Dead Energy. The Alex Cave Series book 1.
1 part Complete Oil supplies begin to mysteriously vanish without a trace and society starts to crumble, and the only clue is a dollar size crystal found in the empty hold of an oil tanker, in this science fiction techno-thriller.
It all started when his wife was murdered during a mission, and Alex Cave quit the CIA for a less stressful life as a geophysics instructor at a small college town in Montana. At least, that was his plan.
While on vacation sailing the waters of Puget Sound, geologist Alex sees a brilliant flash of light from an oil tanker and changes course to help. He discovers there was no explosion, no one on board, and the oil has mysteriously vanished without a trace. The bodies of the missing crew are found a hundred miles away in the snow on Mount Baker, but there are no footprints leading in or out of the area. Alex's only clue is a dollar-size blue crystal found in the hold of the empty oil tanker, which under a high-powered microscope, appears to be alive.
The shortage of fuel causes mass panic, and Harold Wooley, a sniveling coward with a domineering wife, thinks he can save his family from a world-gone-mad by joining a radical civilian army, but as the group undergoes a drastic change in command, things get out of control when their new leader kills without compunction. Harold must dig deep inside his soul if he is to discover the courage to save his family from their living nightmare.