Escapade 297

This chilling thriller came to be written because the SS Richard Montgomery, a USA Liberty Ship, sank in the Thames Estuary in August 1944 and remained there, masts visible and much of her deadly cargo still aboard… On March 27th 1980 a resident in Suffolk receives an anonymous telephone call telling him that unless the British Government removes its troops policing the colony of Cortesa, Central America, before 14th April, then the Richard Montgomery will get blown up on that date. Was it a hoax? And if it wasn't, how was it to be achieved? And by whom? Philip Hardie, a Secret Intelligence Service Officer heads the teams charged with finding the answers. They must make the ship safe well before the 14th deadline, if the public are not, out of necessity, to be made aware that a wreck, which has over the years become a tourist attraction, is now something much more – a stockpile of terror. A story of the security forces efforts and what Hardie learns during the course of events…