Nine Lives is the fourth novel in the CIA thriller series that continues the story of former CIA operator Woody Stressel and previous KGB agent Ava Volkov's attempt to avoid capture and prolonged torture by the KGB or hired crime syndicate killers. In the prior novel, Meltdown, Woody and Ava flee to the armed compound of Woody's psychotic Uncle Wilbur in the Trans-Pecos Texas Desert. There they find an inhospitable 16-year-old runaway girl who has escaped from being held captive at a desert whorehouse. Leta has a Mensa-plus IQ, a sharp tongue, and a quick trigger finger. Woody's Uncle Wilbur is mysteriously missing.

The compound has many secrets, including underground rooms, enough stored weapons to outfit a small army, and lethal booby traps designed to eliminate Nazi agents whom Woody's paranoid uncle is convinced are seeking to kill him. Woody and Ava give Leta a crash course in street fighting and weapons. When the protection of U.S. Marshals is abruptly withdrawn, paid killers overwhelm the compound and trap Woody, Ava, and Leta in a small underground room. The three are all running short on their allotment of cat lives. There is no choice but to pull the Armageddon lever that crazy, but brilliant, Uncle Wilbur had designed to be used as a last resort.

The catastrophic explosion that follows totally destroys the compound and anyone in or near it. No one could possibly survive. In this continuation novel, the scene shifts to the Mexican Baja Peninsula and three young American expats who are running a beachside restaurant. They refuse to pay a local criminal group a weekly fee for protection. All hell promptly breaks loose. The body count climbs rapidly as the expats demonstrate their skill with street fighting and the use of weapons. The story evolves with many twists, turns, and shocks to finish with an utterly unpredictable ending.

Nine Lives is the fourth novel in the CIA thriller series that continues the story of former CIA operator Woody Stressel and previous KGB agent Ava Volkov's attempt to avoid capture and prolonged torture by the KGB or hired crime syndicate killers. In the prior novel, Meltdown, Woody and Ava flee to the armed compound of Woody's psychotic Uncle Wilbur in the Trans-Pecos Texas Desert. There they find an inhospitable 16-year-old runaway girl who has escaped from being held captive at a desert whorehouse. Leta has a Mensa-plus IQ, a sharp tongue, and a quick trigger finger. Woody's Uncle Wilbur is mysteriously missing.

The compound has many secrets, including underground rooms, enough stored weapons to outfit a small army, and lethal booby traps designed to eliminate Nazi agents whom Woody's paranoid uncle is convinced are seeking to kill him. Woody and Ava give Leta a crash course in street fighting and weapons. When the protection of U.S. Marshals is abruptly withdrawn, paid killers overwhelm the compound and trap Woody, Ava, and Leta in a small underground room. The three are all running short on their allotment of cat lives. There is no choice but to pull the Armageddon lever that crazy, but brilliant, Uncle Wilbur had designed to be used as a last resort.

The catastrophic explosion that follows totally destroys the compound and anyone in or near it. No one could possibly survive. In this continuation novel, the scene shifts to the Mexican Baja Peninsula and three young American expats who are running a beachside restaurant. They refuse to pay a local criminal group a weekly fee for protection. All hell promptly breaks loose. The body count climbs rapidly as the expats demonstrate their skill with street fighting and the use of weapons. The story evolves with many twists, turns, and shocks to finish with an utterly unpredictable ending.

Atwood Woody Stressel is a newly trained CIA clandestine operator who has been embedded in the first-year class of Grantland Medical School in an attempt to solve the mystery of disappearing undercover CIA personnel. Woody is only told of a strong suspicion that there is a mole in the CIA who has been turned by Russian agents and who is fingering operators who are kidnapped and tortured for classified information, then murdered. However, no bodies are ever found. The CIA has information that suggests that someone at the medical school is involved.

Woody meets the mysterious and alluring student Alina Karnitsky across the cadaver table in gross anatomy. Alina speaks fluent Russian, and Woody soon learns that Alina is an expert at weapons and street fighting. He is concerned that the woman is a Russian agent as well as a medical student, but has trouble convincing his CIA case manager to conduct a thorough background check. Woody cannot afford to flunk out of medical school, but his only hope of passing biochemistry is with tutoring from Alina.

