Deadly Cargo: A Chilling Naval Terrorism Thriller

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A cloud of dust lifted suddenly off the Saharan floor, stirred by the spin of a small whirlwind that seemed to come out of nowhere. Nothing else moved. Every creature that lived in this desert had long since heeded powerful survival instincts, taking shelter from blistering sun, hiding under rocks, down holes in the soil or in whatever shade it could find. Heat waves shimmered, creating a wavy distortion above the sun-tortured earth.

Far away beyond the edge of the land, the cool blue of the Atlantic offered visual relief. Or it would have if anyone had been there to see it. But on this day, in late summer of the year 1571, there was no one on this unsettled coast of northwest Africa to feel the stifling heat or hear the wind or see dust rise in a whirling shaft.

A thousand miles south, in the Gulf of Guinea, monsoon rains fell as if the belly of the clouds had been slit. A torrent poured from the sky, washing the coastal jungle, filling rivers to flood stage and beyond. Humid air hung like a wet sheet of gauze, waiting for the afternoon’s rising convection currents to carry the moisture aloft. Eighteen thousand feet up, the tropical jet stream steered the moist air of Guinea to the north, where it collided with the hot Saharan air mass, and a meteorological bomb started to tick. Hot updrafts and cold downdrafts began a cyclonic dance, whirling to the screaming music of an ever-increasing symphony of violent wind.

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