Showing results by narrator "Derek Shoales" in All Categories

The disappearance of a wealthy Brazilian industrialist’s daughter, Lara, causes Thiago to hire the world's most elite information-gathering unit, the R-Group, to quietly locate and return her. Is the heiress in trouble and gone forever or merely hiding in plain sight to escape her destiny? The award-winning Breakfield and Burkey story draws you into a techno-thriller that focuses on overcoming opportunistic cyber-crime in the high-stakes world of information brokering in today’s 21st century.

Julie and Juan’s cyber assassin technology services team or CATS find themselves immersed in outrageous cyber-crime events in multiple locations. They send their feet-on-the-street teams to investigate the causes of the mayhem. Unexpectedly, they find the culprits are holding international cities, big businesses, air traffic, and even emergency systems hostage to terrifying digital ransom demands.

Transforming Project Management takes you beyond envisioning a great strategy and into the realm of implementing it - with skill, care, and expertise. Petersen explains how to break down a strategic plan into key objectives and project portfolios to make sense of all the project "parts" - then successfully lead the execution of the plan. 

If you are considering remarriage and want to do everything you can to ensure a happy and fulfilling union, turn to Ron Deal and the Smart Stepfamily series. This is the ideal book for engaged or pre-engaged couples who have at least one child from a previous relationship, offering premarital counsel about how to prepare to blend family relationships, parenting, finances, rituals, and daily routines for your new life together.

The greatest heroes of the Commonwealth are gathered in the breach for one last fight. The Transformation Virus rages through human space like a wildfire, changing ordinary men and women into psionic demi-gods, bent on destruction and conquest. The government has fallen, the military is helpless, and the fate of humanity rests in the hands of a collection of unlikely saviors.

Are you an experienced cloud security professional looking to upskill or take your career to the next level? The demand for cloud security expertise is skyrocketing and earning a Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) certification is one way to demonstrate your knowledge. But preparing for the exam can be daunting. This comprehensive guide, written by industry expert Ric Messier, provides an in-depth look at the CCSP exam and covers the essential topics for today's security and cloud practitioners.

Dr. Xavier Pekoni, a rich evil scientist, is working on his underground Fountain of Youth project. Using nanotechnology and DNA mapping, he is desperately close to extending life 10-fold, which has driven him to extreme research methods. The R-Group is called in by government agencies to locate Pekoni, verify his unethical practices, and stop him at all costs.

In the not-so-distant future, the world is drowning in an ocean of data. Every click, every purchase, every heartbeat monitored by a wearable device contributes to an ever-expanding digital universe. Amidst this chaos, a sinister force is at work, threatening to steal the very essence of our future. Gretchen, a mathematical prodigy and the spoiled heiress, has harnessed the power of supercomputers and Big Data to bend the world’s economic landscape. As a direct descendant of the infamous Nazi Werewolf Clan, Gretchen is driven by a dark legacy and an insatiable desire to control the future.

You've heard of Pangea, the single landmass that broke apart some 175 million years ago to give us our current continents, but what about its predecessors, Rodinia or Columbia? These "supercontinents" from Earth's past provide evidence that land repeatedly joins and separates. While scientists debate what that next supercontinent will look like—and what to name it—they all agree: one is coming.

Orphan Jace Kasia might have found a home in the green hills and golden valleys of the Insubri. But several things prevented him from relishing his new life. He didn't know his name, he couldn't recollect his training, and he lived like a dog on a farm outside a border town. Although the Carthaginian General had departed for Africa, the defensive profile of the Legions needed to contain Hannibal continued to linger like a bad odor. Like other nations forced into agreements, the tribes sought to break treaties and unharness from the tack and yoke of Rome.

The line of war elephants scattered the lightly armored Velites. In retreat, the skirmishers filtered through the Legion ranks. Not that it made a difference, but the First Maniple wore heavier armor and grasped bigger shields. But like the Velites, the Legionaries were no match for the enormous beasts. Tusks capped with bronze tips swung, defining the width of destruction expected by each Century. Archers on the backs of the animals launched arrows into the Legion ranks. Legionaries fell from the arrows, were pulled back and off their combat lines. Those were the lucky ones.

In the seven years since he crossed the Alps and began his war against the Roman Republic, Hannibal Barca stood unbeaten in battle. However, maintaining a large army was a costly proposition and the government of Carthage proved stingy with its coins. To intercept the supplies destined for Hannibal, the Senate of Rome stationed Legions in Iberia. But, when the Legions were destroyed by Hannibal's brother and their Generals killed, the Senate could not find a willing replacement. Enter one Tribune who hungered for the position.

Once the Carthaginian forces were removed from Iberia, the reinforcements and supplies for Hannibal Barca dwindled to a trickle. Even so, Hannibal held onto the southwest quadrant of the Italian peninsula and remained a danger to the Republic. Although made rich from his conquests, the architect of the victory in Iberia retreated to Rome.

It's been said, "You may not think you're at war. But a surprise attack by an enemy means they are at war with you, so you'd best prepare." Metaphorically, the same can be said of an apprentice of war. There was no doubt, Hannibal Barca was a master of war. Since he came down from the Alps and swept away the Roman Legions sent to stop him, he proved it to Rome and to the rest of the ancient world. Yet, from the first engagement on Republic soil, Hannibal attracted an apprentice.

In late 2019, Dennis Oya's persistent cough was just the beginning of a harrowing tale of neglect and systemic failure in a Washington prison. Diagnosed eighteen months later with tuberculosis (TB), Oya's case sparked one of the largest prison TB outbreaks in decades, affecting over 3,000 contacts. This outbreak, and others like it, exposes the glaring weaknesses in prison healthcare systems. In Outbreak Behind Bars, Homer Venters reveals the grim realities of how communicable diseases thrive in the overcrowded, unsanitary conditions of correctional facilities.

Indrajit and Fix are the founding partners of the Protagonists, a jobber company in Kish. Since the seven great families of Kish farm out all tasks they and the city need doing, a jobber might one day unblock a well; the next, man a tollgate for the fair; and on the third, hunt down a murderer on the loose, all in a corrupt old city that isn't so much governed as kept barely in bounds.

Chen JieMin hypothesized the existence of hyperspace. The government of Arcadia put a project together to build a hyperspace probe. Chen ChaoLi managed the project to build a successful probe and transition it there and back.

They were on their own. In September 2245, the artificial intelligence known as Janice Quant dropped 100,000 colonists and their supplies in the subtropical zone of the planet they named Arcadia. One of the colonist groups was the Chen-Jasic group, composed of 31 American suburbanites and 31 Chinese peasants. They formed an alliance, then solidified it into a family, acting in the best interests of the group. The Chen-Jasic family would play a critical role in the first 150 years of the Arcadia colony. This is their story.

ICABOD is destroyed, and key members of the R-Group are declared renegades, with Quip thrown in jail. In the new digital world, there is no tolerance for privately owned supercomputers. Globally, computers are hunted and destroyed for the greater good by the new cyber police CESPOOL. The information this group receives is manipulated by subversive hidden machine learning devices, the MAG running on the dark net.

Jeb Miller is one of those Texans this vigilante saves after Jeb’s parents are slaughtered by Spotted Horse and his ruthless son Nacoma. Jeb goes on a mission to bring the renegade Comanche’s to justice and is so doing crosses paths with the Laramie Kid and the lone cowboy...with deadly results. Indeed, who is this lone cowboy in the dirty white Stetson and why does he risk his life so freely? How does the Laramie Kid bring him to justice? And what role does the Laramie Kid’s love for Annie Oakley play?