blood," "The Midnight Meat Train," "The Yattering and Jack," "Sex, Death, and Starshine," and "In the Hills, the Cities,"

Tyler Barron and his associates are divided, split between two courses of action. Barron doesn't believe in the desperate plan to eradicate the Highborn, the strange virus that has been created for that purpose, but may or may not be the exact formula used by the empire 300 years ago. There are too many possible problems...a small difference in the virus, a cure created by the enemy...for him to accept the plan. Barron commits instead to a traditional defense, even though he knows the chances of ultimate success are almost zero.

The White Fleet had been an expression of optimism, a grand expedition to explore the vast reaches of the long-dead empire. Tasked to uncover the secrets of the devastating Cataclysm and to seek and recover the advanced ancient technology that humanity had once possessed, it found something else instead. A new enemy. A vast domain, one with advanced technology, massive fleets, and a genetically-ordered society and hierarchy it intends to impose on all humanity everywhere. The Hegemony is like nothing Tyler Barron and his comrades have ever encountered - but the veteran admiral must find a way to fight the far superior enemy....

Earth has fallen. The Core Worlds have collapsed into chaos. War is breaking out everywhere as planetary governments declare independence; entire sectors slip out of contact, and warlords battle for power. The remnants of the once-great Empire are tearing themselves apart. In the shadows, the Terran Marine Corps works to save what little they can to preserve civilization and build a better tomorrow. But powerful factions are competing with them, determined to establish their own order.

It has been over a year since the UnArcana Worlds of the Protectorate of the Mage-King of Mars seceded, shattering the unity of the human race. The new Republic of Faith and Reason has raised new banners in defiance of the power of the Protectorate's Mage aristocracy. Now, Hand Damien Montgomery commands a relief mission to a Republic world ravaged by famine. His humanitarian mission collides with a newborn military beginning to flex its muscles - and a newborn nation prepared to accept no violations of its sovereignty, regardless of their needs.

When an old Delta Force buddy comes to Jon Reznick for help, paranoid and fearing for his life, Reznick feels duty-bound to protect him. As a black-ops specialist, loyalty to his brothers in arms comes before everything - even the law. But Jerry White proves difficult to protect. A runaway from a top-security psychiatric facility in upstate New York, he's considered a danger to himself and others, and Reznick is powerless to stop shadowy senior hospital managers taking Jerry back by force.

Starting a war with an enemy 100 times stronger is insane. It’s desperate. And it’s Earth’s only hope. A massive alien power looms over humanity, claiming Earth as its territory and humanity as its slaves. The Hegemony has already taken over one colony, yoking hundreds of thousands under their brutal rule. Every tactical exercise, every war game, and every simulation gives humanity zero chance in a defensive campaign.

Former CIA officer Jessica Scott and Navy SEAL Asher Hayes have worked together for years as part of a black-ops team for the president, but Jessica's close encounter with death is about to change everything between them.... As the team hunts down her abductor and tries to prevent an impending attack, Asher will stop at nothing to protect the woman he cares about. But will his actions push Jessica, aka the Ice Queen, further away; or will he knock down her impenetrable walls?

A senior American security adviser is missing, presumed kidnapped for his top-level military intelligence. FBI Assistant Director Martha Meyerstein needs to track him down before classified information gets into the wrong hands. She needs Jon Reznick on board. The former black-ops assassin is supposed to be on vacation with his daughter, but when Meyerstein calls, it doesn't pay to keep her waiting.

The war is over, but the struggle continues. Tyler Barron and his spacers have set out into the unknown, deep into the Badlands, seeking to discover the empire’s old tech and the secrets of its tortured history before Gaston Villieneuve and the resurgent Union can beat them to it. The White Fleet is a vast force, powerful, and crewed by the toughest veterans from the war. Barron and his people know the future of the Confederation, even its survival, depends on recovering the scientific secrets of the empire before the enemy can do the same.

Earth has fallen. The Core Worlds have collapsed into chaos. As planetary governments declare independence, war is breaking out everywhere. Entire sectors slip out of contact, warlords battle for power, and the remnants of the once-great Empire are tearing themselves apart. In the shadows, the Terran Marine Corps works to save what little they can to preserve civilization and build a better tomorrow. But now they might have met their match. The marines have seized control of the corporate world of Hameau, only to discover that Hameau is merely the tip of the enemy iceberg.

The Galactic Empire is dying. In their high towers, the Grand Senators plot and struggle to grasp a larger share of power while on the streets, the poor struggle to survive just one more day. Chaos and anarchy are running through the megacities of Earth, while giant corporations tighten the screws and colony worlds plot to declare independence and escape the Empire's increasing demands for resources. Centuries of mismanagement are finally catching up with the human race.