Many people can probably relate to the situation where their job requires them to keep certain pieces of data confidential. For a very relatable example, imagine you worked at a car dealership and management was planning on having a special sale next week, but it hadn’t yet been announced because they didn’t want to affect the current week’s sales.
Not hard to imagine, right?
Well, if you started to tell customers about the sale ahead of time, you might not be very popular with the dealership’s management. And at worst, the consequences could mean you end up getting fired.
Well, imagine that you’re working on things for the government that are classified. I have done that for a long time in various capacities, and the consequences of divulging classified data are covered under 18 U.S. Code § 793 as well as 18 U.S. Code § 798, and creative prosecutors can add others, all of which carry penalties that can land you in jail for up to ten years for each violation.
It’s something we accept as part of the assignment, and there’s usually no conflict with such requirements for confidentiality. But what if you found yourself in a situation that truly seemed like it needed a strong reaction from your management, and none was coming? You’ve exhausted all of your options for reporting the concern, then what?
You really don’t have much choice. You remain silent or face consequences.
Luckily, I’ve never found myself to be in such a situation, and I’ll admit that the people I’ve worked for have always been upstanding folks who embody the “do the right thing” attitude toward everything around them… but not everyone is like that.
What would it be like to have such a situation laid in your lap?
That’s the situation we face with Connor and his stint at the CIA.
And let me state that there are many elements in Patriot that are completely based on actual events. There are many folks who work on the public’s behalf, in the shadows, never known to you or I for what they really do. And having worked with many folks in other countries, this same situation plays out in all of them.
Most of the public doesn’t really want to know how the sausage is made. This book gives you a small peek into it… the daily drama, the choices, and the consequences.
I hope you enjoy it.
And as always, if I could ask anything from you, it would be to please share your thoughts/reviews about the story on Amazon and with your friends. It’s only through reviews and word of mouth that this story will find other readers, and I do hope Patriot (and the rest of my books) find as wide an audience as possible.
Again, thank you for taking the chance on a relatively unknown author. After all, I’m no Stephen King.
I can also tell you that as of this moment, I’m putting the finishing touches on the follow-on book to Patriot, so if you enjoyed this story, it shouldn’t be too long before you get a chance to visit with Connor yet again.
It’s my intent to release two to four books a year, and I’ll be completely honest, I’m heavily influenced by my readership on what gets attention next. An example of that being my first book, Primordial Threat, a book that was not going to have a follow-on title. But when I released it, it became a hit in the US and abroad, so due to demand, I released a second in what is now known as the Exodus Series.
If you’re interested in getting updates about my latest work, join my mailing list at:
https://mailinglist.michaelarothman.com/new-reader
Mike Rothman
April 1, 2021
My next story in the Connor Sloane series will be titled The Death Speech. If you’ll indulge me, below is a brief description:
"If it's actionable, we act." That's the motto of the clandestine government organization that Connor Sloane works for, and he's called into action when an assassin attempts to remove several of Europe's political leaders.
Things take an unexpected turn when the president's brother, a nuclear weapons expert, is reported missing somewhere in central Africa.
Connor's attention is split between two continents when intelligence comes in indicating that the attacks in Europe were only a practice run for the real target, the President of the United States.
In the meantime, it’s re-election season in the US and the DC political machine is keeping the president unaware of the danger he’s in. Connor scrambles to identify the assassin, who may be closer to the president than anyone knows.
If he can’t identify and stop the assassin, the president’s next speech may very well be his last.
Preview of The Death Speech
He glanced at his watch, took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. The air stirred as a cool nighttime breeze blew in from the Mediterranean, brushing away the heat of the day. He should have felt nervous, but as he looked across the growing crowd from his shadowy perch, he felt absolutely nothing. Five minutes ‘til go time.
The mayor of Turin was under a canopy at the far end of the Palazzo Reale, prepping for her annual speech, and for the first time in years, he was on sniper duty again. It felt great. Across the historic building’s courtyard were several Italian flags, each of them fluttering in seemingly random directions. Aside from the unpredictable gusts of wind coming across the buildings and into the plaza, it was a perfect setup.
As he sat back in the shadows of a rooftop five-hundred yards from his shot, his gaze panned forward, imagining the trajectory of his shot. The location was a popular tourist destination, but with the heavily advertised speech from the mayor, the locals as well as the tourists packed the area. There had to be over one thousand people gathered for the
