«Ramseyer's Ghost» by Manu Herbstein

2050.





The global village has disintegrated.





The Third World War, ending in a stalemate, has left the planet split between two hostile powers, each with a captive sphere of influence.





The Atlantic Ocean has become an American sea.





West Africa is a desert of failed states and anarchy, dotted with mines and oil rigs, stockaded and armed by U. S. corporations.





From their island outpost of St. Thomas, the Americans dispatch expeditions of geologists and mining engineers into the dangerous interior of the Dark Continent to search for untapped mineral resources.





One such expedition has gone missing.





Ekem “Crash” Ferguson, born in the U.S. in 2008 of African parents and abandoned to the care of foster parents, is a Captain in the Marine Corps. His career blocked and his marriage failing, he accepts an offer to proceed to Ghana on a one-man mission to find the missing experts. Unknown to his handlers, he has another mission.





His arrival in Africa is inauspicious: in a shack amongst the coconut palms he comes across two human skeletons. This is only the first incident in what turns out to be a journey of discovery and self-discovery.





“Magnificently crafted political fiction.” Andre Vltchek, author of Aurora and Exposing the Lies of the Empire.