Sins of the Titanic (A James Acton Thriller, #13)

FROM USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR J. ROBERT KENNEDY

THE ASSEMBLY IS ETERNAL.

AND THEY’LL STOP AT NOTHING TO KEEP IT THAT WAY.

INCLUDING KILLING MEDDLING ARCHEOLOGY PROFESSORS.

When Professor James Acton is contacted about a painting thought to have been lost with the sinking of the Titanic, he is inadvertently drawn into a century old conspiracy an ancient organization known as The Assembly will stop at nothing to keep secret.

It’s a race against time to discover what really happened the night the Titanic sank, and to stop a ruthless assassin determined to kill anyone exposed to the shocking truth.

A century old conspiracy, torn from survivors’ accounts, is laid bare in the most exciting James Acton thriller yet. From USA Today bestselling author J. Robert Kennedy comes the next installment of the internationally bestselling series, uniting all your favorite characters in an adventure filled with action, intrigue, romance and laughs.

Hearts will be broken, the innocent will die, but the truth will finally be revealed of what happened the night Titanic sank.

"James Acton: A little bit of Jack Bauer and Indiana Jones!"

Though this book is part of the James Acton Thrillers series, it is written as a standalone novel and can be enjoyed without having read any
of the previous installments.

USA Today bestselling author J. Robert Kennedy has been ranked by Amazon as the #1 Bestselling Action Adventure
novelist based upon combined sales. He is the author of over twenty international bestsellers including the smash hit James Acton Thrillers series of which the first
installment,
The Protocol
, has been on the bestseller lists since its release, including occupying the number one spot for three months.
He lives with his wife and daughter and writes full-time.

"If you want fast and furious, if you can cope with a high body count,
most of all if you like to be hugely entertained, then you can't do much better than J Robert Kennedy."

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Find out more at
www.jrobertkennedy.com
.

For the victims.

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the
issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and
corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the
people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the
continent their fathers conquered.”

Thomas Jefferson

“These circumstances convince me that the ship seen by the
Californian was the Titanic and if so, according to Captain Lord, the two
vessels were about five miles apart at the time of the disaster....When she
first saw the rockets the Californian could have pushed through the ice to the
open water without any serious risk and so have come to the assistance of the
Titanic. Had she done so she might have saved many if not all of the lives that
were lost.”

Lord Mersey in the final report on the sinking of the Titanic
July 30, 1912

This story deals with one of the greatest maritime disasters in
history. Over 1500 souls died that day with heroism and bravery displayed by
many. Any reference to actions or deeds by the captain or crew of the RMS
Titanic are purely my own invention, and should not be in any way interpreted
as an historical account of what any one individual did or did not do on that
fateful night. This book is entirely a work of fiction and no disrespect is
intended.

This
book also deals with a United States Presidential election. I have avoided all
references to any characters being Republican or Democrat, and though this book
is again “torn from the headlines”, any similarity to actual individuals is
purely coincidental.

On April 14
^th
, 1912, at 11:40pm, the Royal Mail Ship Titanic
hit an iceberg only 37 seconds after it was spotted by the lookouts. A distress
call went out almost immediately, however there was only one ship in the area,
the RMS Carpathia. The Unsinkable Ship snapped in half less than three hours after
the initial impact, the design fundamentally flawed. The watertight bulkheads,
meant to prevent water from moving from one section of the ship to the next,
were not built high enough. This meant that when one section filled, it spilled
over the top of the bulkhead to the next section and then the next, dooming the
luxury liner.

This all
so the rich could enjoy spectacular lines of sight in their unsinkable ship.

And
because of the arrogance displayed in the design of the ship, the largest of
its time, the belief it was unsinkable meant lifeboats were an annoyance rather
than a safety feature. Too few were installed to evacuate all the passengers,
as it ruined the “look” of the ship and took up too much room on the decks
where the well-heeled were to stroll after their midday tea.

A
decision that would ultimately doom over 1500.

The Carpathia
didn’t arrive until almost two hours after the Titanic sank below the ocean
surface, leaving hundreds behind in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic to
die slowly of hypothermia, their cries for help heard by the lucky few to be
saved in the too few lifeboats.

After
the fact, when interviewing survivors, many reported they thought another ship
was in the area, close by, but were assured by authorities they were mistaken,
any lights most likely planets or stars, any objects most likely icebergs or
debris.

It
wasn’t discovered until days later that the SS Californian had been sitting
unmoving, as little as five miles away, fully capable of rescuing the
passengers of the sinking liner. In fact, the lookout of the Californian had
spotted the Titanic and its emergency flares, yet their captain dismissed it as
some sort of celebration, deciding not to wake their sleeping radio operator.

So it
turned out those passengers were right all along.

Still
others claimed there was yet another ship, they too dismissed.

But what
if those survivors were right all along? After all, they were right about the
Californian, and if they were right about that, then why not about this other mysterious
ship they claimed seemed to never get closer as they rowed toward it?

And if
they were right, and that ship was indeed there, why did it sit by while over
1500 innocent souls perished?

Outside Acton & Palmer Residence, St. Paul, Maryland

“Everybody look at the bodies as if you’re shocked but not scared.
That means mouths open, eyes wide as if your dentist just squeezed your boob.”

Mai Lien
Trinh looked wide-eyed at the CIA agent driving the car, unsure of what she
meant, her English excellent but her grasp of American humor a work in
progress. She looked over at her friend, Tommy Granger, and copied him, his
mouth agape, his eyes wide, staring out the window.

And when
she looked, the shock didn’t need to be faked, her imagination not doing
reality justice. A body lay in the middle of the street, a large pool of blood
staining the pavement, a second on a nearby lawn, killed by her boss and his
wife only minutes before.

Professors
James Acton and Laura Palmer.

When she
had heard what had happened she couldn’t believe how calm they were, it almost
as if killing people were something they did every day.

Archeology
professors killing people.

She had
to remember that these two men had tried to kill the CIA agent now driving them
to safety.

Sherrie
White.

She
seemed young. Very young. Barely older than her, perhaps not even.

How
much training does it take to become a spy?

She
assumed years.

The car
pulled away from the scene of the crime and Mai took a look back, spotting the
professors pulling out of the driveway in their own vehicle, Acton’s boss and
best friend, Dean Gregory Milton and his wife Sandra, in the back seat.