Book details

  • Genre:fiction
  • Sub-genre:Thrillers / Military
  • Language:English
  • Pages:168
  • Paperback ISBN:9780971955233

Night Jump – Cuba

By Poke Runyon

Overview

First published in 1965, Night Jump – Cuba is a gripping Cold War espionage thriller by Army Special Forces Captain Carroll "Poke" Runyon. Drawing on firsthand military experience, visits to pre-Castro Cuba, and information from Pentagon insider Colonel Ford E. Pratt, Runyon crafted an authentic story of covert operations, sabotage, and high-stakes intrigue. This 21st Century Edition includes newly revealed historical information about the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.
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Description

First published in 1965, NIGHT JUMP - CUBA was a Cold War espionage thriller by Army Special Forces Captain Carroll "Poke" Runyon. Drawing on his personal knowledge of Special Operations, a visit to Cuba before Castro, scuba diving in the Bahamas, friendships with NASA and Los Alamos scientists, and information from his uncle, Colonel Ford E. Pratt, a Pentagon officer who managed logistics for the 2506 Brigade in the ill-fated 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, Runyon created a story of high-stakes Cold War intrigue. The story postulated Communist agents redirecting the test flight of a top-secret American atomic rocket engine, the "Sherwood Drive," from Cape Canaveral so that it would crash in Cuba. The loss of the "Sherwood Drive" activates a Special Forces team working for the C.I.A. and based in the Bahamas, led by Green Beret living legend Ed "Tiger" Malone. Their mission: to reach the downed rocket before the Soviets can recover it. Captain Runyon had visited Los Alamos and collected literature on the declassified "Sherwood Drive." But after the book was published, the C.I.A. interrogated him while he was stationed in Panama and told him that the project had been reclassified. According to Runyon's commanding officer at Fort Bragg, the C.I.A. had been suppressing the sale of NIGHT JUMP - CUBA. In this new edition, the author reveals hitherto undisclosed facts surrounding the Bay of Pigs invasion, as revealed by Colonel Ford E. Pratt ( 1911-1999).
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About The Author

CARROLL R. RUNYON, JR. "Poke" Runyon was 28 years old when he wrote NIGHT JUMP – CUBA and a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves 13th Special Forces Group, Airborne, located in his home town of St. Petersburg, Florida. Poke had joined the Regular Army's 77th Special Forces as an enlisted man in 1957 and completed most of his Special Forces training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, before being sent to Officer's Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Georgia. After receiving his commission in the Reserve, he was assigned to the 13th SFG, Abn., as the leader of an A-Detachment (A-team). He moved to California 1966 and worked for Carroll Shelby's Automotive company as an industrial artist, and wrote screenplays for the Swanson Agency in Hollywood. In 1968 he suffered a near terminal illness and had a mystical revelation. He recovered and founded the occult order The Order of the Temple of Astarte (O.T.A.) to teach the conjuring of angels and spirits according to his vision. In 1971 he was recruited by the F.B.I. to create a Satanic cult as a sting operation to entrap an illegal dealer in explosives. The operation was dangerous but ended successfully. Poke used his "get out jail free card" to rescue his friend and occult mentor, Frederick Adams, from a false charge of child endangerment. The rumor circulated that Poke's O.T.A. was "a C.I.A. mind-control cult." It was not, but Poke had published a popular article "Magick and Hypnosis," and his background in Special Forces was well known. But after Project Lucifer Poke has ceased trying to emulate James Bond. "Being a real magician is enough Super-Heroism to satisfy my ego these days," he says.
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