Mac McClelland

Navy Lieutenant Julia Whitlow and NCIS Investigator Stephanie Duggan are kidnapped off the street in Naples, Italy, and forced into a global prostitution ring based in Kyiv, Ukraine. With no chance of escaping and no communication with the outside world, the women do what they must to survive, being ferried around the world to satisfy the escort agency's clients who demand only the best. Marine Corps Captain Katy Morgan and her newly formed hostage rescue team are summoned to the White House, where President JoAnne Rush initiates Operation Distal Watchman to find and rescue the women. A cat-and-mouse game ensues, with the agency going so far as to sell the women to terrorists to avoid being attacked by the U.S. military force. Katy and her team use wits and cunning to overcome the obstacles on the path to freeing the women, along with the firepower the team brings to bear against a superior force bent on keeping them and repelling their liberators. Where are Julia and Stephanie, what condition are they in, and will Katy get there soon enough to save them?

Navy Lieutenant Julia Whitlow and NCIS Investigator Stephanie Duggan are kidnapped off the street in Naples, Italy, and forced into a global prostitution ring based in Kyiv, Ukraine. With no chance of escaping and no communication with the outside world, the women do what they must to survive, being ferried around the world to satisfy the escort agency's clients who demand only the best. Marine Corps Captain Katy Morgan and her newly formed hostage rescue team are summoned to the White House, where President JoAnne Rush initiates Operation Distal Watchman to find and rescue the women. A cat-and-mouse game ensues, with the agency going so far as to sell the women to terrorists to avoid being attacked by the U.S. military force. Katy and her team use wits and cunning to overcome the obstacles on the path to freeing the women, along with the firepower the team brings to bear against a superior force bent on keeping them and repelling their liberators. Where are Julia and Stephanie, what condition are they in, and will Katy get there soon enough to save them?

Increasingly deadly and destructive attacks on the United States and her allies have grown in intensity and frequency in the past twenty-five years, ignored by successive administrations on both sides of the American political spectrum. But President JoAnne Rush has decided enough is enough, initiating action where it's needed to stop a persistent threat and relying on Marine Corps Captain Katy Morgan to take the fight directly to the enemy. From her assignment as an intelligence officer supporting SEAL Team 3 in San Diego to the shores of Tripoli, Katy is unaware of the forces trying to stop her from accomplishing the mission, of hostages bought and sold by terrorists and dictators, and of the geopolitics in the Middle East. She is drawn into a world of deception and betrayal, where only her values as a Marine officer keep her focused on the objective: to stop a state sponsor of global terrorism. Who's following her, and what do they want? Why was Katy selected for this mission, and what will she find when she gets there?

Increasingly deadly and destructive attacks on the United States and her allies have grown in intensity and frequency in the past twenty-five years, ignored by successive administrations on both sides of the American political spectrum. But President JoAnne Rush has decided enough is enough, initiating action where it's needed to stop a persistent threat and relying on Marine Corps Captain Katy Morgan to take the fight directly to the enemy. From her assignment as an intelligence officer supporting SEAL Team 3 in San Diego to the shores of Tripoli, Katy is unaware of the forces trying to stop her from accomplishing the mission, of hostages bought and sold by terrorists and dictators, and of the geopolitics in the Middle East. She is drawn into a world of deception and betrayal, where only her values as a Marine officer keep her focused on the objective: to stop a state sponsor of global terrorism. Who's following her, and what do they want? Why was Katy selected for this mission, and what will she find when she gets there?

There are bad things going on in Burma that you don't know about. There's a civil war (the world's longest running, in fact) raging between the government and ethnic rebels. Much of the United States' heroin comes from there. And there's the small matter that America helped make it all possible with overt funding and the CIA's very first secret war. Of course, you wouldn't know any of this because Burma is a country nearly shut out from the rest of the world, with the only footage of the carnage coming via groups of young, tough, booze-loving refugees who run into war zones to collect it. And with these refugees is where we find Nicole McClelland embedded in her staggering debut, For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question. McClelland weaves a narrative that is part investigative journalism, part popular history, and part memoir of a midwestern, twenty-something woman living with refugee activists on the Burma-Thailand border. Driven by the community McClelland is illegally aiding--a small group of brave young men and women--For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question is an urgent and fascinating look at a weary conflict, told by a bright, new voice.