The Consignment

With Diplomatic Immunity, Grant Sutherland exploded onto the literary scene as one of the most original new authors of international suspense. Now, in his new novel of conspiracy, conscience, and terrifying deception--a novel stretching from the upheaval of the Gulf War to the inner secrets of the current Pentagon--a desperate man struggles to survive a battle for the truth...a battle without any rules except one: win or die. It wasn’t just a war we were fighting out there in the Gulf; the truth is we were joined in battle against the weapons of every major arms manufacturing country on earth--including our own. Captain Ned Rourke of the U.S. Rangers always expected war to be hell, but he never imagined that his men would be cut down in the Gulf War with weapons created by his own country. Disillusioned, betrayed, and looking for justice, he’s determined to find those responsible and make them pay the price. But to do so, he’ll have to work undercover as a marketing manager for Haplon Systems, an arms trader skirting the decrees of international law. Forced to live a double life, Rourke knows he is risking something more important than justice: the trust of his wife and son. And when his friend Dimitri Spandos, a former West Point classmate now working for Haplon’s biggest competitor, is discovered shot to death at an arms fair, Rourke knows that he’s entered a world as dangerous as any battlefield. Haplon’s latest deal--to ship a massive quantity of arms to an unnamed African country--is clearly worth killing for, but can Rourke discover who’s really behind it before his marriage is destroyed...and he ends up with a bullet in the head? The more Rourke learns, the closer he gets to a conspiracy reaching from the killing fields of West Africa to the upper echelons of the Pentagon, and a deadly cover-up that someone intended Dimitri Spandos to take to his grave. But Rourke is now fighting in a war where an ally can become an enemy in the blink of an eye, where no flags or uniforms mark sides--and where knowing the truth could be a sentence of death. If he and his family are going to survive, he’s going to have to throw away the rule book, put his principles aside, and prepare to get blood on his hands once again. From the Hardcover edition.