THE COMPANY SHE KEEPS

Afghanistan behind him, Nick Daley — the unorthodox CIA officer from Stinger — returns home to confront the enemy within. His target is a spy at the heart of the US defense establishment, and to get next to him, he recruits the man‘s lover, Evelyn Walker, a young southern woman known as “E.” Torn between patriotism and personal loyalty, E experiences the conflicts that Nick knows only too well. The daughter of a soldier, she understands her duty, just as Nick comes to understand her.

He enlists her help on the next case — this time, a threat from without — a well-connected Greek middleman trafficking with the Russian Mafia in materiel suspected to be nuclear. Innocent of the risks, E again follows the path of duty, which leads her deep into the realm of espionage. Too deep, she later realizes — too late.

Nick, too, does what he has to do, and so he is forced to send her into danger— a world of danger, from Europe‘s grand boulevards to Iran‘s Grand Bazaar. After all, it is a matter of national security, which justifies anything. Or does it?

Aventine Press, $14.95 ISBN 1-59330-254-1