Killers lurk beneath the waves of the western Pacific Ocean. The USS Encinitas, the first attack submarine crewed by both men and women, stalks the Crescent Moon, a renegade Iranian sub armed with nuclear-tipped missiles. But another predator hides aboard the American sub, a murderer who has already left a trail of dead women behind on shore. While the crew of the Encinitas plays a deadly game of hide-and-seek with the Crescent Moon, NCIS agent Linus Schag must discover the killer's identity before his - or her - blood lust leads to the submarine's total destruction.

The year is 1987. America is clawing its way out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Washington pursues illegal and unpopular wars in Central America. In the wealthy desert playground of Palm Springs, storefronts that once catered to the rich sit empty and shuttered. Crowds of bored rich teenagers in designer clothing entertain themselves with expensive cars and cheap drugs, while those less fortunate haunt darkened street corners, offering themselves for sale. This is the country to which war correspondent Peter Brandt returns. Physically and mentally scarred by the horrors he's covered, Peter comes home to bury his ex-wife, TV reporter Robin Anderson, only to discover she had been brutally murdered. With the local police unwilling to investigate her death, Peter sets out with retired cop Matt Banyon to expose Robin's killer. They uncover a shadowy world of anti-communists, drug smugglers, and corrupt politicians, and lay bare old wounds-including Peter's deep guilt over his failed marriage. In a final, cliff-hanging struggle, Peter faces his own fears-and death in a dark and empty place.

A collection of previously published and new short stories by author Martin Roy Hill. In the title story, "Duty," a Cold War soldier faces the prospect of starting WWIII. In "Something Far Away," a former Coastguardsman must face his ghosts from the past. A Navy investigator faces a different kind of ghost aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier in "Destroyer Turns." "Brandenberg's Diaries" tells the story of a retired spy's last mission during Glasnost. A group of soldiers faces the curse of war over several generations in "The Stragglers." And in "The Use of Innocence," a Vietnam vet contemplates a younger generation eager for another war.