Ex-FBI-agent-turned-bricklayer Steve Vail is in Washington, DC, on New Year's Eve for what he thinks is a date with FBI assistant director Kate Bannon. But that's not what happens. Upon his arrival, he becomes embroiled in another complex case that only his expertise can solve -- hunting down a cunning and elusive Russian spy within the US government.
Things become exceedingly complicated and Vail doesn't know who to trust, as someone is always one step ahead of him in the hunt. Can Kate really be involved some way, as her bosses seem to think? After learning that Kate is thought unstable due to a recent attempt on her life that the FBI labels an attempted suicide, Vail realizes he has to actually protect her from an assassin. Could things get any more complicated in this case?
Steve Vail is my kind of hero -- extremely smart and savvy, tough-as-nails, yet a romantic at heart. Noah Boyd has given readers another thrilling espionage suspense and a great follow-up to his debut THE BRICKLAYER, where we first met Steve Vail and Kate Bannon. Can't wait for the next installment!
Ex-FBI agent Steve Vail navigates a maze of hidden codes
and brain-teasing puzzles to stay hot on the trail of a
band of Russian spies in this breathtaking follow-up to
Boyd's New York Times bestselling debut, THE
BRICKLAYER.
FBI-agent-turned-bricklayer Steve Vail once helped the FBI
solve a brilliant extortion plot. It was supposed to be a
one-and-done deal. But when he's in Washington, D.C., to
see Kate Bannon β an FBI assistant director β on what he
thinks will be a romantic New Year's Eve date, suddenly
things get complicated. The FBI has another unsolvable
problem, and it has Vail's name written all over it.
A man known as Calculus, an officer at the Russian embassy,
has approached the FBI claiming that he has a list of
Americans who are selling confidential information to the
Russian SVR. In exchange for the list, he is asking for a
quarter of a million dollars for each traitor the FBI
apprehends. But then Calculus informs the FBI that he has
been swiftly recalled to Moscow, and the Bureau suspects
the worst: the Russians have discovered what Calculus is up
to, probably have access to his list, and will be hunting
the traitors to kill them unless the FBI can find them
first.
The FBI realizes that it has to keep the operation quiet.
Once again, Vail is the perfect man, along with Kate
Bannon, who would be anyone's first pick for help on an
impossibly dangerous case. But finding the traitors isn't
going to be easy. In fact, it's going to be downright
deadly. And if the Bricklayer survives, he will have to
come up with a few tricks of his own.
Agent X is a heart-pounding thrill ride with an
authenticity only a writer who's an FBI veteran can
provide, and Steve Vail β a man Patricia Cornwell
calls a "new American hero" β is one of the smartest,
toughest, and most compelling new characters to come along
in many years.
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