Michael Davidson - In the Shadow of Mordor

Kseniya Kirillovais a Russian journalist who focuses on analyzing Russian society, political processes in modern Russia and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. She writes for Radio Liberty and other outlets and is an expert of the Center for Army, Conversion, and Disarmament Studies and the Free Russia Foundation.

Harry’s Rules

Eye for an Eye

Incubus

The Incubus Vendetta

The Inquisitor and the Maiden

Retribution

Krystal

A Rehearsal of Life

(Репетиция Жизни)

Did the Cold War end or did the KGB find a way to retain its power and dominate the new Russian Federation? “Harry’s Rules” is an espionage thriller set against the backdrop of post-Soviet Russia in the early 1990’s.

Who killed President John F. Kennedy? A long buried secret that could change the course of history draws murder to a quiet Washington suburb. Only an exiled CIA officer can solve a mystery that both the White House and the Kremlin will protect at all costs.

Revenge is said to be a dish best served cold. A suicide bomber and a serial killer are the instruments chosen by a deposed Russian president.

But his targets are anything but helpless.

THE INQUISITOR AND THE MAIDEN —Disillusioned by Spain’s falling fortunes in the 30-Years-War, Eduardo Macías returns home. His reputation as a valorous soldier wins him the position of Captain of the Santa Hermandad, a Spanish force charged with protecting the people and maintaining the law. He is forced to accept a mission by officials of the Holy Inquisition to investigate a charge of heresy against a nobleman with royal ties. What he discovers places Eduardo at odds with the Inquisition, and he must decide between honor and excommunication.

RETRIBUTION —The saga that began in 1492 continues into the turbulent present. An ancient enemy threatens the world with nuclear terror, and CIA officer Robert Strachey and his friend Spanish Police inspector Alberto Macías find themselves in a race against time to avert a holocaust.

KRYSTAL — SassyDetective Krystal Murphy who appeared in INCUBUS and THE INCUBUS VENDETTA at last gets her own novel.

A controversial Miami judge is murdered in a Washington hotel room. Homicide detective Krystal Murphy identifies an ideal suspect, a person with motive and opportunity. Following the suspect’s trail to Miami, she is confronted by an unspeakable tragedy that leaves her prime suspect dead. Convinced her initial instincts were wrong and driven by guilt, she teams with a Miami detective to continue the investigation. But she encounters unexpected opposition from her own superiors who want only to call the case closed. While coping with her own personal tragedy and under great pressure from her superiors, Krystal doggedly pursues the case with the help a new ally and perhaps more than just a friend, the Miami detective. When more people associated with the case begin turning up dead, Krystal finds herself in a race against time before she herself becomes the next victim of an increasingly desperate killer.

In the Shadow of Mordor

Copyright © 2016

Michael R. Davidson & Kseniya Kirillova

All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

MRD Enterprises, Inc.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016918565

ISBN 978-0-692-80520-6

Cover by Damonza

Russian-English Translation and editing by Michael R. Davidson

…disabled veterans, whose continuing need for more support was unwelcome evidence of the Soviet state’s inability or unwillingness to adequately provide for all citizens’ needs. During the late 1940s and 1950s disabled veterans were dispersed from Moscow and other large cities for forced resettlement in remote areas. According to Fieseler (2006:51), kolkhoz supervisors in rural areas, in order to shed inefficient disabled workers, sometimes turned them in as “parasites;” such workers were then deported, presumably to labor camps. Penal camps were established in the Soviet Union for disabled prisoners and disabled veterans of the Russian Civil War and the two World Wars. The most infamous of these is the Spasskaya labor colony near Karaganda, Kazakhstan, to which 15,000 disabled prisoners were sent in the late 1940s and early 1950s (Solzhenitsyn 1985). Similarly, disabled veterans of the Second World War were secretly exiled from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and Leningrad oblast’ to the Valaam archipelago, in the Republic of Karelia (Russian Federation). Valaam and the fate of those veterans are still shrouded in mystery (Fefelov 1986:51-57).

Americans. From the ancient Greek Πίνδος

Leader

Secure Compartmented Information Facility — pronounced “skiff.”

Fatback

Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin aka “Strelkov,” a Russian GRU colonel who played a prominent role in the invasion and occupation of Ukraine and the eventual formation of the so-called “Donbas Peoples Republic.” He was sanctioned by the EU for his actions.

Right Sector was a far-right, Ukrainian nationalist organization with fascist tendencies.

УкроСМИ: “Ukrainian mass media.” In Russian, “СМИ” stands for “Средства массовой информации,” i.e. “mass media.”

“Thieves in the law” a traditional Russian term for certain criminals