Catherine Gruben

ArviI hast been instructed to tell thee of my part in the business of protecting h rl m the Third, Dreaded King, during the imperilment of his lineage and the attempted overthrow of his reign. To do so I have had to start my tale earlier in the year, at the time when my tormentor came into my life; which finally resulted in the destruction of all my family hoped and dreamed for since my birth.TurnerThanks a lot, Arvi. I guess it don't matter none to you that I's done my part of protecting too, eh jailer? It were me that stopped that carriage of murderers running off with Charlie, and me what gave the archer in the woods something else to think about so's the king could live long enough for you to find him. And I's only ten years yet Don't go shovin' me in the dark like I ain't around, we's been in this together. So we's both telling this tale. It's a pretty good yarn, too.

Underneath the French A15 Interstate, where it towers over the river Seine, sits a warehouse. It is particularly uninteresting, just a gray rectangle, like an overgrown cinderblock. But to a team of American spies it is extremely interesting; it's the building Simeon Lee picked to unmask a terrorist of an unusual sort. Simeon's best friend is in trouble, framed for terrorist activity by someone calling themselves 'Solitaire, ' and that's not something the Parabaloni are willing to overlook. At that singularly ugly warehouse the four spies must bring together Gigan's family of Parisian smugglers, all the law-enforcement they can pack into three rooms, a crowd of Islamic terrorist, one crooked inventor, and this unexplained Solitaire. But once there, will Simeon manage to draw a confession out, or will Solitaire end the night by his favorite method of igniting TNT, and blow them all straight to minuscule pieces?

A single week in the life of Peter Aziz finds him sold out by his team, captured by Islamic terrorists, shot at by camel herders in the Empty Quarter, nearly drowned in a Yemen river, almost blown to bits while rescuing a king, and shot out of the sky while wearing a pteranodon-styled flight suit. This world can be a surprising place. But when new friendships begin to form, for Peter Aziz life's surprises begin to switch to the good kind instead of the nightmares it's been for the past year.

A call comes in after a long weekend, and sends Simeon and Vincent hurtling toward Ireland to stop thousands of men, women and children from being blown to bits. The lies are so thick even the Parabaloni struggle to find the perpetrators before the situation erupts. But just when Vincent and Simeon think they are on the right track they find themselves in a room full of high explosives, and feel the barrel of an AK47 in their backs... One thing is certain: what these friends believe shapes how they will act in the situation. But will the action be enough to keep this from being the final chapter in their adventures?

Simeon Lee has spent his life keeping America free from terror. Which makes the discovery of a band of hooded murderers sparking fear from coast to coast a very unpalatable shock. Someone is trying to change America from the ground up, and whoever they are has no qualms about murdering the weak in their way. But as he takes hold of faith and leaps out into the fight again, Simeon begins to suspect God might have an ulterior motive in driving him back to work. Happiness, the elusive sweetness in life the old spy has long given up hope of finding, could be waiting for him in the smile of an unexpected young man.