The Watchman of Ephraim (Book Club Edition) (42 page)

Our first priority continues to be to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks.

Some of the terrorists that have taken part in this heinous act have been killed while others have been taken into custody. But make no mistake -- our search is underway for anyone else who is behind this evil act and we will not stop until every individual is found. I have directed all of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies to find those responsible. Justice will be swift and terrible for the guilty.

Speaking directly to the leaders of the countries from which these terrorists arose, Iran, Russia, Mexico – The United States expects full cooperation in the apprehension of everyone involved. Anything less than full cooperation will be interpreted as hostility and in situations as grave as this, wars have started that way.

###

FOOTNOTES

¹
Standard Operating Procedures

²
Located in North Carolina, Camp Lejeune is the largest Marine Corps Base on the East Coast.

³
A CWO is a Chief Warrant Officer in the USMC.

⁴
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense.

⁵
Skype® is a software application that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet. Skype uses proprietary encryption that, to date, the NSA has had difficulty cracking.

⁶
“Cordoba” or the Cordoba Project is the name given to the mosque planned to be built just blocks away from Ground Zero.

⁷
“Baibars” was the Sultan of Egypt and Syria.

⁸
(Gabrieli, 1984).

⁹
The New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University located in Ithaca, New York.

¹⁰
Department of Homeland Security

¹¹
Chinitas is another name for a female gaucho.

¹²
“Gallitos” means tough guy, commonly used in Mexico.

¹³
The Eurocopter EC135 is a twin-engine civil helicopter produced by Eurocopter, widely used amongst police and ambulance services and for executive transport.

¹⁴
The MEU (SOC) pistol, officially designated the M-45 MEUSOC, is a magazine-fed, recoil-operated, single-action, semiautomatic handgun chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. Based on the original M1911 design by John Browning, the M-45 has been the standard-issue side arm for the Force Recon Element of the United States Marine Corps' Marine Expeditionary Units from 1985 to today.

¹⁵
The M40 is a bolt-action sniper rifle used by the United States Marine Corps.

¹⁶
The Auto Assault-12 (AA-12) is a 12 gauge shotgun capable of selective fire, operating as a semi-automatic, or in fully automatic mode at 300 rounds per minute. It is fed from either an 8-shell box magazine, or a 20 or 32-shell drum magazine.

¹⁷
The MPK-Ti is a titanium, light weight, non magnetic, non corrosive, and multi functional knife that can be used in all environments. It was designed to meet the requirements of the Navy SEAL's and has also been adopted and issued by the United States Marine Corps Recon personnel.

¹⁸
An improvised explosive device (IED), also known as a roadside bomb due to contemporary use, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action.

¹⁹
DHS-CBP stands for Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection.

²⁰
ICE stands for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

²¹
A coyote is a person who smuggles illegal immigrants into the United States, especially across the Mexican border.

²²
The Gulfstream G550 is a business jet aircraft produced by General Dynamics' Gulfstream Aerospace unit, located in Savannah, Georgia, USA. It is a variant of the Gulfstream V with longer range.

²³
Semper Fidelis is Latin for "Always Faithful". Well known in the United States as the motto of the U.S. Marine Corps (and often shortened to Semper Fi in Marine contexts).

²⁴
The M4 carbine is a family of firearms tracing its lineage back to earlier carbine versions of the M16, all based on the original AR-15 designed by Eugene Stoner and made by ArmaLite. It is a shorter and lighter version of the M16A2 assault rifle, with 80% parts commonality.

²⁵
The M4 has selective fire options including semi-automatic and three-round burst (like the M16A2), while the M4A1 has a "full auto" option instead of three-round burst.

²⁶
Voice over Internet Protocol (Voice over IP, VoIP) is a general term for a family of methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission technologies for delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet.

²⁷
FEMA stands for Federal Emergency Management Agency.

²⁸
"Omaha" is the call sign used for all DHS-CBP aircraft (all types) including the UH-60-A Blackhawk helicopter.

