Trafford Publishing: Empress Hunter: 2010

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Empress Hunter: 2010

by John Burke

270 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0520; ISBN 1-55369-707-3; US$25.00, C$30.00, EUR20.50, £14.50

A Chinese submarine, the "Chinese Empress", helps a Chinese-American convicted of murder to escape the "Ice Prison" on the continent of Antarctica in the year 2010. The U.S. Navy must prevent them from reaching China to stop his work on a dangerous secret formula.

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About the Book

The story is a superpower action thriller about a Chinese submarine, the "Chinese Empress," that helps a criminal scientist of Chinese-American descent escape from the "Ice Prison" located on the continent of Antarctica in the year 2010.

The prisoner was sentenced to death for murder but the Chinese want him to be returned to the mainland because he has developed a formula that caused permanent infertility in laboratory rats. They want him to work on a formula that could cause infertility in humans. The conservative element in the government sees it as a bargaining tool against the overall nuclear superiority of the United States. A sinister greedy few see it as a devastating weapon that could be used to create panic in places such as California that has a huge population. It is the latter more important reason that the submarine must be stopped at all costs. This information could be sold to the highest bidder among the fanatical enemies of the United States.

The only hope to stop the submarine from completing the escape is a U.S. Destroyer and a former Navy SEAL who is now a special agent to the President. The main problem for him is that there are actually three submarines the scientist could be on. He must determine which one of them has the prisoner before he can order military action. Unfortunately, time is running out because the submarines are slowly but surely sailing out of the frozen Antarctic ice flow where their speed has been restricted. Soon, the three of them will be headed back in separate directions to China.

Sample Excerpts or Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE
Antarctica
International Maximum Security Prison
February 2010
Year of the Tiger

Whoosh! That was the sound of another high profile prisoner being sent into eternity. The small body carrier was slowly coming into focus. It was like being in an underground aquarium watching marine life swimming by. The camera was recording the descent of the carrier for verification. The security personnel viewing it were acting as witnesses. A lethal injection had been given a few minutes before and the body was then placed into this floating casket. It was now descending into the frozen waters of the Ross Sea beneath the International Maximum Security Prison (IMSP) located on the continent of Antarctica. It was affectionately called the "Ice Prison."

It would take less than 10 minutes for the pressure of the water surrounding the carrier to smash it into a thousand pieces. Nothing would be left of the body and that is just what the International Community wanted. Without a body, there could be no burial place to establish as a shrine to the executed prisoner. Without that, no one could ever be set up as a martyr. Such had been the case before this prison was built in 2008.

The Five countries that had planned and established it were: America, China, Russia, England and Israel. Most of the prisoners sent to the IMSP had been terrorists or political hot potatoes found guilty of murder and the individual countries did not want to keep them. Fear of retribution or kidnappings to gain the release of the prisoners had led each country to send them to this faraway continent for execution.

Antarctica was chosen as the perfect place due to its location and extreme cold temperatures. It would be impossible to stage a rescue mission if you could somehow get there because even if the prisoner got out of his cell, he would be facing zero degrees on a good day. It could be down to a minus 175 degrees on certain other days. The rescue vehicle would have to be waiting for an immediate escape. Because the prison is guarded as well as Fort Knox, no one had ever even attempted a prison break since it opened two years ago. There is no landing strip because of the fierce Katabatic crosswinds. Airlift supplies can only be dropped off. It can only be reached by ship during the summer months. The isolation makes it invulnerable to attack.

Only one supply ship per month makes the perilous journey to the IMSP. Even that can only happen when the ice flow allows it. It starts the journey in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This is where they load up the supplies paid for by the IMSP. This is also how they bring new prisoners. They are flown to Argentina by whichever country wants to get rid of them and then placed on the ship for the voyage.
John Higgins, a retired U.S. Army Major, had been the warden since it opened two years ago. He was a tough, no-nonsense individual who was perfect for the job. His face even appeared on the cover of Time when they did a story on the prison. Now his tenure was close to being up and he figured he would be selected for a plum job back in Washington D.C. Naturally, he was quite disliked by the prisoners for his isolation treatment, but that is why no one had escaped and no one ever will, he felt.

