Oceans Deep...A new thriller due in about 10 months.

Oceans Deep opens in a world of rising geopolitical tension.

President Trump pulls the U.S. out of its NATO commitments, creating a power vacuum in Europe. The narrative follows several interconnected characters. Clio Strong, Director-General of Britain's SIS ("C"), is tasked with navigating the crisis. Her niece, Royal Navy Lieutenant Aphi Macmorris, is an officer aboard HMS Scimitar, a Trident nuclear missile submarine. Her boyfriend, James Bardolph, is a junior minister for naval policy. In Glasgow, retired National Crime Agency investigator Sandy Prentice is tasked by SIS to investigate the murder of a resettled Russian asset codenamed “Nutmeg."

The investigation reveals Nutmeg was not the man killed; he has vanished. This threatens SIS's most valuable Kremlin source, "Chervil" (Anatoly Gurov), the last active member of Nutmeg's network.

In London, Benjamin Frome, a brilliant but resentful Royal Navy cryptographer in the top-secret Room 128, feels undervalued. He is targeted and successfully recruited by Russian intelligence handler Ali Mohsen, and begins leaking sensitive nuclear command algorithms.

Russia stages a false-flag "dirty bomb" attack in Smolensk, blaming it on a UK-backed mercenary group. Using this as a pretext, Russia launches conventional missile strikes on NATO's Aegis Ashore anti-missile sites in Poland and Romania, killing several US service members and triggering an Article 5 mutual defence declaration. While NATO debates its response, Ukraine launches a surprise, devastatingly successful offensive into Russia, encircling hundreds of thousands of Russian troops. This military disaster pushes Russia's hardline generals, led by Sergei Kurchik, to sideline a hesitant Putin and prepare for a massive escalation.

In London, Clio's personal and professional lives collide when her ex-husband, Alec, now a CIA officer, confirms the U.S. will not defend Europe. As the UK prepares for war, activating its "Alkali" government dispersal plan, Clio learns James Bardolph has been killed in action during a liaison mission in Ukraine.

Chervil/Gurov contacts his SIS handler, Finn Dalgety, in Moscow with a "tripwire" warning: a full-scale Russian strategic nuclear attack on NATO is imminent. The warning is flashed to London.

The UK's chain of command initiates a retaliatory strike. The launch order is transmitted to HMS Scimitar.

The authentication codes fail to match—perhaps a direct result of a cyberattack utilizing the algorithms leaked by Frome. As per protocol, the submarine's captain, Commander Gower, opens the Prime Minister's sealed "letter of last resort" to receive her final orders.

The crew watch in disbelief as she holds up the letter. It’s a single, official sheet of paper with the Downing Street letterhead. What’s there, or what’s missing, comes as no small surprise….

Let’s not spoil it by giving away the ending…

Oceans Deep will be published by Roundfire, fiction imprint of Collective Ink.