This is a story based on real events that occurred between 1958 and 1965.

The trail from a major theft at the Banco Central de Chile in Talcahuano following the Great Chilean Earthquake of May 22, 1960 leads to Base Bernardo O’Higgins, a wind- and snow-swept Chilean Army outpost on the North Antarctic Peninsula. When Chilean Army 1SGT Leonardo Rodríguez fails to return from a seal hunt in the waters around the base, two Chilean Navy non-commissioned officers, CWO Raul Lucero and CPO Eduardo Osorio, become LCDR Cristian Barbudo’s prime theft and murder suspects. Fearing he will die, Barbudo reveals the identity of his two suspects to visiting scientist Ted Stone, thereby placing Stone’s life in jeopardy. But who can Stone trust with this information, if it comes to that, to see justice done? This story is a work of fiction based on real events that took place between 1958 and 1965. It is a tale of greed, betrayal, and murder—one in which the reader is given a window into the frozen world at the bottom of the Earth that few people ever will read about, much less experience. Among other things, it explores why, though seemingly unfair, bad things happen to good people; how the battle between good and evil can change forever even the most innocent person; and most of all, the role deception plays in Nature, Man, and Life.

EXCERPT

From “Chapter VIII: Unbridled Greed, Horrific Consequences”
What are the orcas doing? Where are they? His body was shaking uncontrollably, as much from fear as from the temperature of the ice on and the water penetrating his heavy clothes.

He again looked left and right.

A minute passed.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it . . . a wall of water, a 15-ton, 4-foot-high wall of seawater!

Rodríguez barely had time to comprehend what was happening when the wave hit, thrusting him and the dead seal into the air and down the backside of the ice into the water. Instantly he felt a sharp pain in his left chest, an excruciating pain that took his breath away. The numbing cold of the ice-laden water had stopped his heart. Before his hands could reach his chest, the jaws of a 6-ton killer whale clamped down on his waist. The orca’s 3-inch-long teeth ripped through his clothes, the whale’s jaws crushing his flesh and bones.

Shaking him violently, the killer dove instinctively for the depths with its prey, dragging Rodríguez’s lifeless body down 200 feet to the bottom of the channel. Two other orcas took the seal, ripping it in half. Blood sprayed over the water and ice. The killing spree was over in less than ten seconds.

Except for seal blood on the ice and one of Rodríguez’s gloves floating on the water, there were no signs of what had just happened. The orca pod disappeared into the ocean’s depths. The only sounds were from sea water and small pieces of ice lapping against the side of the launch.