<p>Michael DiMercurio</p><p>Panic Switch</p>

PANIC SWITCH

Book Two of the Anthony “Patch” Pacino Series

By Michael DiMercurio

A Gordian Knot Production

Gordian Knot is an imprint of Crossroad Press

Digital Edition published by Crossroad Press

Smashwords edition published at Smashwords by Crossroad Press

Cover art by Joe Freedom Art. His work can be found on Instagram and Facebook. He is at joefreedomart.com

<p>About the Author</p>

Michael DiMercurio is an American veteran of the U.S. Navy Submarine force, engineer, project management and construction expert, bestselling author, commentator, and humorist.

DiMercurio graduated academically first in his U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis) class with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering despite the class-A conduct offense of parking his hotrod in the admiral’s space. In the face of Navy misgivings, DiMercurio was a National Science Foundation scholar to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating with an S.M. master’s degree in mechanical engineering.

DiMercurio joined the crew of the Cold War-winning nuclear fast attack submarine USS Hammerhead where he earned the nuclear Navy’s coveted “qualified in submarines” gold dolphins, allowing him to stand command watches as officer of the deck submerged. DiMercurio rose to become the “bull lieutenant,” the most senior of the eight junior officers aboard and fifth-in-command. Hammerhead conducted numerous top secret North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea operations, including “snapping up” and trailing three Soviet nuclear submarines and crossing the Gulf of Sidra’s “Line of Death” to hide under a Russian nuclear cruiser to catch a targeted incoming Soviet attack submarine. While DiMercurio was a rebellious practical joker of an officer, invariably violating the captain’s direct orders not to smoke cigars in the control room, he was undisputedly a tactical genius at detecting and trailing Soviet submarines.

After DiMercurio and Hammerhead won the Cold War and defeated the Soviet Union’s sweeping octopus of world communism, making the world safe for democracy, with liberty and justice for all, amen, DiMercurio left active duty for civilian heavy industry project and construction executive management. DiMercurio built chemical and power plants in sites from Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, India, Ontario, and dozens of sites in the USA, experiencing harrowing dealings with Mafia contractors, Rajasthani criminal thugs, and transgender barflies.

DiMercurio authored nine USA Today bestselling Navy submarine fiction novels such as Dark Transit, Vertical Dive, Emergency Deep, Attack of the Seawolf, and Threat Vector and the satirical non-fiction work, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Submarines. He was a commentator on Fox News during the 2005 Russian submersible AS-28 rescue, personally calling out Vladimir Putin to man up and accept Western rescue efforts rather than deliberately letting his sailors die as he did in 2000 during the Kursk sinking. Suitably chastised, Putin gave the green light to British and American rescue divers and equipment, and the sailors lived.

As a commentator and columnist, DiMercurio writes essays on topics as diverse as international politics, conspiracy theories, the humorous side of divorce, military and civilian office politics, modern electronic-aided dating, and even such wildly ambitious topics as grammar and understanding women.

DiMercurio hangs his hardhat in Undisclosed Location, USA, and when he isn’t writing, providing incisive content on social media sites, annoying the females in his life, he can be found lazing in a mellow cloud of cigar smoke, sipping Kentucky bourbon, or riding his obnoxiously loud Harley.

DiMercurio’s website is www.terminalrun.com and his twitter is twitter.com/MikeyDiMercurio. He can be liked on Facebook at http://facebook.com/michael.dimercurio.author.

<p>Dedication</p>

Dedicated to U.S. Navy Admiral Hyman G. Rickover

Father of the Nuclear Navy

The Kindly Old Gentleman