Cutter Kauai Sea Adventures (Series)
by Edward Hochsmann
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GENRE: Action/Adventure, Contemporary
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Dagger Quest
An aging Coast Guard patrol boat is all that stands between the world and nuclear annihilation!
The world is on the brink of war, with NATO mobilizing to counter a Russian threat to Poland
and Lithuania and leaders openly discussing war options. In the midst of the crisis, a Russian
bomber collides with a U.S. fighter off Florida causing the accidental launch of a nuclear-tipped
hypersonic missile.
A Coast Guard cutter on a routine patrol finds a drug-laden sailboat smashed and adrift north of
the Florida Keys. The boat’s damage is from a near miss by the Russian missile which has not
harmlessly flown deep into the Gulf of Mexico as initially thought, but crashed somewhere in the
Keys.
The Coast Guard crew is in a race against a vicious and powerful international crime syndicate
to find and recover the Russian nuke before its discovery can trigger a nuclear war.
Exploring the friendship and teamwork of a typical ship's crew, in the face of unexpected and
hazardous challenges, Dagger Quest provides a fast-paced, taut story - excellent fare for both
sea adventure and military thriller fans.
Excerpt:
Ben’s first encounter with the 252 Syndicate ends in a high-speed chase through Key West,
Florida:
Ben slowed and veered right onto Flagler with a screaming of tires and modest fishtailing as he
straightened on the new path. Their pursuers also swung in behind them from Roosevelt a few
seconds later.
“Floor it! We’ll be hanging a right on Tenth in ten blocks, same tactic. Keep hitting that horn!”
Ben stayed on the horn, dodging through traffic at speeds approaching fifty miles per hour.
“Counting down,” Simmons said, “Fourteenth, Thirteenth, twelfth, Eleventh, slow down and
prepare to hang a right, NOW!”
Ben executed another tire-squealing turn and straightened out, heading north on Tenth, gunning
the engine and leaning on the horn.
“Stand by to hit the brakes!” Simmons shouted. “Steady, steady, NOW, hit the brakes!”
Ben stood on the brake pedal, tires shrieked, and the anti-lock braking chattered. After skidding
to a stop in the middle of the street next to a large lagoon, Simmons shouted, “Get down!” He
opened both doors on his side of the car, using the rear door for cover.
Ben dropped behind the seat as their pursuer began screeching to a stop. Suddenly, there was
a tremendous crash with the sound of tearing metal and followed by a large splash. Simmons
shut the doors and said in a normal tone, “OK, let’s roll. Back to the base, nice and easy.”
Ben shot up and saw several figures in combat gear with guns drawn running forward from an
SUV stopped in the middle of Tenth Street. The car chasing them was coming to rest upside
down in the lagoon. “WHAT—THE—HELL!” he shouted at Simmons.
“Come on, friend, we need to move it. It’s handled. We’re clear now, so stay law-abiding all the
way, please.”
Ben stared at him for a few seconds, then pressed the accelerator. The engine raced briefly,
and then, with shaking hands, Ben shifted into Drive.
“See, you’re a natural,” Simmons said with a smile. “You didn’t even realize you shifted into
Park.”
Caribbean Counterstrike
Mission: Five days to destroy the enemy in the Caribbean before a catastrophic weapon is
unleashed—but all he can think about is the woman he left behind…
The deadliest nerve gas ever made has fallen into the hands of a murderous Caribbean drug
cult. The criminal 252 Syndicate has the gas in a secret lab on an oil rig servicing ship, but the
ship has been taken for ransom by the Salinas Cartel in a violent drug war. The U.S. can’t use
airstrikes and calls on Coast Guard Officer Ben Wyporek to lead his crew through a risky covert
raid on the Salinas cult’s fortified island base. He accepts the assignment, but remembers a
previous lethal encounter with the 252s and struggles to say goodbye to the love of his life,
Victoria Carpenter.
Ben and his crew aboard the stealth-equipped Cutter Kauai must sneak into the harbor and tow
the ship away. But if Kauai is detected and defeated, death by gas or at the hands of vicious
adversaries will follow. Now, every decision Ben makes will determine the fate of his entire
crew—and the chances of reuniting with Victoria.
Excerpt:
An amusing incident occurs during a test and evaluation session at the Atlantic Undersea Test
and Evaluation Center:
They had repeated the cycle enough times to get a reasonably rich dataset when something
went awry. A defect in one canister’s fins created a “wobble” in flight that caused it to fall behind
its companions. When the dispersing charge fired, it was just forward of the speeding RHIB and
doused it and its occupants with two-and-a-half gallons of bright blue paint. Lee closed the
throttle slowly to bring the boat to a smooth stop, took off her paint-coated sunglasses, and said,
“Everybody OK? Give me a thumbs up!”
After getting a thumbs-up from both passengers, Lee shook off her hands, put them on her hips,
and glared at DeChamps.
“I think some of our projectiles might need adjustment,” the engineer said, squinting up at Lee
while holding his paint-fouled glasses.
“Ya think?” Lee replied.
“Kauai-One, Kauai, report!” her radio barked.
