New by R. A. SCOTTI

BASILICA
The Splendor and the Scandal
Building St. Peter's

&

SUDDEN SEA
The Great Hurricane of 1938

The Kremlin can't penetrate the tight security protecting U.S. Star Wars secrets, until someone gains access to the naive young missile defense wizard David Pointer.When the CIA suspects that the Soviet accomplice is billionaire philanthropist and powerbroker August Merriman,wily old spymaster Matthias Conrad is lured out of retirement by the chance to settle an old score. "Neither Conrad nor the reader is prepared for the truth that surfaces at the end of this smashing tale," says Publishers Weekly.


Read an EXCERPT
Once before in superpower history, when the West was developing the atomic bomb, the Soviets had been at a disadvantage, until they were able to secure America's secrets. Fuchs and others had been instrumental, but they weren't alone. August Merriman had been privy to vital, highly classified information. In an adroit move that served both their interests, he had brought the scales of power into balance.

The General Secretary drummed his stubby fingers on the desk. Merriman was a dinosaur now. He knew too much and had too many Committee members in his pocket. But if he could be useful one more time.... The Secretary studied the file, not skipping a detail about Merriman—or the agent who had been assigned to him. Merriman was almost as cautious as Andropov had been, but he had made one mistake—Berlin 1939. And now Anatol Dostankov, the enterprising young counter-intelligence chief, had devised a way to use the information to the Kremlin's advantage.

The General Secretary pressed a button on his desk, opening the door, and motioned them in. He tapped the dossier.

"August Merriman and this Operation Counterpoint...an intriguing idea, ingenious even. I want a full briefing."

"Comrade Secretary," Dostankov began, "put your mind back, if you will, to Europe in the grip of the Nazi terror. The greatest scientific minds of the century fled West. Einstein, Fermi, Teller, Szilard, Wigner, von Neumann, Bohrs. The brain drain gave the West the atom bomb and NASA."

"Now," the General Secretary said, "the most brilliant young scientists are Americans, working on the Strategic Defense Initiative. If Star Wars succeeds, our preemptive advantage is lost...worthless."

"But if we can create a new brain drain," Dostankov moved closer, "flowing east from the U.S. to the U.S.S.R., using August Merriman as a conduit. Merriman funds the American Science Foundation, and the ASF funds David Pointer."