When a team of assassins murder a high-ranking North Korean general and his family in their sleep, making it look like a robbery, events are set in motion that could shake the balance of world powers. Meanwhile, a U.S. naval combat ship, the USS Milwaukee, is attacked by North Korean forces in the middle of a training exercise, and Commander Kate Bigelow is forced to ground the ship to avoid being captured. The crew takes refuge on a tiny island, trapped dangerously between the grounded ship and a fleet of hostile North Korean soldiers. INTO THE FIRE Op-Center intelligence discovers a secret alliance behind the attack--one in which North Korea guarantees China total control of a vast oil reserve found beneath the Yellow Sea. As both sides marshal their forces for a major confrontation at sea, Chase Williams and his Op-Center organization devise a plan to secretly spirit the American crew from the island. But the North Koreans have something else in mind, and soon they unleash a terrorist cell on the American homeland. Can Op-Center uncover their plan and prevent a major catastrophe that could lead to all-out war? This edition of the book is the deluxe, tall rack mass market paperback.

Author Biography

DICK COUCH graduated from the Naval Academy in 1967 and served as a Surface Warfare Officer and SEAL Platoon Commander in Vietnam. Dick has enjoyed a unique relationship with the US Special Operations Command and has been allowed to document the special operations training venues for SEALs, Army Special Forces (Green Berets), Rangers, and Marines. He is a co-author of the Tom Clancy's Op-Center series. He has been a professor at the US Naval Academy where he taught ethics and is often called on to speak to issues of character, moral battlefield conduct, and training and deployment of American military special operations forces. He lives with his wife Julia in central Idaho. GEORGE GALDORISI is a career naval aviator. His Navy career included four command tours and five years as a carrier strike group chief of staff. He has written eight books, including (with Dick Couch), theNew York Times best seller, Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor; The Kissing Sailor, which proved the identity of the two principals in Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photograph; and over 200 articles in professional journals and other media. He is the Director of the Corporate Strategy Group at the Navy's C4ISR Center of Excellence in San Diego, California. He and his wife Becky live in Coronado, California.