A. Keith Barton

High Rise A. Keith Barton

Mike Calvert is an aging cop whose career was going nowhere until the day Charlotte Johnson was murdered. The likely suspect is Charlotte's husband, a car dealer in Austin, Texas, who is losing money with the electronic transfer of funds into an undisclosed offshore account by a nineteen-year old computer hacker. The husband moves from suspect to corpse in a scheme that involves greed and corruption in a high-profile law firm that stands to make millions in a central Texas real estate scam. A power-hungry, real estate broker is behind the Johnson murders as he attempts to finesse the gubernatorial bid of an impotent politician through extortion and greed. This plot is carefully orchestrated around the political machinations of state government and regulatory agencies charged with the responsibility of safeguarding the public interest. A parallel plot involves Mike's girlfriend and female protagonist, Kim Barker, who is a computer information specialist for a large Austin health care corporation. Kim is a Princeton graduate in biomedical engineering and is on the verge of developing a technology that allows for rapid transmission of imaging data for hospitals and managed care companies. Her work is sidetracked by a crazed ex-surgeon who is hell bent to bring Managed Care to its knees. As the story unfolds a sniper is taking headshots at CEOs in Los Angeles and Austin.