Alex Dryden - The Blind Spy

Anna sat, silent. She was stunned that Burt’s man at the CIA, the boss himself, could have betrayed her.

“You see, what I also failed to see was Lish’s fundamental resentment towards me. His deep-seated jealousy. He wanted to damage Cougar. Now it’s the CIA that’s damaged. The Pride of Corsica was ultimately registered to a letter-box company in Omsk with KGB connections. The Russians set the whole thing up. The CIA go off on some Russian-inspired wild goose chase in the Black Sea and end up killing their own former colleagues on an empty ship. The British, too. It’s not just a PR disaster, it has deeply damaged the relationship between the CIA and the military in my country. No doubt in Britain, too. Adrian will shortly be looking for a job, I don’t doubt.” Burt paused. “On the plus side, all that’s happened in the Crimea will, in time, add another billion or so to Cougar’s government contracts.” He looked at her. “And you, Anna, you should have a stake in that.”

“That’s your motive, Burt, not mine.”

“And you? Dear Anna, what are your motives?”

She didn’t reply.

“The Senate Intelligence Committee is very pleased with Balthasar’s damning evidence against the KGB. They don’t intend to use it—as long as the Russians play ball. As long as the Russians drop their plans to implicate Qubaq in the events at Sevastopol, we’ll keep the world from knowing what those plans were. You’ve read the newspapers. The Kremlin is talking about a rogue group of special forces soldiers of their own who went on a psycho rampage in Sevastopol’s harbour. All good. They can’t go back on that now, even if we didn’t hold the cards against them that Balthasar brought.”

Anna picked up the glass on the table next to her for the first time. She drank half of it.

“And who will you put forward to be the next head of the Agency?” she said.

“I’ll wait until I’m asked.” Burt grinned.

“I’m not sure you’re going to find anyone who doesn’t end up resenting you and wanting their freedom from you,” she said. “You don’t give someone their freedom, they resent you. It’s written in stone.”

“Maybe. But I can’t help what other people think.”

To see and not to know, to know and not to see. Anna thought of Balthasar.

“Because you were right?” she asked. “Is that why you’re so full of yourself?”

“I think you know I’m always full of myself.” Burt guffawed, then he became serious. “Every time I’m right,” he said, “I get richer and more powerful. But every time I’m right it also becomes more difficult to be rich in hypotheses. Being right—or just thinking that—is an open invitation to prejudice. That’s what I try to guard against in every waking minute.”

As Anna rode away from the ranch house, the sun was dimming to the west. She opened the throttle of the bike on the straight, brown-grey road until the wind tore at her eyes and all she could see were the road’s edges and still she increased her speed. She rode blind until she thought she sensed where the track led up into the mountains—it was maybe two miles, maybe more, during which she had seen nothing but light. She closed down the throttle and stopped. The track to their cabin was to her right, not far off. She wiped the tears away that the wind had wrenched from her eyes and turned up the canyon that disappeared into the red rock. Balthasar was waiting for her.

ALEX DRYDENis the pseudonym of a British writer who worked for the British security services. He has had extensive firsthand experience with Russia for many years. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Red to Black and Moscow Sting . The Blind Spy is his third novel.

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Moscow Sting

Red to Black

Cover design by Base Art Co.

Cover photographs: St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow © by Bjorn Vinter/Getty Images; Communist Medal © by Mode Images/Alamy

“It’s boots on the ground in Ukraine, considered the cradle of Russian civilization, in this chilling novel that reminds us that the Cold War may never be over; third in a knockout series.”

“His thrillers are an extended clarion call to arms, despite their spy-thriller guise. And as guises go, Dryden’s books are doozies. They’re exceptionally intelligent examples of the genre. The American publication… is particularly timely….. Brace yourself, Mr. Dryden. You’re likely to be a busy writer for many years.”

“Anna Resnikov is the kind of spy a reader can learn to like. A lot…. Alex Dryden’s thriller presents Anna’s combat skills, her spy-smarts and a chess match involving the top spies of the United States and Russia.”

“The unbelievable becomes believable…as we wade through scenes of terror, and scenes of terrifying ordinariness that serve to add to the tension.”

“Anna is a refreshing addition to the traditionally male-dominated role of spy. She’s believably crafted… simultaneously exhibiting strength and intelligence…. [Witten] with rich, distinct characters and timely subject matter. The time invested in reading The Blind Spy is definitely time well spent.”

“A story almost literally ripped from the headlines… gripping, smart adventure that crackles with authentic modern spycraft—an absolute must-read for fans of John le Carré, Alex Berenson, Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady Renko series… and for any readers interested in what’s really going on in the ‘new Russia’.”

“With a plot as current as today’s headlines, Dryden’s latest is as good as his previous two novels…[but] while Anna’s past matters, this exceptional novel stands on its own. Aficionados of spy thrillers will want.”

“Another tantalizingly plausible plot…. Dryden is building an impressive list of post–Cold War espionage fiction, and [there is] much to enjoy in his latest.”

“The pseudonymous Dryden’s… fine third entry (after 2010’s Moscow Sting ) in a series grounded…in the twisting intellectual gamesmanship that makes the shadow world of espionage so compelling…. Russia’s plan to take over Ukraine lies at the heart of… this intricate and deadly struggle for international domination.”

“The first two Resnikov novels, Red to Black and Moscow Sting , got some rave reviews, and the author’s experience in both British intelligence and as a journalist gives his work depth. Don’t miss for thriller fans.”

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