As an active CIA agent, Garin once attempted to exfiltrate a senior Soviet military defector in an operation that went seriously wrong and this incident still haunts his presence there now. But Garin still believes his presence in Moscow will go unnoticed by the KGB.
The first complication arises immediately before his initial meeting with Petrov, when he encounters a woman named Natalya in Vvedenskoye Cemetery. Coincidentally, Natalya is the daughter of General Zuganov, the man who was subsequently executed when Garin failed to take him out of Moscow. She makes conspicuous attempts to spend time with Garin for motives that are as opaque as his own. Is she spying for the KGB, assisting Petrov or wanting to defect?
Since the old regime is faltering, and the KGB leaders are jockeying for advantage, Garin hopes to create suspicion within the KGB, thus deflecting attention from the hunt for Petrov.
This is a slow-burning espionage thriller in which the intrigue is generated by these questions: will Garin’s mission succeed and who is he ultimately working for? Paul Vidich provides a fast-moving and emotionally powerful ride into the darkness of both spying and the battered soul. The action sequences are sudden and deadly, the finale tense and the outcome unexpected. An exciting read.