²⁹
Light to carry and easy to operate, the FIM-92 Stinger is a passive surface-to-air missile, shoulder-fired by a single operator, although officially it requires two. The FIM-92B can attack aircraft at a range of up to 15,700 feet (4,800 m) and at altitudes between 600 and 12,500 feet (180 and 3,800 m).

³⁰
The Winchester® Model 1895 High Grade is patterned after the gun Theodore Roosevelt called his “Big Medicine,” the one he took on his famous safari in 1909. The rifle is chambered in the famous 405 Winchester caliber.

The Author

Gerard de Marigny (pronounced “de-Mar-E-nee”) has been a successful musician and entrepreneur and now intends to bring his passion for his faith and writing together, in his novels. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, Gerard was the lead guitarist for a rock band that sold many thousands of records all over the world. His band won the “Best New Video” award on MTV in1983, but a life-threatening illness (cancer, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma) and an epiphany of faith inspired him to leave that lifestyle and devote himself to “living his faith.”

Gerard continued writing music for TV and a movie, while branching out and starting his own businesses in the transportation and financial industries. Yet, his lifelong ambition was to bring to life righteous characters that would inspire others.

In 2007, Gerard was awarded the prestigious Fischer Family Scholarship for the Arts from Penn State University, for a 5,000-word autobiographical work he was commissioned to write. He has also recently been featured by Penn State in their “Be Exceptional” series, with full-page advertisements in U.S. News & World Report (September 2010) and the Penn Stater (July-August 2010) magazines.

In 2011, he completed his debut novel, THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM, a political thriller which is book one of his WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM series.

COMING SEPTEMBER 2011! _SIGNS OF WAR_

The second novel in THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM series

Discover other titles by Gerard de Marigny at Smashwords.com

Smashwords author page:
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/GerarddeMarigny

For all up-to-date info on Author Gerard de Marigny please visit:

My website & blog, “The World According to g”:
www.GerarddeMarigny.com

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/Gerarddem

Twitter:
www.Twitter.com/GerarddeMarigny

LinkedIn:
www.LinkedIn.com/in/GerarddeMarigny

MySpace:
www.MySpace.com/GerarddeMarigny

My email:
[email protected]

Book Club Guide

1. For the person who chose this book: What made you want to read it? What made you suggest it to the group for discussion? Did it live up to your expectations? Why or why not?
   

2. How is the book structured? Does the author use any narrative devices like flashbacks or multiple voices in telling the story? How did this affect your reading of the story and your appreciation of the book? Do you think the author did a good job with it?
   

3. Talk about the author's use of language/writing style. Have each member read his or her favorite passage out loud. (You might want to warn them ahead of time that they'll be doing this so they'll be prepared.) How does this particular passage relate to the story as a whole? Does it reveal anything specific about any of the characters or illuminate certain aspects of the story?
   

4. How effective is the author's use of plot twists and red herrings? Were you able to predict certain things before they happened, or did the author keep you guessing until the end of the story? Did you find that the novel held everyone's interest throughout the story, or were there times when it failed to totally engross members of the group?
   

5. How important is the setting to the story? If applicable, discuss the time period in which the book is set. Does the author provide enough background information for you to understand the events in the story?
   

6. What is the most important part of a thriller to each member of the group-characterization, action, dialogue, or setting? How does this book rate in each of these areas?
   

7. This novel is part of a series. Will your group read the series in order? Will the reading of the books in order, or not reading them in order, affected your group's enjoyment of each novel?
   

8. Is the author equally invested in both character and plot? Or did the author put more effort into developing the story than in creating compelling and believable characters? Were the motivations of the characters believable, or did their actions feel like a means to further the plot?
   

9. Would you recommend this work to a non thriller fan simply on the basis of its literary merit? Would you endorse it purely because of the skillful writing and the well-developed characters? Or do you think the work would strictly appeal to fans of the thriller genre.
   

10. Did this book live up to or exceed your expectations of the author?
    

11. What did you like or dislike about the book that hasn't been discussed already? Were you glad you read this book? Would you recommend it to a friend? Do you want to read more work by this author?