“Kauai, Kauai-One, direct hit by blue paint, no damage or casualties,” Lee replied.
“Kauai-One, Kauai, roger, cancel operation and return to ship.”
“Kauai, Kauai-One, WILCO, out.” Lee took a deep breath and turned to Connally. “Sean,
carefully help Mr. DeChamps with his glasses.” She swished her sunglasses clean in the water
beside the RHIB, then sat back down at the helm. Once Connally had helped DeChamps with
his glasses and both were seated again, Lee opened the throttle and headed back to the patrol
boat. I’ll bet the cameras got an awesome shot of this. I’m SO looking forward to seeing it again,
and again, and AGAIN!
While operating the boat crane, Jenkins left the RHIB at the deck rail after the crew climbed out
so the paint could be hosed off before returning to its cradle. The XO met them there with an
armful of sodas—he knew they would be dried out after a couple of hours in the sun. He was
always doing thoughtful things like this, unlike any other officer Lee had ever served with, and it
was the thing she liked most about him.
“So, Petty Officer Lee,” he said with a perfectly straight face as he handed her a can of Coke. “I
think we need to get you some vacation time. You’re looking mighty blue.”
Ha, ha, ha! So, it starts already! Lee paused after taking the Coke and replied, “Thanks, sir. You
know, XO, you’re wasting your talents here on the bounding main. You should run a comedy
podcast!”
A New Captain’s First Patrol Turns into a Fight for Their Lives
Young Coast Guard Lieutenant Haley Reardon has not even gotten her feet on the ground on
her new patrol boat command when she finds herself and her crew supporting a dangerous
covert mission. They must insert and retrieve a Defense Intelligence Agency operations team
trying to seize a transnational criminal syndicate boss from a small Caribbean island controlled
by a front company of the Chinese government and protected by a superior military force.
A honeymoon period would be lovely, but, as always, the world gets a vote.
Can Haley avoid leaving the DIA team to their fate, when attempting to rescue them could
destroy her crew and boat and lead to war?
This third installment of the series conveys the humor, friendships, and teamwork of Kauai's
crew from the previous books, with a new series of exciting actions from search and rescue to
combat. The crew and their new skipper must come together for the toughest mission they have ever faced.
Excerpt:
Phillip Murray, his wife and two daughters have been retrieved from their stricken sailboat in the
middle of Hurricane Jacob and are now en route to Kauai aboard the cutter’s small rigid hull
inflatable boat (RHIB):
The big crewman placed his hand on a grab handle and shouted, “Hold this, stay down, and
keep your arms inside the boat!” Once Murray had a firm grip, the crewman pulled a strap
across his lap, fastened it to a ring fitting on the deck, and cinched it. The small orange boat
pitched up as it climbed another high wave, and the strap across Murray’s lap bit into him as
they seemed to come near to vertical. Then the bow suddenly pitched down for yet another
sickening drop to a tremendous splash.
That’s it! We’re done for! Murray thought as wind and water tugged at his body. But the boat
came up again, the deck cleared, and from what he could see with his spray-fogged eyes,
everyone was still there. He looked toward Gemma, sitting beside him with her free arm
stretched across Jamie’s and Lydia’s chests, and placed his free hand over hers on the grab
handle. They rode out two more monstrous wave events before reaching the cutter, which
provided little shelter from the gale for the tossing boat.
Murray had turned to look at the nearby cutter when a gunshot rang out, followed by the thump
of a line on the bow. Murray surmised the winds were too high for a standard heaving line, so
the coastguardsman used a rifle to pass a line to the boat. The big boat crewman was hauling in
a thin line that Murray knew was attached to the hook they would connect to the boat to crane it
aboard. This was the time of maximum risk—with the cutter and boat writhing in the wind and
seas, attaching the hook would be a nightmare. He leaned over to cover Gemma’s head with his
body and closed his eyes.
And then he prayed.
Author Bio:
Edward Hochsmann is the pen name of a retired U. S. Coast Guard search and rescue and law
enforcement professional. The veteran mariner, aviator, college professor, and defense analyst
has added “author” to his list of experiences. Ed likes reading, police procedurals, contemporary
music on the road, and classical music in the office. After a career traveling from Australia in the
west to Italy and Germany in the east, Ed has settled into a quiet life in the Florida Panhandle to
focus on writing (and not shoveling snow!)
Ed has two novels published right now (plus one launching in August 2022) in the Cutter Kauai
Sea Adventures series about a Coast Guard patrol boat assigned to "special" missions. Dagger
Quest takes place in the Florida Keys and involves an aging Coast Guard patrol boat dragooned
into a search for a lost Russian nuclear weapon in a time of international crisis. The second,
Caribbean Counterstrike, features the same patrol boat and crew, now with equipment and
training upgrades, sent to recover a deadly nerve gas from a murderous Caribbean drug cartel.
Bravely and Faithfully has Kauai, under a new captain supporting a covert raid on a Caribbean
island held by the Chinese.
Ed's second series, C6S: Patrol Force deals with a combined defense establishment and
constabulary for a galactic economic empire called the Confederation of the Six Systems (C6S).
Ed has published two novellas and a novel-length collection late last year.
One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
