The Savage Seas

This thriller, set in 2014, follows the International Marine Police, a United Nations Agency, in its fight against human trafficking, otherwise known as 21st Century slavery. The IMP is the brainchild of former English Merchant Navy Commodore William Smart, and has already had much success in combating modern day piracy at sea.
The Commodore has learnt that Gabriel Obi, an African gang leader, snatches women and children from Somali villages and transports them on his own ship to a small port in Peru. Here, Obi has teamed up with Raol Santos, a violent gang leader who will arrange the sale of the captives to the highest bidder. Amongst the captives on the first slave trip is Amal, an eight year old girl destined for a miserable life as a domestic servant or for an even worse life in America's underage sex trade. The ship's next voyage is imminent and the IMP plans to replace two of the ship's crew with their own men.
Meanwhile, on American soil the Security Services unearth a terrorist plot to carry out a series of deadly attacks, killing thousands of people on a scale never before seen in a Western country. The terrorists will supplement their men with kidnapped women and children to give the appearance of family groups enjoying normal day to day life. Can the IMP overcome the twin evils of terrorism and human trafficking?
This story sees the return of two key characters from The Killing Seas, both ex Merchant Navy Officers. The first is Ellie Bannerman, a Marine Engineer who was attacked in an attempted rape before she joined the IMP. She was supported through her ordeal by Commodore Smart and left active service to join his new force. In this novel Ellie leads the IMP's crack troopers in the attacks on the Peruvian end of the trafficking pipeline.
The other character is Ben Petersen, a former Merchant Navy Chief Officer whose wife was murdered in an unsuccessful hijacking by pirates off the Somalian coast. Ben, like Ellie, has difficulty in developing a personal life but is absolutely committed to the IMP and its fight against piracy. He will go back to sea as the Chief Officer of the ship carrying the captives.
They are joined once more by a crack team of US Navy SEALs led by Captain Jake Stanley, Pete Davey and Captain Jelly, a South American tugboat captain and IMP undercover agent. Once more the Commodore will rely heavily on his backroom staff, particularly his Chief of Staff Danny Daniels and his Head of Intelligence Ginger Rogers.
With the FBI and CIA becoming increasingly anxious, will the IMP succeed in bringing the misery of human trafficking to an end and remove the threat of a series of terrorist attacks on America's best known and most visited tourist venues?