Andrew Britton’s Ryan Kealey series continues with its latest installment, THREATCON DELTA. Kealey is a former spy and currently engaged by the U.S. government when special assistance is required. The novel is firmly planted with the roots of authors like Tom Clancy, Brad Thor, and even a touch of James Rollins and Steve Berry. The premise is a particularly frightening one. What if a faction of Middle Eastern terrorists got their hands on a weapon of biblical origin that contains the ability to start a global pandemic powerful enough to wipe out most of the people on the planet?

The story begins with the brutal death of a U.S. sniper named Victor Yerby. While stationed alone deep in the Temecula Valley in southern California, Yerby positions himself amongst the rocks and boulders in an effort to thwart a ring of illegal immigrants who are acting as couriers for a drug cartel. The usually astute Yerby is bested by, of all people, a female mercenary of African descent who is doing the bidding of both the cartel and terrorist groups. She is able to sneak up on the camouflaged Yerby and murder him before he is even aware of what has happened.

"Action, adventure, espionage, biblical history and the threat of pneumonic plague all abound in this page-turner of a thriller."

This act is what propels Jonathan Harper, Deputy Director of the CIA, to seek out Kealey at his new home in New Milford, CT. Kealey was hoping to remove himself from the world of espionage and global terrorism, but his respite is short-lived. When he is told not only about the unexpected death of Victor Yerby but also about the reports from the Middle East by Agent Dina Westbrook, Kealey realizes that his expertise is necessary to stop a major threat to the West.

The reports that have arrived from agents stationed in the Sinai Peninsula is that an individual has risen from the shadows claiming to be a prophet. This is not just any prophet, though…it’s Moses himself! The stranger allegedly has a deadly weapon, the very same staff that Moses used to take down the Pharaoh of Egypt as outlined in the Bible. The staff not only changes into a serpent but also allows the user to bring about a plague literally of biblical proportions that threatens all of mankind.

To do battle with this unpredictable and dangerous enemy, Kealey must team up with Major James Phair. Phair is most famous for going AWOL for 16 years as he was abducted from his infantry, and then found himself immersed in Middle Eastern and Muslim culture. Although Kealey does not trust Phair, he needs his experience with the territory as well as his expertise in biblical studies to infiltrate and bring down this latest terrorist threat.

The Staff of Moses is an artifact that has been sought for use in warfare for centuries, and at times THREATCON DELTA turns into a quest that would make Indiana Jones proud. Of course, the Nazis during World War II sought this staff and Kealey, and his small band of allies must call on an old Nazi to help them in their efforts. The novel moves along at a blistering pace and finishes with a climax at a monastery that features a showdown between Kealey's crew and a band of enemies led by the false prophet claiming to be Moses.

Action, adventure, espionage, biblical history and the threat of pneumonic plague all abound in this page-turner of a thriller.