Win the Audiobook CD of The Jefferson Key!

From the time of its creation, the American Constitution has included an article that authorizes Congress to offer what is called “a letter of marque and reprisal,” which asks a private vessel to attack an enemy’s. In essence, the Constitution empowers the U.S. Government to commission piracy–and to grant such a letter is to put its recipient above the law, licensing them to rob and murder as necessary. In The Jefferson Key, the hunt is on for a long-buried letter of marque written by President George Washington that has for generations empowered a group of families that call themselves the Commonwealth. Reaching well past the powers granted them, these families have used their letter as cover for illegal actions up to and including assassinations of the U.S. presidents who have attempted to rein them in.

At one point in American history, however, they tried to take out the wrong man. In 1832, an attempt was made on the life of Andrew Jackson. But the damp pistol held by the assassin failed to fire–twice! Surviving the attempt unscathed, Jackson figured out who was behind it and exacted his punishment not by destroying the letter but burying it in an undisclosed location recorded only in a document protected by a cipher invented by Jefferson himself, thereby leaving the Commonwealth in a legal limbo–unable to prove their protection if questioned. Now they’ve struck again. Deeply opposed to the efforts of President Danny Daniels to shut down certain aspects of the U.S. intelligence infrastructure, they have launched a massive attack on his motorcade in the middle of Times Square.The only person able to stop it is former government operative Cotton Malone, and at great risk to his own well being he manages to shut it down. But in the aftermath he learns that their plan had two parts. The first part is over, thanks to him; part two is just about to begin. His friend and former boss, Magellan Billet director Stephanie Nelle is being held captive in brutal fashion, and it’s on his shoulders whether or not she’ll survive. Now a race is on to find the letter–Malone hoping to destroy it, the Commonwealth hoping to use it to reassert their power–and the action moves from New York City to North Carolina and finally culminates in a spectacular fight on the high seas.