Dawn over Europe

Fighting a war against a known enemy is difficult enough, but it is made even more arduous when you dont know the face of your enemy. In the novel Dawn over Europe, private detectives Reggie Nutsbagh and Toby Preston, are chased by a faceless foe across Europe, where they not only are forced to confront unknown opponents but an unfamiliar culture and language. The tale begins when a plain brown envelope arrives at the Las Vegas office of Broken Dreams Detective Agency and is accidentally sealed in a packing box, as the agency is in the process of moving to larger quarters. While the envelope sits in a packing box Nutsbagh receives a phone call, purportedly from Luxembourg, asking for the agencys help. The caller, a man with a Spanish accent, mentions an envelope sent to the agency and addressed to Toby Preston, but before he is able to continue, the conversation is interrupted by what sounds like gunfire. Moments later a different voice with an indistinguishable accent comes on the line enquiring as to who is on the other end of the phone. Assuming the call is a prank Reggie answers with a terse rejoinder, and then ends the conversation. Later that night Reggie and Toby surprise and kill three burglars who forcibly break into their office. Two other men are seen speeding out of the parking lot and are assumed to be in league with the dead intruders. As the dead men were of Saudi Arabian descent and in possession of Pakistani passports, the FBI becomes involved and puts the two detectives under surveillance. Days pass and the missing envelope is forgotten until Toby receives a letter from his Israeli brother-in-law, Joel Garza, in which is enclosed a newspaper article from a Luxembourg newspaper describing a massacre. Three of the dead in the massacre are identified as scientists formerly attending school in the United States. Police at the scene mentioned the name of Broken Dreams, which is the reason Joel sent the newspaper article to Toby, as being the last number called from the room where the bodies were discovered. But the police assume, because of the name Broken Dreams, that it is a company dealing with affairs of the heart and disregard the phone call. This creates a renewed search for the envelope and the secretary finds it, as she empties one of the packing boxes. Once opened its contents reveal a complicated chemistry formula, a crude, coded map and two first-class airline tickets to Munich, Germany, along with hotel reservations, and a hand-written note. The note detailed some of what the unknown caller was trying to tell Toby before he was silenced listing also a contact number should something happen to the men who sent the envelope. Disposing of the formula, which Reggie from his rudimentary chemistry knowledge determines to be some kind of anthrax, the two men agree they need to go to Europe and locate the formula for the antidote Convincing their two wives in the final trimester of pregnancy that they must leave the country for a mission in Europe proves to be a battle in itself. But with the assurance it is merely a short search and find task, the ladies reluctantly relent. Meanwhile from within a cave deep in the mountains of Pakistan, a terrorist whose name is known to the world summons a world-renowned assassin, Abdullah Taqir, to his mountain hideaway. When the huge professional killer leaves the secluded cave he carries with him instructions to steal the formula and kill Nutsbagh and Preston. Upon arrival in Munich Nutsbagh and Preston take time out for a meal in their hotels restaurant, but it is interrupted by a phone message. Toby accepts the call to find its a woman seeking to meet with them in regards to locating the hidden formula. After a few contentious words with the caller, who refused to give her name, a small farming community named Dorfen was settled on for the meeting. As detectives Reggie and Toby