Red Tide

As a massive, toxic red tide algae bloom chokes the Suncoast, painting the Gulf waters a bruised plum and leaving thousands of dead fish rotting in the canals, Ray Spooner is called to audit a high-tech marine laboratory on Lido Key. A brilliant marine biologist has disappeared, along with millions of dollars in federal research grants and a highly classified surveillance technology designed for deep-water tracking.
While the media blames the scientist's flight on the ecological disaster, Ray's diagnostic mind focuses on the laboratory's electronic infrastructure. Using a Tektronix analog oscilloscope, he detects a subtle three-percent carrier wave offset-a tiny outlier margin in the lab's marine transmission lines-tracing a hidden telemetry link deep into the Myakka River swamps.
Maya Spooner uses her marine biology background to guide Ray through the suffocating, tea-colored waters of the mangroves, dodging both the toxic red tide and armed tactical sweeps from a private security firm. The trail leads to a clandestine, off-grid repeater network designed to route black-market surveillance data. Ray must expose the shadow network before the toxic tide sweeps away the evidence forever.