This explosive novel and instant "New York Times" bestseller is the tale of two disgraced Secret Service agents racing against time to find the common thread that connects a series of assassinations and abductions. A fast-paced thriller.
Two disgraced former Secret Service officers team up to solve a series of copy-cat crimes in this exciting new thriller by a master of the game. Sean King was momentarily distracted when a presidential candidate he'd been guarding was assassinated a few feet from where he stood, and Michelle Maxwell left the Service under a similar cloud when she lost a "protectee" to an ingenious kidnapping scheme, events told in Baldacci's typical terse, fast-paced style in Split Second. Now partners in a private investigation firm in a small Virginia town, they're hired to investigate a burglary at the home of a wealthy local family.
Michelle Maxwell has just blown her future with the Secret Service. With heavy reluctance, she let a presidential candidate out of her sight to comfort a grieving widow. Then, behind closed doors, the politician whose safety was her responsibility vanished into thin air. Living a new life on a quiet lake in Central Virginia, Sean King knows how the younger agent feels. He’s been there before. In an out-of-the-way hotel eight years earlier, the hard-charging Secret Service man allowed his attention to be diverted for a split second. And the presidential candidate Sean was protecting was gunned down before his eyes.
For Dirk Pitt, reality is an inconsequential construct. What matters is the U.S. National Underwater and Maritime Agency (NUMA) superhero's unflagging energy, wit, strength, sex appeal, and patriotism. In this tale of a Chinese billionaire who plans to divert the mighty Mississippi in order to expand his illegal smuggling ring, find a treasure lost at sea nearly half a century ago, and, incidentally, split the U.S. into three countries controlled by China, Cussler's American version of James Bond struggles to save the day.