During a nighttime excursion, Woody discovers the mutilated body of a pregnant woman in a vat of formalin in a heavily secured backroom of the gross anatomy lab. As Woody starts to uncover pieces of the missing operator puzzle, he becomes the target of assassination attempts. Alina tells Woody that his only chance of survival is to trust her to protect him. There are many twists and turns in the plot of this story that will keep the reader guessing until the very end.

A FLIGHT TO SAFETY-BUT THE BODIES KEEP PILING UP...

As told in the previous thriller, The Oven, CIA clandestine operative Woody Stressel and KGB undercover agent Ava Volkov become unlikely partners to solve the mystery of disappearing CIA operators who vanished and whose bodies were never found. The two of them barely escaped being tortured and cremated and having their ashes thrown out with used kitty litter. Woody and Ava became high-value targets for both the KGB and a powerful Chicago crime syndicate. They were moved to the secure CIA Camp Peary near Williamsburg, Virginia, for their safety while they decided whether to have their identities changed along with plastic surgery and relocation to a foreign country.

In this second thriller, the two agents receive murder warnings while at Camp Peary and quickly learn that they are not safe at the CIA facility. Ava and Woody make the dangerous decision to leave CIA protection and take a hazardous road trip to the Trans-Pecos desert in far West Texas where Woody's mentally unbalanced and paranoid uncle has built an armed compound.

This sequel to The Oven is packed with action and mystery and introduces new characters. Ava and Woody continue to walk a fine line between dodging bullets and eliminating bad guys. The ending is impossible to predict as the story unwinds with bodies piling up and Woody and Ava using all of their training and wits to stay alive.

A FLIGHT TO SAFETY-BUT THE BODIES KEEP PILING UP...

As told in the previous thriller, The Oven, CIA clandestine operative Woody Stressel and KGB undercover agent Ava Volkov become unlikely partners to solve the mystery of disappearing CIA operators who vanished and whose bodies were never found. The two of them barely escaped being tortured and cremated and having their ashes thrown out with used kitty litter. Woody and Ava became high-value targets for both the KGB and a powerful Chicago crime syndicate. They were moved to the secure CIA Camp Peary near Williamsburg, Virginia, for their safety while they decided whether to have their identities changed along with plastic surgery and relocation to a foreign country.

In this second thriller, the two agents receive murder warnings while at Camp Peary and quickly learn that they are not safe at the CIA facility. Ava and Woody make the dangerous decision to leave CIA protection and take a hazardous road trip to the Trans-Pecos desert in far West Texas where Woody's mentally unbalanced and paranoid uncle has built an armed compound.

This sequel to The Oven is packed with action and mystery and introduces new characters. Ava and Woody continue to walk a fine line between dodging bullets and eliminating bad guys. The ending is impossible to predict as the story unwinds with bodies piling up and Woody and Ava using all of their training and wits to stay alive.

Payston Peters' position in the nerdly lower social class seemed ordained from the time he was ridiculed by the other little waifs in nursery school when he threw up trying to force down a nasty piece of squash. Being named Payston Oscar Olin Peters by unthinking parents gave Payston a singularly bad start in life and an enduring cross to bear. The scatological acronym of his name was almost as damaging as being named Sue in the classic Johnny Cash song. Payston's coming of age on the High Plains of Texas is a fascinating journey, replete with highly entertaining adventures and misadventures. Payston had to survive by his wits and audacity and was frequently in trouble. He was a strong believer that every wrong or insult demanded massive retaliation. Being the shortest boy in junior high assured Payston's continued position in the lowest social caste system in school. His popular and very attractive older sister had a quick trigger for clobbering her brother in the head with her hairbrush. Our hero contends that the hairbrush assaults lowered his IQ and ruined his chances to become a member of Mensa.

Payston Peters' coming of age mirrors in many ways the rites of passage experienced by teenage boys in the 1950s. The protagonist survived bullying, dating disasters, and his adolescent sexual awakening. A great deal of the adventures and misadventures depicted really happened. Some are shocking and some are merely hilarious. Readers will often find themselves cringing or laughing aloud.