Book description
Another prominent journalist is found murdered in Putin's Russia, shot
to death on the banks of the Techa River near the radioactive village of
Metlino. Katarina Mironova, known around the world as Kato, could simply
fade from the public eye, one more journalist killed during Putin's war
on the free press, one more statistic in a grim tally. But to Russian
agent Alexei Volkovoy, Kato's murder evokes far more emotion. It summons
too many memories, haunts him in too many ways for him to allow her
death go unavenged. Volk's investigation takes him from Moscow to Mayak,
the site of a nuclear reprocessing plant where a massive explosion
occurred in 1958, then to Las Vegas. All the while the life he has known
with his long-time lover, Valya, and his patron, the General, slowly
unravels as details about his secret ties to Kato begin to emerge.
Meanwhile, American contract agent Grayson Stone and shadowy French
assassin Jean-Louis have secrets of their own to protect. Secrets born
in the Afghan desert and the streets of Fallujah. Secrets about the
tragic consequences of a nuclear alliance among venal Russian, American,
and French politicians. Secrets the American and the French governments
will pay anything to protect. In the end, Volk becomes both the hunter
and the hunted in the glittering neon jungle of Las Vegas. Equally at
home in the snow-covered woods of the Ural mountains and the seamy
alleyways of Industrial Boulevard, Volk tracks his prey across the world
trying to learn the truth about the story Kato died trying to report.
Brent Ghelfi has served as a clerk on the U. S. Court of Appeals, been a
partner in a Phoenix-headquartered law firm, and now owns and operates
several businesses. He has traveled extensively throughout Russia, and
lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with his wife and family.
