SYNOPSIS

End Game: Irrational Acts, Tragic Consequences, is Book III of The Antarctic Murders Trilogy. In many ways, it brings to an end three things: the sagas of Captain Roberto Muñoz of the Lientur, the hunt for the millions of dollars in U.S. and British cash, negotiable securities, gold coins, and jewelry stolen from the Banco Central de Chile following the Chilean Earthquake of May, 1960, and the murders that follow the robbery. Book I: Frozen in Time: Murder at the Bottom of the World, introduced American scientists Ted Stone and Grant Morris, who, while performing geological and geophysical field work with the assistance of Captain Roberto Muñoz of the Chilean auxiliary tug Lientur, were caught up in the hunt for the robbers and the spoils from the robbery, and murder. Unfinished Business: Pursuit of an Antarctic Killer, introduced Captain Mateo Valderas and Lieutenant-Commander Antonio Del Río of the Chilean Navy’s Office of Internal Affairs. Initially assigned to solve a murder in Arica, they soon found themselves facing perhaps the most vicious, cunning thief and murderer they ever encountered. The return of American scientists Ted Stone and Grant Morris to Santiago for the purpose of helping personnel of the University of Chile prepare for the 20th Chilean Expedition to the Antarctic, beginning in December 1965, jeopardizes the lives of both scientists. What ‘irrational act’ will elicit the tragic consequences that finally bring everything to an end? For the answer, read Book III: End Game: Irrational Acts, Tragic Consequences.

EXCERPT

“So, Roberto, what went wrong?” asked Valderas, stalling for time.
“You had all the opportunities anyone could ask for in life handed to you. I mean, look at how far you’ve come. You could have ended up spending your life in the copper mines, like your father . . . doing back-breaking work with nothing to show for it when you died except a broken body, dirt under your fingernails, and calluses on your hands. It was Don Pablo Larenas who took you out of the mines and into his home. For God’s sake, Roberto, he treated you like the son he never had.”

“Oh, yes, that he did, Mateo.” Muñoz spit contemptuously on the ground. “He took care of me, all right. Treated me like his son, too. Dammit, Mateo, don’t you see? He groomed me to take over his Cartel. He gave me everything he wanted me to have so that someday, I could give him what he wanted.

“Meanwhile, you had the best upbringing anyone could have wanted . . . a good family, one that treated you with love and respect, let you explore the world, gave you time for hobbies, time to collect coins, look at catalogs . . . time to have a childhood. I never had those opportunities! Everything I was given or asked to do was, in the end, for the benefit of Don Pablo Larenas!”

“But he got you into the Naval Academy, Roberto. And once you were there, it was you who met the Academy’s high standards for excellence—both academic and physical. You can’t fake that!”

“True enough, Mateo. But at some point, I had to start moving through the system on my own, and the stigma of my background was always there. ‘Copper miner’s son!’ ‘He’ll never amount to anything in the Navy!’ Don’t you think I knew what they were saying behind my back?

“Do you remember what happened to me the first time I came up for promotion to lieutenant-commander? Some admiral, an elitist, liked neither my background nor the manner in which I gained entrance to the Academy. As a result, I was passed over for promotion. Don Larenas was furious. I told him I wanted to try again on my own. He wouldn’t hear of it. Several months later, the unexplained early retirement of that Board member, a vice admiral no less, cleared the way for my promotion to lieutenant-commander and subsequently, to captain.