When The Devil Whistles

“Rick Acker has done it again! He’s become one of my favorite suspense novelists by the simple expedient of delivering the goods in every book. This time, a federal whistle-blower may have blown her whistle one time too many. Is she in too deep this time? This book kept screaming my name every time I tried to put it down.”

—R
ANDY
I
NGERMANSON
, Christy award-winning author of
Oxygen

“Gripping, edge-of-your-seat fiction.
When the Devil Whistles
is a fast mix of suspense, compelling characters, and legal intrigue as only Acker can write it. I dare you to try to put this book down.”

—T
OSCA
L
EE
, author of
Demon: A Memoir

W
HEN THE
D
EVIL
W
HISTLES

Rick Acker

When the Devil Whistles

Copyright © 2010 by Rick Acker

ISBN-13: 978-1-4267-0767-4

Published by Abingdon Press, P.O. Box 801, Nashville, TN 37202

www.abingdonpress.com

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, stored in
any retrieval system, posted on any website, or transmitted in any form
or by any means—digital, electronic, scanning, photocopy, recording,
or otherwise—without written permission from the publisher,
except for brief quotations in printed reviews and articles.

The persons and events portrayed in this work of fiction are the
creations of the author, and any resemblance to persons
living or dead is purely coincidental.

Published in association with the literary agency of
Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200,
Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80920, www.alivecommunications.com

Cover design by Anderson Design Group, Nashville, TN

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Acker, Rick, 1966-

  When the devil whistles / Rick Acker.

     p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-4267-0767-4 (book - pbk./trade pbk., adhesive - perfect binding : alk. paper)

1. Whistle blowing—Fiction. 2. Corporations--Corrupt practices—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3601.C545W47 2010

813’.6—dc22

2010024817

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 / 15 14 13 12 11 10

For the men and women of the False Claims Unit
at the California Department of Justice.
I am honored to call you my colleagues
and my friends.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Books are rarely solo projects, and mine never are. Without the help of experts, test readers, paid and volunteer editors, and countless others, this book would never have been written. I’ve been assisted by more people than I can name, but the contributions of a few stand above the crowd. I would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to:

Anette (wife)—for unceasing encouragement, exacting edits, and boundless love.

Lee Hough (agent)—for believing in this book, championing it, and landing it with the perfect publisher.

Barbara Scott (wearer of many hats, including acquisition editor and developmental editor)—for taking a chance on this novel and making it the best book it could be.

Maegan Roper and the Abingdon sales team—for your enthusiasm, creativity, and tireless efforts to get this book into the hands of readers.

John Olson (author)—for the seed of an idea and for the brainstorming sessions that made it grow into the book you’re reading now.

Camy Tang (author)—for staying up all night (though you deny it) to help a suspense author write his first real romantic story line.

Randy Ingermanson (author and computer expert)—for being an early and constant supporter and providing invaluable feedback.

Mark Talkovic (Chief ROV Pilot)—for reviewing and fixing the ROV scenes.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute—for generously letting the public have access to your ROVs, staff, and research.

Megan Sato and Marc Riera (IT gurus)—for debugging the computer-related scenes.

Jim Thomas (P-51 pilot)—for letting me climb around on your P-51 and answering all my questions about it.

Nick Akers (Captain, California Military Reserve)—for giving me all the unclassified help you could on nuclear weapons, Port of Oakland security procedures, and air raids.

Amy Akers (neurologist)—for giving Allie a neurology consult and correcting my medical mistakes.

David Dodson (Lt. Col, ret., USAF)—for lending a fighter pilot’s eye to the scenes in the air.

Mo Park and Esther La (Korean-American colleagues)— for helping track down a crucial—but very hard to research— detail about South Korean culture circa 1990.

Sylvia Keller, Susan Palazzo, Charlotte Spink, Lucy Wang, and Maretta Ward (test readers)—for your candid comments and for catching an embarrassing number of typos.

Rel Mollet, Nora St. Laurent, Susan Sleeman, Christy Lockstein, Janna Ryan, Laurel Wreath, Carolyn Scheidies, and many others (bloggers and reviewers)—for all you have done to support and encourage me and other Christian authors.

Readers everywhere—for investing your hard-earned money in books and making it possible for authors to tell you our stories.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16