Helium Heist: The Nash Shields Thrillers, Book 1 - Rose Sandy

Power a city. Black out a continent. One stolen element could rewrite the world, and the only man who can stop it just made it personal.

Nash Shields has made a career out of control, measured breathing, precise shots, zero attachments. But after a tense Caribbean takedown and a fraught audience in the Oval Office, the past won't stay buried and neither will the enemies who profit from it.

When London calls, Nash accepts a low-profile embassy role that lasts exactly one day. A clandestine briefing pulls him into KJ20-Ops, a shadow unit tasked with locating pieces of a device fueled by helium-3, a breakthrough that could provide limitless clean energy…or collapse global defenses in a single pulse.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Nash Shields wanted quiet. London. Embassy security. No ghosts. Instead, a late-night breach leads him into KJ20-Ops, a unit so classified it lives beyond "Umbra." Their first target: a bronze canister lifted from the British Museum, a purpose-built cradle for helium-3. If stabilized, it could power a metropolis. If weaponized, it could black out continents.

The hunt turns deadly when a thief slips through the British Museum with an artifact etched in enigmatic symbols, and a brilliant curator, Calla Cress, becomes an unexpected ally, and distraction. As Nash partners with the gravel-voiced legend Masher and the hard-to-read General Rodney Cook, breadcrumb clues point to a name that freezes his blood: Foster Shields, Nash's estranged brother, alive and entangled deep in the conspiracy.

Paired with Calla Cress, a curator whose encrypted-history project may be the key to a network of ancient-seeded pods, Nash tracks a pattern of signals that shouldn't exist. Someone is waking the devices, and injecting false data into KJ20's telemetry. Trust fractures. Orders no longer look like protection.

Across rain-slick London streets, embassy sub-levels, and international dead drops, Nash closes on a ruthless architect of the plot—Mason Laskfell, a former intelligence chief weaponizing science beyond current understanding. Each move exposes a deeper rot, from White House corridors to global coalitions meant to keep the peace. When loyalties fracture and a mole feeds intel to the enemy, Nash must choose: safeguard the mission or risk everything to bring his brother home.

When intel points to a maritime transfer, KJ20 launches a stealth ship into a North Sea storm to intercept the Ulysses V. On a slick, howling deck, Nash cradles a glowing pod as containment cracks and bullets chase the team into the sky. The pod is "partially awake." It's broadcasting. And it may want to be found.

Behind it all, Mason Laskfell moves the pieces—a private power broker who sees evolution where others see energy. As the council closes in and a leak threatens the mission, Nash faces the one lead he can't ignore. Some wars are fought for nations. This one is fought for family.

Helium Heist detonates with propulsive action, cutting-edge science, and emotional stakes that hit as hard as its set pieces. Perfect for readers who love the sleek tradecraft of The Gray Man, the high-concept science of Sigma Force, and the moral complexity of Orphan X, this first Nash Shields thriller fires the opening shot in a series you'll want to follow to the last page.

READER PRAISE

"The British Museum chase had my heart in my throat. Nash and Calla crackle on the page, and the helium-3 concept feels terrifyingly real."

"Finally, a technothriller with brains and bruises. The KJ20-Ops world is catnip for fans of The Gray Man."

FEATURED LOCATIONS

U.S. Embassy, London: Sublevel Technical Room and War Room - stark, windowless, humming hardware; the "room with no clocks" where power plays unfold.

The British Museum: Great Court, Staff Corridors, East Archives, Conservation Vault - from public grandeur to dead-zone archives where history literally resonates.

KJ20 Facility: Secure Data Room and shadowed corridors where secrets leak and blue-lit telemetry reveals shifting loyalties.

The Scorpion Tide: Silent, knife-shaped stealth boat cutting fog from Thames to North Sea - the threshold from covert to overt conflict.

Cargo Ship Ulysses V: Industrial labyrinth in lightning where extraction becomes crucible and science meets violence.

Remote Scottish Highlands: Glen Coire Facility - fog-blanketed training annex providing clarity in isolation.

London Streets & Tube: Rain-slick pursuit routes through iconic locales where museum thieves disappear into the underground.

British Museum Conservation Vault: Faraday-caged chambers where encrypted history intersects with cutting-edge technology.