Dragon Head
(2020)(The fourth book in the AleAleksandr Talanov thriller series)
A novel by James Houston Turner
One and a half billion dollars vanishes out of a numbered investment account into an impenetrable cyberspace maze. But the thief who stole it lies dead on the tracks of Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway, his access codes having perished with him.
That leaves only one man whom Dragon Head can force to retrieve the money: Aleksandr Talanov, the former KGB colonel in whose name the account was opened years earlier by Soviet President, Yuri Andropov. The money was to have funded a KGB espionage program that fell apart with the demise of the Soviet Union. Since that time, the account has continued to grow.
If this were simply a matter of money, the United States would not be concerned. But Dragon Head wants the money to fund an army of hackers, one of whom has already penetrated America’s GPS network. The result: a midair collision that kills more than a thousand people.
With national security at stake, the Director of National Intelligence becomes very interested in the whereabouts of that money. Talanov must not be allowed to hand it over to Dragon Head.
With stakes this high, both sides increase the pressure on Talanov by threatening to kill his closest friends. The focus of the threats: an eleven-year-old girl . . . a homeless orphan no one regards to be important against the sweep of national security and millions of dollars. Important to no one except Talanov, that is, who has promised never to desert her.
And yet how can he possibly keep that promise with both sides vowing to kill her if Talanov does not hand over the money? It’s an impossible situation when impossible is not an option, because whatever choice Talanov makes, someone will die.
Genre: Thriller
That leaves only one man whom Dragon Head can force to retrieve the money: Aleksandr Talanov, the former KGB colonel in whose name the account was opened years earlier by Soviet President, Yuri Andropov. The money was to have funded a KGB espionage program that fell apart with the demise of the Soviet Union. Since that time, the account has continued to grow.
If this were simply a matter of money, the United States would not be concerned. But Dragon Head wants the money to fund an army of hackers, one of whom has already penetrated America’s GPS network. The result: a midair collision that kills more than a thousand people.
With national security at stake, the Director of National Intelligence becomes very interested in the whereabouts of that money. Talanov must not be allowed to hand it over to Dragon Head.
With stakes this high, both sides increase the pressure on Talanov by threatening to kill his closest friends. The focus of the threats: an eleven-year-old girl . . . a homeless orphan no one regards to be important against the sweep of national security and millions of dollars. Important to no one except Talanov, that is, who has promised never to desert her.
And yet how can he possibly keep that promise with both sides vowing to kill her if Talanov does not hand over the money? It’s an impossible situation when impossible is not an option, because whatever choice Talanov makes, someone will die.
Genre: Thriller
Used availability for James Houston Turner's Dragon Head