While on the podium, a terrorist attack is launched and many are killed and wounded. Sophie’s bodyguard is killed and a videotape later reveals that terrorists who landed in a helicopter in the midst of the attack hold Sophie. While reviewing the tape, the CIA director and her associates identify Eric Carmichael as one of the terrorists pulling Sophie Payne into the helicopter.

Fortunately for Caroline, Dare, the CIA head, served as her mentor years before, and although others question whether or not Caroline is in on the plot with Eric, Dare tends to believe Caroline’s protests of innocence and feelings of Eric’s betrayal.

The CIA is faced with the choice of acknowledging the complicity of a rogue agent or stonewalling the identity of Eric. A ransom tape is received which shows Payne a prisoner and being injected by a bacillus known as Anthrax III; the US is given an hour to accept the terrorist’s terms.

Subtle maneuvering by Dare has the President asking the CIA to send their best 30 April analyst to Europe since the men on the tape are identified as being from that group. Caroline is, of course, the choice and the CIA wants her in place as bait to draw Eric out, but ostensibly she is there as a “cutout.”

Francine Matthews (who also writes as Stephanie Barron) worked for the CIA for four years as an intelligence analyst and the acknowledgement page thanks those persons who were on the board to review and remove classified material from the text of books written by former employees. Thus, one can only assume that the descriptions of the organization, job skills and responsibilities are accurate. Being current on world affairs is almost a prerequisite to understanding the complexities of Germany’s social struggles and the relationships of terrorist groups, and even the most sophisticated intelligence junkie will learn a lot of new acronyms.

The author textures the multi-layered characters of Eric and Caroline through a series of flashbacks. Caroline emerges not as a talking head but as savvy, aggressive and determined to find Payne and the answers to the terrorist identity.

The action is very fast paced, and switches quickly from scene to scene, sometimes too abruptly. The very complex plot and subplots become instruments to bring into focus the free world’s greatest fears, that of terrorist armed with the weapons of biological warfare.

Because of the author’s expertise she is able to personalize the CIA far beyond what any current author has been able to do. But the moral of the story is the same: no matter how skilled, learned and sophisticated the components of the organization, it still exists or not, by the flaws and strengths of its individual parts.

The story races through Europe, with enough twists to keep the reader guessing, and enough suspense and action to keep one eagerly turning the pages. This is a very strong recommend, and will be a keeper for espionage fans.

--Thea Davis