Stage Left For Murder

The father of an al-Qaeda leader is killed in Afghanistan by an American missile built by a retired Army general’s company. Vowing revenge, the victim’s son and the al-Qaeda network pay a former Russian KGB agent to kill the general and smuggle a Soviet nuclear suitcase bomb into the U.S. to destroy the general’s factory. To arm the bomb, the terrorists need a weapons expert and pick a disillusioned Muslim U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq. But the KGB agent is also working undercover for the general’s son, an Army colonel running a counter-intelligence operation with the FBI. Their mission: to arrest key al-Qaeda operatives in the U.S. and intercept the bomb before it reaches its target. The KGB agent sneaks into a Washington D.C. theater where the general is attending a play written by his estranged second son. Shots ring out and the general falls. Is it a Russian double-cross or run of the mill murder? When the FBI prevents the police from investigating, the general’s sister-in-law hires Nick Mercante to look into the case. There is no shortage of suspects—the general’s attorney, his top security expert, and both his sons and their girlfriends—or of motives—money, revenge, and family intrigue. As the bomb nears the target, Nick decides the killer could be the suspect arrested by the FBI. The plot then twists and turns as it races to its shocking climax.