HELMUT PORTMANN
Author of the Alex Beck Novels
About the Author
worked on the US Army’s Pershing Tactical Nuclear Missile System during the Cold War in Europe, hunted for Soviet submarines and worked to hide our own submarines, and operated weather, climate, and Tsunami buoys over the world’s oceans.
They were children when the revolution came for their families.
In 1950s Cuba, five boys and one little girl survive the unimaginable—hidden in closets, beneath floorboards, behind trembling doors—forced to listen as soldiers loyal to the regime brutalize, rape, torture, and murder their parents. Each child escapes with nothing but scars, memories, and a burning question: Why did we live when they did not?
It forges a vow.
Some survivors try to forget.
Others are born to remember—and to retaliate.
The Navy picks up sonar echoes as sound blasts from Oil & Gas seismic surveys bounce off a mysterious underwater object moving among drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. They appear to be from some type of submerged vessel that has no other machinery or engine noise and seems to simply disappear after several hours. The Navy and CIA suspect some kind of submersible running on batteries……. but any diesel-electric submarine would have to eventually surface and charge its batteries by running their Diesel engine.
The US Navy suddenly starts losing ships in unprovoked terrorist attacks in the middle east. The first attack is an explosion that sinks a brand-new destroyer, the USS Cushing, at the dock in the harbor of Aden, Yemen.
The Navy suspects that the attack was carried out by terrorist divers that attached a limpet mine to the side of the ship. The CIA, through their HUMINT sources, knows that Iran is establishing a new terrorist group that is called Hezbollah, and the group is to act as a surrogate for the Revolutionary Guards to attack the Great Satan everywhere they can.
Its June 28, 1919, at the Palace of Versailles near Paris, France. The weary war-torn countries of Europe that defeated Germany are signing the Treaty of Versailles to establish the terms of peace after World War I. While the conference is consumed with extracting punishing reparations from Germany, there is a small component to the treaty that addresses an obscure archipelago in the Arctic Circle. It is to be administered by Norway, but 46 other nations are designated to exercise their ‘interests’ within the Svalbard EEZ. The ‘interests’ focus on coal, oil and gas extraction, and mining for minerals.
The Navy picks up sonar echoes as sound blasts from Oil & Gas seismic surveys bounce off a mysterious underwater object moving among drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. They appear to be from some type of submerged vessel that has no other machinery or engine noise and seems to simply disappear after several hours. The Navy and CIA suspect some kind of submersible running on batteries……. but any diesel-electric submarine would have to eventually surface and charge its batteries by running their Diesel engine.
Both the Navy and CIA know that the massive undersea infrastructure of the oil & gas industry is an attractive target for any potential enemy of the U.S. But the Navy’s super-secret SOSUS acoustic arrays would pick up any submarine attempting to enter the Gulf, so it must be something else. Is Cuba behind it…. to maybe exact revenge for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion attempt? The CIA forms a special team led by Alex Beck to hunt for what they call the Phantom of the Gulf. Their mission is to hunt down the mysterious contact and neutralize any threat that they uncover.
The US Navy suddenly starts losing ships in unprovoked terrorist attacks in the middle east. The first attack is an explosion that sinks a brand-new destroyer, the USS Cushing, at the dock in the harbor of Aden, Yemen.
The Navy suspects that the attack was carried out by terrorist divers that attached a limpet mine to the side of the ship. The CIA, through their HUMINT sources, knows that Iran is establishing a new terrorist group that is called Hezbollah, and the group is to act as a surrogate for the Revolutionary Guards to attack the Great Satan everywhere they can.
The CIA has also learned that over 100 men suspected of belonging to Hezbollah have been trained as certified SCUBA divers in West Germany. CIA puts two and two together and believes that the newly minted Hezbollah’s first missions will be to target US Navy assets in the middle east.
Alex Beck, a CIA analyst turned agent is charged with leading his small team to pursue what the US has done in swimmer defense in the past and what capabilities the Navy currently has op
The Navy picks up sonar or Echoes as sound blasts from Oil and Gas seismic surveys bounce off of a mysterious underwater object moving among the drilling Platforms in the Gulf of Mexico they appear to be from some type of submerged vessel that has no other Machinery or engine noise and seems to Simply disappear after several hours. the Navy and CIA suspect some kind of submersible running on batteries but any diesel electric submarine would have to eventually surface and charge its batteries by running their diesel engines
Both the Navy and the CIA know that the massive undersea infrastructure of the Oil and Gas industry is an attractive target for any potential enemy of the United States. but the Navy’s super secret SOSUS acoustic arrays would pick up any submarine attempting to enter the gulf so it must be something else. is Cuba behind it?.. to maybe exact revenge for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion attempt? The CIA forms a special team led by Alex Beck to hunt for what they call the Phantom of the gulf. their mission is to hunt down the mysterious contact and neutralize any threat that they uncover
© 2025 Helmut Portmann, all rights reserved.