• Age: 8 to 12
• Grade: 3 to 7

In the early 1700s, Ocracoke Island, located at the tip of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, was the home of Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, the infamous pirate. His reign of terror lasted a mere two years, but during this time he ruled the seas from the Outer Banks to the Caribbean. The end came in 1718 when the British attacked and killed Blackbeard in Ocracoke Bay. The British never found Blackbeard’s legendary treasure, and scuttled his ship Adventure. Blackbeard’s treasure was never found. In the spring of 1942, the world was at war. Germany U-boats patrolled the East Coast of America. One night, U-402 spotted the Soviet tanker Ashkhabad near the Outer Banks enroute from Cuba to Maryland to collect fuel. U-402 fired two torpedoes, hitting and sinking the Ashkhabad, which carried a hidden footlocker of gold meant to pay the U.S. for war supplies. Twenty years later, the Russians needed that gold to finance the expansion of the Soviet empire. They dispatched a pair of incompetent spies to locate the Ashkhabad and retrieve the gold. Half a century later, Snail Cali and his family are enjoying an evening at home when a huge man sporting a long flowing beard barges into their house, threatening them and demanding that they find his treasure. Later that night, Snail’s mother, sisters, girlfriend, and godmother are kidnapped. Snail, along with his father Carmine, friend Tommy Osawa, and NCIS Special Agent Moki Loo Tsing frantically search for the women. Their only clue is a poetic riddle left as a phone message by the bearded man.

Born in California at the end of World War II, John lived there until his father was transferred to Japan where he graduated from high school. He graduated from Nile C. Kinnick (YO-HI) where he excelled in track and field. He served with the US Army Special Forces for 13 years, then joined the US Department of State and served another 14 years. He has traveled to over 100 countries. He is a graduate of George Mason University with a BS Degree in Education and has a Master's Degree from the University of Leicester, UK. John is married to Joyce and they have 5 children. He and his wife are now retired and living in northern Florida.

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