Black Sky — William H. Lovejoy

Cruising at a 'black sky' altitude of 130,000 feet, in the cockpit of the newly engineered XSO suborbital jet, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Dallas Grant reports the explosion of a Poseidon missile just minutes after its successful deep sea launch. But then he uncovers a strange aerial attack by another suborbital craft of unknown origin equipped with military technology thought to be available only to the United States and the Soviet Union. A silent and unidentified mystery is flying and is a threat that needs to be formally detected. The most recent in a series of unexplained near-space disasters, the attacks are costing international state powers billions and eroding the reputation of all global satellite operation and research. Grant and his colleague Colonel Dmitri Vidorov are sent to fight the ultimate high-tech war to free the newest, most dangerous frontier of all...