A Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week From a modern master of the classic espionage novel comes William Christie's The Double Agent, featuring Alexsi Smirnoff - a Russian/German double agent loyal only to himself - in a desperate bid to protect himself, again becomes a double agent, this time for the English.Alexsi Smirnoff - a Russian orphan - was trained as an agent by the Russian Secret Service and inserted into Nazi Germany, where he rose to a position in German intelligence services. As the war grinds on, trapped between two brutal dictatorships, Alexsi betrays both sides in a desperate ploy that succeeds...and fails. His false identities burned, his life at risk, Alexsi attempts to disappear in the hills - but is caught by the British.Recruited by the SIS, and by "C" himself, Alexsi is once again a double agent. Initially betrayed by a Soviet agent inside the SIS (Kim Philby), Alexsi is sent beyond the reach of the Soviets, into Italy with a new...

In his electrifying thrillers The Warriors of God and Mercy Mission, William Christie brought readers into the shadowy world of covert warfare and international intrigue. Now, he returns with a chillingly timely novel that has America taking the war to the enemy--and the enemy taking terror to America. . . In the war on terrorism, the Secretary of Defense assembles an elite new armed forces group made up of the best from the special forces, intelligence, and technological communities. A team designed for this new war--to move undetected in foreign countries, strike, and disappear. To fight terror where it lives and breathes--in the shadows. Led by hardened veteran Master Sergeant Edwin Storey, the unit is ready for action when a plot to assassinate the president is discovered. But an even greater threat lies ahead, as Storey and his team must race to stop a devastating attack that stands to cripple national security and cause the deaths of...

This is the gripping story of Marines bonding together as they learn the art of war. It is a story of leadership, brotherhood in battle, and courage in the midst of chaos. Second Lieutenant Michael Galway is the commaning officer of 2nd Platoon, Echo Company. He has inherited this misfit outfit and during the training that turns these men around, he restores their pride, makes them once again believe in themselves. On September 11, 2001, in the middle of a combined operations field exercise, they receive news that the unthinkable has happened. The attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center changes forever their thoughts about what they do and why they do it. Now it's real--and personal. Weeks later they receive orders that their battalion will deploy overseas. It is when their ship is in the Red Sea that they receive a change in orders. Intelligence has learned that ten of the top Al Queda leaders are in a village in Yemen. It is a rare opportunity to strike an important blow against a dangerous enemy. But for it to succeed, they must strike immediately. They have only one day to plan. It is a dangerous mission, calling for a helicopter flight deep into enemy territory, a night-time drop into the middle of a hostile village, capture and/or kill the Al Quaeda leaders, gather as much intelligence as possible, then return to the helicopters in an even quicker extraction over territory suddenly aware of the aerial invasion.But this is what the Marines of Echo Company trained for. And, in the ensuing combat, Galway's Marines succeed against all odds, and with minimum casualties. Mission accomplished, they return to their ship, proud of their success. It is then that things take a terrifying turn for the worse. **

"A single spy—in the right place and at the right moment—may change the course of history." Alexsi Ivanovich Smirnov, an orphan and a thief, has been living by his wits and surviving below the ever-watchful eye of the Soviet system until his luck finally runs out. In 1936, at the age of 16, Alexsi is caught by the NKVD and transported to Moscow. There, in the notorious headquarters of the secret police, he is given a choice: be trained and inserted as a spy into Nazi Germany under the identity of his best friend, the long lost nephew of a high ranking Nazi official, or disappear forever in the basement of the Lubyanka. For Alexsi, it's no choice at all. Over the course of the next seven years, Alexsi has to live his role, that of the devoted nephew of a high Nazi official, and ultimately works for the legendary German spymaster Wilhelm Canaris as an intelligence agent in the Abwehr. All the while, acting as a double agent—reporting...

In his electrifying thriller Threat Level, William Christie brought readers into a lethal world of international shadow ops and covert warfare. Now he continues the explosive intrigue with a chilling novel of unknown soldiers, unwavering loyalty--and ultimate betrayal from within. . . The enemy has found a new path to America's doorstep, and is approaching fast. In South America, covert operatives Ed Storey and Lee Troy discover that Al Qaeda and the criminal underworld have combined their resources, with money moving from the jungles to the deserts of the Middle East. And now terrorists are moving from the Middle East right to the U.S./Mexican border. There is a nightmarish plan in the works--and time is running out to stop it. But the madmen of Al Qaeda are already moving towards their goal--a devastating attack that will disrupt the presidential election and drain the Americans of their will to fight. And as Storey and Troy work their way closer...

In this nerve-wracking sequel to THE WARRIORS OF GOD, Richard Welsh returns, now working as an aide to a U.S. Senator. Three U.S. Marine security guards are gunned down by unknown assailants at an outdoor café in Guatemala City, far from Afghanistan and the world's attention. Could it be terrorism, or backlash from the war on drugs? Welsh is sent down to Guatemala to investigate, for the most mundane of reasons: the father of one of the dead Marines was a major political contributor. No one expects him to find out anything, least of all himself. But, as soon as he arrives in Guatemala City, he falls into a series of discoveries, each one more disturbing than the last. The attack on the Marines seems to stretch from events as far back as the dirty guerrilla wars of the 80's to the mountains of drugs making their way along Central American pathways from Colombia to Mexico today. Circumstances force Welsh together with a mysterious American woman whose motives are unclear. She may be his ally, or she may regard him as a sacrificial pawn in pursuit of her own agenda. When the final crucial piece of information comes into Welsh's hands it will take every last bit of luck and skill for him to make it out of Guatemala alive. Because, strangely enough, it seems that as many people in Washington as in Guatemala want him dead. There are many jungles, from the tropical rainforest to Washington back rooms. But in each case the most dangerous predator is always the same. **

This acclaimed 1992 thriller amazingly anticipated the terrorist scourge of the next decade. Now brought up to date by the author and available again as Iran defies the world by pursuing nuclear weapons, it's plot may just be the stuff of tomorrow's headlines.The long-simmering conflict between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran finally turns hot with an act of terrorism against a U.S. navy ship in the Persian Gulf. American military retaliation shuts down Iranian oil production, and it is war. But not the war we've known in the past. Not the war of armies, ships, and planes. No, the war we've come to know today. The war of the weak against the strong. War in the shadows. With battles aimed not at the destroying the enemy's armies, but bent on making headlines.A handpicked team of elite Iranian commandos are silently making their way to the United States. To Washington D.C. Their target is the President of the United States. In the White House.Major Ali Khurbasi...