Delta 7

For 20 years, John Carter served as a USAF fighter pilot and attaché. Everything appeared to be on track for a comfortable retirement. Without warning, however, his world is turned upside-down after a casual conversation during a layover in the Caribbean island of Grenada sets into motion a series of events that threaten to inalterably change-or perhaps even end-his life. Out of the blue, an old friend turns up to impart a bizarre and almost unbelievable story... and a warning. Within a matter of hours, Carter discovers that his military friends and comrades are disappearing. With the help of a beautiful and enigmatic woman from his past, Carter returns to Colombia in a frantic attempt to unravel the truth in a world ruled by violence, illicit drugs and money. Unbeknownst to Carter, shadowy players are already caught up in this high-stakes and deadly poker game. Relying on his super-secret attaché training, Carter tries to stay alive in a frantic hunt for allies... and answers.

       John Cathcart spent 20 years in the USAF as a pilot. In those 20 years, Cathcart and his family moved 15 times--including four overseas tours. In addition to training aircraft (T-37 & T-38), Cathcart piloted the B-52 (D and H models), FB-111A and the F-111F. His last military flying was in the C-12, which he flew while serving as a military attaché in Colombia and Venezuela. For the remainder of his military career, Cathcart worked in a series of staff assignments, including the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Special Operations & Low-Intensity Conflict) at the Pentagon and the US Southern Command (both in Panama and in Miami).
      Shortly after retiring from the Air Force in 1998 (at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel), he was hired by American Airlines. He spent most of the next 16 years flying 737s out of American's pilot base in Miami.
       In 2015, he traded in his airline uniform for much more casual clothing befitting a fully retired person. He now devotes most of his time to scaring--not catching--fish in the lake behind his house, spoiling his grandchildren, driving his wife crazy, and dreaming of new books to write.
       His novel, Delta 7, is a fictional thriller based loosely on his experiences as a military attaché in Colombia and Venezuela. Delta 7 won the Military Writers Society of America's 2009 President's Award and the the Gold Medal for Fiction in the 2009 Branson Stars and Flags Book Awards.