Operation Grey Space:
Perseus Rising
Where the rules end, Project Perseus begins…
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The Premise
A disgraced Army commander with nothing to lose and his estranged daughter, a 23-year-old commercial pilot with everything to prove, form a rogue, apolitical rescue team that operates in the grey space, the shadow zone where the U.S. government cannot, or will not, go, to save Americans no one else will fight for.
- The story opens in Haiti, with a mutating virus on the verge of slipping quarantine
- A rogue rescue team that answers to no government
- A father and daughter who have everything to prove to each other
John, the Commander
A disgraced Army officer with nothing left to lose.
Jacqueline Strong
His estranged daughter. A 23-year-old commercial pilot with everything to prove.
Nurse Nadia
The rescue target, carrying a virus that cannot be allowed to spread.
Why This Book
Where does a thriller writer find her stories? Linda takes you inside the real moments, people, and places that inspired Operation Grey Space: Perseus Rising.
“It’s not this, it’s that.” Linda with Brent, the Army helicopter pilot who vetted every flight scene in the book.
Industry Backing
What the Experts Are Saying
Operation Grey Space steps into the military thriller world, a genre long dominated by men. Here is the company I’ll be keeping.
With Jeff Wilson (right) and the team building Blackstone’s new Mission Before Self imprint.
With Jack Carr, the reigning king of the military thriller.
“Operation Grey Space reads like the missions I’ve lived: the plan falls apart, the weather closes in, and it comes down to people who refuse to leave anyone behind. I saw it firsthand during the 2018 Thailand Cave Rescue. But Linda goes where most thrillers won’t. She shows the empty chair at the birthday party, the daughter who grew up counting deployments and missed Christmases, and the father who has to learn that ‘mission before self’ was never supposed to mean ‘mission before family.’ A fast, gritty, deeply human story, and a must-read for anyone who has served or loved someone who did.”
Derek Anderson, Chief Master Sergeant (Ret.), U.S. Air Force Pararescue
The Real World Behind the Fiction
Reporting from Haiti
These are pictures of my medical mission to Haiti with a Tampa medical team. It inspired the beginning and much of Operation Grey Space, because I needed a remote location where it would be almost impossible to get help to, so the father and daughter would have to go themselves. Mombin Crochu was one of the most remote places I have ever visited. Little electricity, not much clean water. They collected rain in buckets.
Linda Hurtado Bond
On assignment in the hills of Haiti.
Filming in Mombin Crochu.
With children near the clinic.
Inside the surgical clinic.
Documenting the medical mission.
With the crew in-country.
The Real World Behind the Fiction
The Family That Inspired the Story
Linda writes what she knows. The two people at the heart of Operation Grey Space carry the names of the two who shaped her own life: her father, Lt. Col. John Vincent Hurtado, USAF, and her daughter, Jacqueline. The book is dedicated to them.
Service and Flight
Lt. Col. John Vincent Hurtado, USAF.
Call sign Hurtado, in the cockpit.
Jacqueline, now a First Officer with a commercial airline.
Honored at Arlington
The presentation of the flag, with full military honors.
Carrying home the folded flag.
Laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
This book is dedicated to my father, Lt. Col. John Vincent Hurtado, USAF. He passed when I was eight months pregnant with my daughter, Jacqueline. They never had a chance to meet. She has his butt chin, his love of golf, and his passion for flying. These pages may be the only place my dad and daughter will ever fly together. But I’d like to think maybe, just maybe, the Colonel is right there beside Jacqueline, now a First Officer with a commercial airline, flying with her, his spirit soaring through the air as he did in life. You are not forgotten. Thank you for your service.
From the dedication of Operation Grey Space
The Real World Behind the Fiction
The Story Behind the Story
How does a book like this even begin? Linda sits down with author Jeff Wilson, co-founder of Blackstone’s Mission Before Self imprint, for the conversation she gets asked about all the time: why this story, and why a father and daughter.
Linda with author Jeff Wilson on how Operation Grey Space began.
“My dad was in the Air Force, God rest his soul. And my daughter flies for Delta. So I wanted it to be a father and daughter team that leads up this rescue mission, as kind of a shout-out to them.”
Linda Hurtado Bond, from the interview
From a coffee at Buddy Brew in Tampa to becoming the first woman signed to Blackstone’s Mission Before Self imprint, Linda and Jeff talk about the real rescue missions that sparked Project Perseus, the ethos of selfless heroes who do the right thing even when it is hard, and the family that gave the story its heart. This book is a tribute to everyone who steps into the grey space, quietly and without fanfare, to save lives.
About the Author
Linda Hurtado Bond is an Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist with 30+ years anchoring in Tampa Bay, a 13-time Emmy winner, and the author of the Investigators series (All the Broken Girls, All the Missing Girls, All the Captive Girls).
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