In the Peten jungles of Guatemala, Connelly Oil's exploratory headquarters are attacked by a Guatemalan terrorist group. Esteban Dario, the terrorist leader and his Cuban advisor Carlos Brazil, attack Connelly Oil's Site 3, overrunning the site and decimating the Government military security force protecting the site. Matthew Jamison, the site's engineer, is killed and his wife Nancy brutally murdered by the terrorist leader Dario. Charles Ackerton, head of Central and South American operations for Connelly Oil, goes to Guatemala to find out the details of the terrorist attack.President Mora explains to Ackerton that the attack on Site 3 was carried out by Cuban backed terrorists and that his government can no longer provide military forces to protect Connelly's interests from further terrorist attacks. Faced with this new policy, Ackerton decides to hire American military contractors to protect the Company's Peten interests.Nancy Jamison, murdered during the Site 3 attack, is the daughter of retired Special Forces Colonel James Morgan. Ackerton, finding this out, uses this information to hire Morgan to lead a force to protect Connelly Oil's interests. Morgan accepts the job, hiring Bob Crockett, also a retired Special Forces officer, as his executive officer.Using Connelly Oil as a front for their military operation, Ackerton, with the backing of the CIA, begins funneling men and equipment into the port city of Puerto Barrios. Janice Holdt, a reporter for an Eastern news service, notices the influx of military age Americans arriving at the cities airport. Her curiosity aroused by their sudden appearance and that of Bob Crockett, whom she suspects of being a Connelly Oil employee and is somehow involved with this influx of North Americans. She approaches him in the hotel bar and tries to question him about his involvement with Connelly Oil. Unable to get any useful information from him, she begins her own investigation. During the course of this she involves herself with Crockett eventually beginning a relationship with him. Still unable to get any information from him, she and her photographer friend head into the Peten jungle to search out the questions for herself.Morgan and Crockett plan to eliminate the terrorist threat by conducting military operations to drive the terrorists back into their base camp, contain them there, then attack into the camp and eliminate them. Janice and her photographer, deep in the jungle, encounter a terrorist patrol. Her photographer is killed and she is taken captive. She is taken to the terrorist base camp where she is turned over to Carlos Brazil who hides her from Dario. Janice's presence in the camp presents a problem for Morgan and Crockett when they learn of it. Do they attack the camp and risk the terrorists killing her.When the attack comes it is swift and violent. Dario tries to escape north out of the camp but runs into Morgan's blocking forces. Brazil takes Janice, and with a small force, escapes east hoping to cross into Belize. Morgan is determined to kill Dario and stays in the camp to find him. He dispatches Crockett and a team east to pursue the terrorists and bring Janice back. Crockett comes upon Brazil at the Belize border where the pursuit is terminated and the situation with Janice resolved.
Author of the novel 'MICHALA', Mr. Simmons is an Army veteran, rescue team member, medic, college graduate and piper. Residing in Tucson, Arizona, Mr. Simmons works as an author, contractor and Cross-country riding instructor.
