Book excerpt: Two massive ships are on a dual path to destruction. One is a freighter carrying nuclear materials to Japan; the other, a cruise ship heading for the Mediterranean. Neither will reach their destinations. Two factions—Japanese eco-terrorists and Middle East extremists—have joined forces to infiltrate the ships, incapacitate the crew, and change course toward a common target: The United States of America. In Washington, Charlie Dean and a team of commandos are dispatched on a life-or-death mission to blow the hijackers' plot out of the water. Their plan: board the ship unnoticed, pose as ordinary passengers, and overtake the terrorists. But time is running out. The seized ships are crossing the Atlantic with the combined strength of a full-scale nuclear torpedo. And New York City is just on the horizon....in Stephen Coonts' Deep Black: Sea of Terror, cowritten with William H. Keith.