Publisher's Synopsis
The winds of change are beginning to blow through the musty corridors of power in the Kremlin, heralding the prospect of a thaw in East-West relations and bringing to the Russian people the promise of hope for the future. But for some, freedom is as elusive as ever. Dr Andrei Mayakovski, a top Russian scientist whose successful research is hijacked by the war-mongers of the military, finds himself reluctantly working on a new secret weapon capable of upsetting the fragile balance of power between East and West. Wishing to join his wife Anna, who had successfully sought asylum in the USA a year earlier, failed in his attempt to join her and now the KGB keep him under constant guard, forcing him to work against his will. Western intelligence agencies, fearing the Russians may be close to developing a weapon superior to the American star wars system, desperately need to know its secrets. Patrick Kane, working for British intelligence MI6, is given the job of helping Dr Mayakovski escape to the West. Once inside Russia, and with only the help of Dr Mayakovski's closest friends, Dmitri Vasyuchenko and his beautiful daughter Irina, he must first gain his trust and then, in a desperate bid for freedom, lead the ageing scientist across the vast expanse that is Russia. The KGB, alerted by a security leak in Washington, try to discover what it is the West have planned. When Dr Mayakovski is snatched from right under their noses they begin a desperate race against time to prevent him from leaving the country. Led by young and ambitious Comrade Major Yuri Valuyev, the KGB pursue them across the country. Sensing the opportunity to capture a British intelligence operative, the KGB close in until they have their quarry cornered on the northern coast of Russia where Patrick Kane finally comes face to face with his pursuers in an explosive climax. Will Patrick Kane's cunning be enough to save them from capture?
