Nerve Attack by S. Lee Manning



Former American intelligence operative Kolya Petrov, struggling with the physical and psychological aftereffects of kidnapping and torture, is drawn back into the game when Dmitri, his childhood best friend, holds the key to stopping an attack by terrorists armed with a deadly nerve agent. Working with Dmitri, however, is complicated. While their friendship had been forged during their years in an abusive Russian boys' home, the two men's lives took very different paths. Dmitri had headed the North American branch of a Russian gang until Kolya, working undercover, put him in prison. Ten years later, Dmitri's cooperation is essential to finding the smuggler of the nerve agent, and he refuses to work with anyone but Kolya. Kolya, trying to build a normal life with Alex, the woman he loves, reluctantly agrees to undertake one more mission. But while Kolya must trust Dmitri not to take revenge for the betrayal of their friendship while seeking information in Russia where Kolya would face torture and execution if caught, Alex must evade would-be kidnappers and killers in Vermont. To end an elaborate plot that threatens both their lives as well as the lives of hundreds of innocent people requires Kolya and Alex to use all their abilities and intelligence and to trust in unlikely allies. But can Kolya, fighting through PTSD and physical injuries, trust his own judgment?

Excerpt

“Is it that bad being with my family?” Alex’s voice murmured behind him. “Or is your leg hurting?”

He turned and leaned back against the granite counter to ease the leg that was aching but was not the reason he was drinking. He should have brought a crutch to the party. Too much time standing, and he shouldn’t have pushed his morning run up to three miles—which was still less than he’d run daily eight months earlier, before his knee and leg had been smashed with a golf club. Now he was paying for it.

But seeing her was compensation. To him, she was always beautiful, long dark wavy hair, oval face, and dark intelligent eyes.

She looked concerned.

“My leg’s fine.” He knew that she knew he was lying, just as he knew that she knew why he was drinking.

“Come out and pretend to be sociable. Half an hour more, then we leave. Promise. I’ll make it up to you later.” She leaned in to kiss him. She tasted of grapes and strawberries.

The promise compensated for much. “Offer accepted. After another shot.” He still needed to get through the party.

“Fine. One more.”

“Perhaps two.” He knew what she wanted to say, so he saved her the trouble. “I won’t get drunk.”

“I know. You get close sometimes.”

“Close. But not over.”
“It’s a family party. Close is too close.”
“Another shot. At most two. Then I’ll join you.”
“Fine.” Her tone held a tinge of disapproval but not enough to worry him.

She disappeared. Kolya poured another shot. Listening to the rise and fall of the voices in the other room, he drank and felt the further softening of the edges. Another drink? Or would he get too close to the unacceptable?

There were lines he tried not to cross, in drinking and in his relationship. But he didn’t fit in—and the family party in Aaron’s upscale home underscored that fact. They were nice people, who talked about their jobs and their families and Judaism. He had no living family except for Alex; he disliked his new job but couldn’t talk about his former job; and he was agnostic. Politics was risky. Literature? While he was currently reading a Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber’s seminal work, I and Thou, on the relationship between individuals and the world around them, he doubted that any of Alex’s family would be interested in a discussion of the distinction between “I and thou” and “I and it” that formed the thesis of the book. Then there was the fact that he couldn’t answer when Aunt Shelly asked him about Russia or his years in the dyetskii dom— the Russian boys’ home he’d lived in between his mother’s death and Rifka adopting him. Too grim. Maybe he could talk about Rifka, who’d occasionally attended a reform temple. But it felt disrespectful to her memory to use her to score points.

If there had been a piano, at least it would have been something to do. And playing jazz banished the demons as effectively as vodka.

He poured. As he lifted the drink, he glimpsed a shadow in the back yard. Maybe a neighbor chasing a dog. Maybe a kid. Maybe any number of things. Never trust the innocent explanation.

He peered out the kitchen window. Nothing obvious. Then he focused on a framed mirror engraved with images of rabbits and squirrels, inserted in a rose trellis at the edge of the patio. The height of bad taste, but now—useful.

In its reflection, he saw a figure in a Grinch mask, carrying an assault rifle with a suppressor, flattened against the house near the back door. Grinch glanced at a watch, which could only mean one thing. More of them, probably in the front, coordinating.

Kolya was unarmed. Why had he fucking agreed to leave his gun in the car? But he’d understood—guns didn’t belong at this family party—any more than he did. But now, he was vulnerable. Worse, he couldn’t protect Alex and her family.

Kolya set his glass down—hands trembling—adrenaline, not nerves— and grabbed a Shun chef knife from a wooden knife block.

The kitchen door opened inward. An invader would have to do a 180 to check behind the door—which might give him just enough time. Not a sure thing, but Kolya didn’t have many options. He slid into position behind the door.

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About the Author

S. Lee Manning spent two years as managing editor of Law Enforcement Communications before realizing that lawyers make a lot more money. A subsequent career as an attorney spanned from a first-tier New York law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, to working for the Office of the Attorney General, State of New Jersey, to solo practice. In 2001, Manning agreed to chair New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NJADP), writing articles on the risk of wrongful execution and arguing against the death penalty on radio and television in the years leading up to its abolition in the state in 2007. An award-winning short story writer, Manning is the author of international thrillers. A life-long interest in Russia and espionage is reflected in the Kolya Petrov thrillers.

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