Linchpin

Thomas Secomb receives a phone call from Clint Garrison, his former salvage partner in the Middle East. Clint needs to borrow money to salvage a new aluminum vessel for Lloyds of London. But Tom is now an economics professor and is reluctant to get involved.Secomb could not know that finally agreeing to the loan sets off a chain of events that leads to his and his partner's involvements with the Russian KGB and renegade Iranian military officers bent on revenge against the U.S.Russian economic analysts think the world is headed for a severe financial crisis and a possible Depression worse than the 1930s. Their research shows that a Long Wave Economic Cycle is due to bottom out, a Kondratieff Cycle. The KGB has a plan to make the ensuing crisis worse.Clint Garrison discovers that a ship, the Dachow, that sank in the Persian Gulf, was carrying millions in gold and precious jewels from the former shah of Iran's fleeing military officers. The challenging task of salvaging the precious cargo draws the two Americans into a web of conflicting associations with the sinister Iranians and Russians.Iran's officers exact their revenge on the U.S. Manipulating Russian KGB officers use expendable patsies to cover up their involvement. Only when it is too late to back out do the salvage divers face death from shark attacks and Iranian marines. Only then does Tom discover the purpose behind their deadly work. As a result of events, circumstances are set in motion for a financial crisis worse than any since the Great Depression.