Concept

The concept for Deceptive Protocol grew from a question I had carried throughout the Project Pegasus Series: Who was Erik Függer before he became the experienced CIA operative readers meet in We Know Your Name?

I wanted to return to the beginning and show Erik before Project Pegasus, before time travel, and before he understood how deeply secrets could be buried inside the government. In this story, he is a young Navy intelligence analyst with no field training, no backup, and little understanding of the danger surrounding him. His greatest weapons are his intelligence, instincts, and determination.

The central idea began with my longtime fascination with the Philadelphia Experiment, also known as Project Rainbow. I wondered what might happen if a young analyst discovered evidence that the experiment was real. What if powerful people had protected that secret for decades, and didn't like that he was resourceful? More importantly, what would they do when they realized he had found it?

That question allowed me to write a different kind of Project Pegasus story. Deceptive Protocol is a straight espionage thriller without time travel, but it reveals the hidden events that helped shape Erik into the man he later becomes. He is not yet a trained operative. He makes mistakes, misjudges people, and does not know whom he can trust. Each decision forces him further into a world where information can be more dangerous than any weapon.

As the prequel to We Know Your Name, the novel also gave me the opportunity to explore the origins of people, relationships, and secrets that later influence the entire series. At its heart, Deceptive Protocol is the story of an unlikely young man emerging from the shadows at the same moment his enemies begin emerging from theirs.