Dragon Games — Stephen Mertz

Beijing, China, August 2008.
The world, and hundreds of thousands of attendees, are riveted by the epic grandeur of the Summer Olympics. But just beneath the surface of the pageantry and athletic competition pulsates a drama of terror in this latest thriller from Stephen Mertz.

Dan Price is a top-leveled officer in one of the private firms providing security at the Olympics. But Price is really an amoral killer. He has assembled a paramilitary strike force that is about to unleash a bloodbath that will destabilize the world powers with a single act of unthinkable, cataclysmic violence.

Tag McCall, a low-level security guard assigned to Price's unit, may well have reached the last stop in the downward spiral of his career and his life. He is haunted by personal demons: his dismissal in disgrace from the Secret Service, his subsequent bout with alcohol and substance abuse, divorce..although his biggest secret, and fear, is the irregular heartbeat and chest pains that are becoming more frequent. He hasn't told anyone. When McCall picks up a thread, a hint of what Price is up to, he's thrust into a shadowy maze of deception, seduction and murder involving a defecting Chinese general and a missing teenage gymnast. And as if that weren't enough, McCall has two strong-willed women vying for his heart, a heart that could give out at any moment.