Death's Hand (Paperback)

The discovery of a weighted body that has drifted beneath a deepwater exploration platform in the Gulf of Mexico begins a series of escalating events ranging from Hong Kong, to Chicago, to Longboat Key, Florida. Mike Taylor, a 37 year-old banker living in Chicago, lost his wife 4 years ago to cancer. Now, with the latest in a string of management changes about to begin its run, the former University of Florida third string safety decides all the corporate signals are flashing red, and it is time to go. Xing Mei, head of the Wo Hop Lok Triad headquartered in Hong Kong has a standing rule: exterminations in First World countries are to be left to her professional. Killing the guy found floating beneath the rig was a violation of Xing Mei's commandment, and a triad lieutenant in Florida must answer for it. She unleashes the Death's Hand, a brilliant, secretive, and emotionless killer who will stop at nothing to complete a contract or protect his identity. Taylor winds up at friend Able Wainwright's condo on high-end Longboat Key, near Sarasota, Florida. Able's physician parents had lived in the place until their deaths in an improbable auto crash two years earlier. When Taylor's former co-worker, Kate Kendall, drops by for a visit she finds Taylor at the bad end of a fight with two losers, and an unexpected piece of a puzzle gets slammed into place. Trying to gather the remaining pieces, Kate and Taylor find themselves in over their heads as seemingly unrelated events coalesce, placing the couple directly in the assassin's sights. These and other players come together in an exciting and fun adventure that contains all the elements readers of this kind of fiction settle back to enjoy -engaging characters, money, power, deceit, murder, and romance.