Baksheesh (Bribes)

by D S Kane

  Aviva read the description. “Easy enough.” She read the mission assignment. “What if he declines?”

  “Then you have failed. Do not fail.” He waved her from his office. When she closed the door, he coughed violently for almost a minute. Alone, he smiled. Aviva would not fail him.

  His recruitment of the young Brit was one of the final steps in a long-range plan to save Israel from being decimated by a militant Islamic group that was planning to acquire Soviet-era nuclear weapons from the Russian mafiya in Vladivostok. If Sommers could be set to work as a kidon, just as his parents had, then the operation named Bloodridge would be off and running.

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Running operatives was a nasty business. Rarely, an operative would die. He hoped Sommers would decline his offer. He still had a debt to pay for the death of Jon’s parents. But if Sommers decided not to become an agent, Mother’s replacement options for the mission were less than hopeful.

  Would Jon accept the offer? If he did, how long would it take to train him? Could he ever be as good as his parents were?

  Yigdal Ben-Levy shut his eyes and worried endlessly about Israel’s future and his part in crafting it.

  Acknowledgments

  So many people were crucial in preparing this manuscript for you, the reader.

  My critiques were provided by the ActFourWriting,com group, including Dennis Phinney, Linda Rohrbough, Janet Simcic, Brenda Barrie, Aaron Ritchey, Caryn Scotto, Liz Picco, Julia Reynolds, Daniel Houston, Steve Eggleston, Juliann Kauffman, Teri Gray, Carl Vondareu, Claudia Melendez, Megan Edwards, and Judy Whitmore. I also received valuable feedback, especially concerning military tactics and strategy, as well as inside information regarding sites where conflicts have occurred or are now occurring, from several folks from the Drink of the Month Club, a group consisting mostly of Naval Postgraduate School administration and faculty, including Ron Nelson, Martin Metzger, Fred Drake, Lee Scheffel, and Gary Ohls. Also, my friends and family contributed critiques, including Barry Groves, Michael Spicer, Frances and Elliot Spiselman, and Dana Gorman.

  Several best-selling authors have contributed to my efforts, including James Rollins (for his discussions with me on Liquid Armor), Barry Eisler for his advice on self-publishing, Holly Lisle for her coursework on world building, and Greg Bear during our discussion on craft after the graduation ceremony at Northwest Institute of Literary Arts.

  I want to thank my publication team, consisting of my project editor, Sandra Beris; copyeditor Karl Yambert; graphic designer Jeroen Ten Berge; my website designer and host Maddee James of xuni.com; my marketing expert Rebecca Berus of 2 Market Books; and Paul Marotta and Megan Jeanne of the Corporate Law Group, who incorporated The Swiftshadow Group for me.

  I also want to thank my literary agent, Nancy Ellis, and my film agent, Brandy Rivers, for all their hard work on my behalf.

  And finally, most of all, I am indebted to Andrea Brown, my wife, and the CEO of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Inc., who is the best and final voice for judging what I create.

  I am grateful for all the suggestions and advice I have received but I alone am responsible for the resulting work.

  About the Author

  D. S. KANE is the name the author has chosen to write under. He worked in the field of covert intelligence for over a decade. During that time, he traveled globally for clients including government and military agencies, the largest banks, and Fortune 100 corporations. One of the banks he investigated housed the banking assets of many of the world’s intelligence agencies and secret police forces, including the CIA and NSA. Much of his work product was pure but believable fiction, lies he told, and truths he concealed.

  Now, he’s a retired spy, still writing fiction. Through his novels, he exposes the way intelligence agencies craft fiction for sale to sway their countries and manipulate their national policy, driving countries into dangerous conflicts.

  He’s been published under his real name many times in financial trade journals on topics including global banking, computer fraud and countermeasures, financial forecasting, global electronic-funds transfer networks, and corporate finance, including one book on finance published by a major publisher. He has been a featured speaker at financial conferences and conventions. His children’s book, A Teenager’s Guide to Money, Banking and Finance, was published in 1987 by Simon & Schuster. He was once the CEO of an eBook publishing company and writes a blog (http://dskane.com) on topics that include new technology, politics, and the future of publishing.

  He has been guest lecturer at the Whidbey Island MFA program, and also teaches a course at the Muse Online Writers Conference entitled Covert Training and Covert Operations for Fiction Writers, and one on a similar topic at California libraries, funded by a federal grant. He has taught a thriller-writing course at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference and was a featured speaker at a dinner meeting of the California Writers Club. He taught finance at the Stern Graduate Business School of New York University for over ten years, and is one of the co-founders of ActFourWriters.com, a unique email-based novelists’ critique group (http://www.actfourwriters.com). His website can be found at http://dskane.com. He can be found at

  @DSKaneThriller on Twitter and at

  www.facebook.com/DSKaneAFormerSpyStillTellingLies.