May 1941. At four in the morning, a rust-streaked tramp freighter steams up the Tagus River to dock at the port of Lisbon. She is the Santa Rosa, she flies the flag of neutral Spain and is in Lisbon to load cork oak, tinned sardines, and drums of cooking oil bound for the Baltic port of Malmö. But she is not the Santa Rosa. She is the Noordendam, a Dutch freighter. Under the command of Captain Eric DeHaan, she sails for the Intelligence Division...

"Nearly two thousand years ago, an Eastern emperor charged a small group with safeguarding secrets powerful enough to change the history of mankind. They went down in legend as the Nine Unknown Men--and now two rival factions of their descendants are fighting a mighty battle. Both sides think they are saving the world, but their tactics could very well bring about the end of humankind. Soon, Juan Cabrillo and his team of expert operatives aboard the...

Captain Cabrillo and his intelligence agents plan to strike a deal with the Russians and Chinese to exchange a golden Buddha containing records of oil reserves for Tibet's freedom, but his enemies will do anything to stop him.

As the mercenary captain of the Lady Corsair, Yasmeen has learned to keep her heart as cold as steel, her loyalty bound to her ship and crew. So when a man who once tried to seize her airship returns from the dead, she'll be damned if she gives him another opportunity. But treasure-hunter Archimedes Fox isn't interested in the Lady Corsair - he wants her coldhearted captain and the valuable da Vinci sketch she stole from him. To reclaim it, he's determined...

Stung by the critical reception and lack of commercial success of his previous books, Herman Melville became obsessed with the difficulties of communicating his vision to readers. That sense of isolation lies at the heart of these later works. "Billy Budd, Sailor" is the story of an innocent young man unable to defend himself against a wrongful accusation. The other selections include "Bartleby," "The Encantadas," "Benito Cereno," and "The Piazza."...