Fair Winds of Death

It's 1971, and the Naval Investigative Service, or "NIS" as it's better known, is nothing like the NCIS of present-day television. There are no cell phones, desktop computers, DNA, or the Internet. All the Navy and civilian personnel working for this specialized unit have to rely on are their minds. Logic, investigative skills, and experience hitting the streets are all they have to get the information they need. The work is often dangerous, and sometimes, good old-fashioned luck is the real key to sending the criminals to the brig for good.

At NIS headquarters in Washington D.C., Lieutenant Commander Marcus Colt has made a name for himself handling the country's most unusual cases. Despite his occasional short temper and hint of sarcasm coloring his attitude, Colt is intelligent and driven to succeed. And while his behavior sometimes complicates situations, as the top internal affairs investigator, this decorated officer is the one top Navy brass go to when no one else can handle the mission.

One such assignment is the latest in a long line of challenges to cross Colt's desk. A series of informational leaks within the NIS agency have led to the executions of at least four, confidential informants on the Norfolk Naval Base, and the threat of more victims is imminent. Armed with his uncanny, investigative skills and deceptively youthful looks, Colt goes undercover as a junior enlisted man in Norfolk, Virginia and works to stop the leak at its source. To accomplish this difficult task, he must build close relationships with personnel in his NIS unit, invade their privacy, and dig up their life secrets-all while keeping his true identity and mission hidden.

As straightforward as his investigative job is, nothing with this assignment is what it seems. And when the case takes unexpected twists and turns, Colt finds himself questioning everything he knows. The loss of an old flame, evading assassins, an unexpected meeting with a high-ranking officer's daughter, and overcoming his own personal guilt from a past Vietnam mission that nearly cost him everything all add complexity to his assignment. But friends, both new and old, along with his fellow agents at the NIS, aid Colt in his mission as he works to solve the case.

He has the skills and the team, but time is quickly running out. With danger and uncertainty surrounding him, it will take everything Marcus Colt has to stop the leak before someone else dies-especially when that next someone could be him.

Auteur

Billy R. Wade, Jr. has been all too happy to add fiction writing to his list of life accomplishments. Born in Roanoke, Virginia, he spent his teen years and much of his adult life in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. While in Tampa, Bill worked in retail management before switching to a career as a computer systems analyst for the local school system. He changed careers again after nearly 20 years of working with mainframe computers and started a manufacturing company. After this last change, he made his self-proclaimed escape to the mountains of West Virginia shortly after the turn of the century. After enlisting in the U.S. Navy Reserve in 1969, he was called to active duty and graduated top of his class from both basic training at Naval Training Center (NTC) Orlando, Florida and Yeoman 'A' School at NTC Bainbridge, Maryland. Soon after, he was assigned to the Naval Investigative Service Office in Norfolk, Virginia for nearly two years. While there on active duty, he earned the Navy's Pistol Marksmanship Ribbon with ribbon device 'S' after qualifying as a Sharpshooter with the standard sidearm at that time: the 1911 .45 ACP semi-automatic pistol. Eventually, Bill left active service as a Petty Officer Third Class, though he wasn't quite ready to hang up his Navy uniform just yet. He spent three additional years as a weekend reservist at his local Navy Reserve Center assisting with the clerical demands of the center, a Seabee unit, and a training course development unit. And, despite his busy schedule during and after his naval career, Bill also dedicated his time to obtaining degrees in Business Management and Computer Science. He also took his business training a step further and studied marketing at the University of South Florida. Happily, all of Bill's business, educational and military pursuits have proved quite inspiring and provide him with plenty of writing material. He has written several technical "how-to" articles that were published in hobby magazines, and he is nearly finished with the next adventure for his Fair Winds NIS novel protagonist, Marcus Colt. Bill also attributes his new love of fiction writing to surviving brain surgery a few years ago. As he phrases it, some of the connections in his brain have found "new and definitely different pathways." In addition to writing, Bill owns and operates a hobby kit manufacturing business on his property in rural West Virginia. He also devotes time to fostering rescue animals with special needs from his local volunteer animal shelter. When not working, writing, cutting firewood, or shoveling snow, he spends his little bit of remaining free time staying proficient with his Colt 1911 .45 pistol.