title: Orbital Sniper
author: Cullen, John T.
description: Jack Gray—handsome premier 21st Century agent of last resort--is a complex, moody, but engaging and humorous hero. From his home base at a ranch near San Diego, California, the missions take him around the world in a dangerous, corporate-ruled near future.He is a PhD in History, reserve Army officer, master of his own martial arts style, and a professional killer when needed, on government service. He is, as well, a ladies' man, but none of his ladies are the bubble heads of last century's fiction (usually back then simply called 'the girl'). His friends and lovers are strong women with PhDs, accomplished careers of their own, and looks that could melt glass. The passion is steamy and mutual. And yet, Jack Gray operates from a psychic dark spot, a wound deep in his soul, and a ghost that will not leave him alone. He is a widower, whose late wife Catherine meets him in airports, in remote deserts, on volcanic islands, and in busy places like Times Square--murdered years ago by a hidden killer Jack has yet to track down. Molly Grace is a new, wonderful woman in Jack's life--the widow of an assassinated fellow agent. Stunning Molly Grace, of mixed Hawaiian-Caucasian heritage, will help him build a new family if he lets her--but time is running out. Nobody since Catherine has affected Jack as Molly does--but does he dare risk involving her in his deadly and dangerous work? Molly is willing to wait for Jack, but only for a time. She must get on with her life--and Jack must recover his own--while fighting the world's most terrifying master criminals… and finally laying to rest the ghosts of his own dark past.Stealthy global terror master Doctor Night has hijacked an orbital sniper satellite designed to assassinate world leaders. Now his world terrorism brokerage, Black Umbrella, is using the stolen Orbital Sniper Technology (OST) for global blackmail. Langley sends in their best man--Jack Gray. Backing him are the brilliant Claire Lightfield (CIA/Langley) and Johannes Rector (Compass News spy brokerage) as he begins a far-flung investigation that takes him to a mysterious, foggy castle off the coast of a remote Scottish island, then to a former ancient Roman outpost off the coast of Sicily, and finally to a historic castle in the heart of Washington, D.C.Along the way, he tangles with imported martial artists, ghostly killers, German crocodiles, and Black Umbrella's shadowy army of female assassins headed by a modern-day Gorgon named Sombra (Shade). Jack Gray is a worthy successor of Leslie Charteris' Saint and Ian Fleming's Bond, while Doctor Night copies some terrifying pages from the playbook of Doctor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' crime lord and spider who pulses at the center of a crime web. The classic stuff is all there--updated for a new millennium and its unthinkable new dangers. We catch hints of Fleming's SPECTRE in the Black Umbrella terror brokerage, even as Jack Gray tracks down two ancient Cold War technologies for orbital spying (USAF's Corona and CIA's Keyhole satellites). In the 21st Century, Doctor Night's rogue satellite is a sophisticated drone killer that shoots bullets instead of photos. World leaders are dying one by one, as a prelude to a greater dying from the radioactive cargo on board OST--unless Jack Gray can save the day. As his elegant, gorgeous friend and lover Dr. Minica Albrisi explains while helping him select a cool suit: Anything goes with gray. And anything goes with Jack Gray. Passion may slow him down at moments, but nothing can stop him when he's on a mission.