The prison was built in the Southern part of Antarctica because it is the only part of the Continent that is not completely covered by ice. Only 2 to 4 percent of the country is snow-free. It was only in the dry valleys of Victoria Land on the edge of the Ross Sea that it could be built. Ancient glaciers had retreated and provided an open space where the foundation was started. The only part of the prison that is above ground looks like one of the bunkers used by the Germans on Normandy. The rest is underground, completely hidden from the frozen wasteland.
It is a remarkable achievement that it could be built all. There are only spaces for a hundred prisoners, but there have been plans to expand. Each cell houses one prisoner. They are totally isolated from each other. They only leave their cells to exercise and shower for a half hour each day. They are allowed a television, but can only use it to watch tapes or the closed circuit system. Their stay is short, as the average wait for the execution is less than six months. Visitors, of course, are not allowed until the final day. Their lawyers contact them through phone or e-mail. So far, no appeals have been successful. Over forty of the unfortunate inhabitants have been executed. Once you are sent here, you don't leave. To the five countries that run the IMSP, that spelled perfection.

There is, of course, one drawback. If your political leaning favors the prisoner, then there is a problem. For example, the person executed today was a high-ranking military leader convicted of causing the deaths of several lower-ranking soldiers during the failed takeover of a small country in Africa. The Americans favored, from a distance, the overthrow of the Communist government. The Chinese did not want that to happen. The American government had to grit their teeth over this one.

The ten-minute watch of the descent was over. Suddenly, the carrier exploded. Then the screen seemed to be filled with icy snowflakes slowly falling gently toward the bottom of the Ross Sea. That was it. Another execution could be documented. The protective steel shield was rolled back in front of the viewing area where the descent was watched. The camera was shut off until the next execution.

Now it was the time for the Chinese to be on the side favoring the prisoner. His name was Henry Wu. He was the son of Chinese doctor, He Wu, who had left China and became a naturalized citizen. Henry Wu was born in China and the Chinese felt that he should be tried in China. He was found guilty of first-degree murder of a scientist who had become his wife's lover. He planned the murder and that made it murder one.

Normally, the Chinese could care less about a murderer. However, Henry Wu was different. He had perfected a scientific method of causing permanent infertility in laboratory rats. His formula was put into the water supply of the selected rats. It permanently affected both the male and female rats.

The idea that the government could control the birth rates had always fascinated them. With a population of over one billion people, they needed a quick solution. That was in the mind of many of the scientists in the country. There were others who had more sinister plans for the use of his formula. These terrorists weren't about to let Henry Wu die without getting it from him.

The Americans were greatly interested in it also. They had tried to convince Henry Wu that if he would work with them on the use of the formula, they would commute his sentence to life without parole. He would be set up in a confined place to live without ever leaving that area. Henry Wu would have none of this. He wanted to be free and given a grant to live on. When negotiations broke down, he was sent to the IMSP to avoid the political ramifications. The Chinese had been putting pressure on the U.S. to send him back to China. It was becoming a great detriment to the relations between the countries. The only thing to do was to send him to the remote prison. The sooner the execution took place, the better. Now it was only a few weeks away.

The Chinese were making one last ditch effort to convince Henry Wu to give them the formula before he died. On the day before an execution, a prisoner is allowed visitors. They came to see him and promised that they would dedicate an entire wing of the Scientific Hall of the People in the Capital City if he would only give them the formula. Henry Wu wanted more. He wanted his freedom. Why couldn't they understand him, he thought? Well, no one would get it. He would take it to the grave.
Both the Chinese and Americans were going to lose on this one. Neither would give in on this matter. If he was going to take it to the grave, then so be it. That was the feeling the Americans had. At least the Chinese wouldn't get it. It was their turn to grit their teeth. What could be done? After all, this was the impenetrable IMSP.

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