"You do not have a future if you do not stay alive now."
It is the early 90s and Frank Cardova, his wife Maryann and his daughter Theresa, have become targets of an associate of the vory, Russian thieves under the code working for a foreign intelligence operative. They turn for help to Charlemagne, the premier freelance specialist team used by western governments for black operations conducted without fingerprints.
The team, or rather its leader's wife Alex has another agenda concerning Theresa, whose long ago act of mercy has been twisted into a grudge by its recipient, a childhood friend turned vory killer. Alex hopes Theresa's past attraction for her stepson will re-ignite. But first, her husband and his team must save Theresa's life.
As Charlemagne struggles to eliminate the threat to Frank and his family, the team uncovers evidence that this intersection of crime and intelligence threatens one of their own and perhaps the team's very existence.
Vory is the sixth book in K.A. Bachus's fast-paced Charlemagne Files series. How many of their own lives could it cost Charlemagne to rescue Frank's family?
K.A. Bachus is acquainted with the world of Cold War secrets. A Chicago-born granddaughter of Lithuanian immigrants who fled Hitler and Stalin, she began adult life during the last year of the Vietnam era by enlisting in the United States Air Force. Her first duty assignment brought her to a special operations unit in Florida, where she worked as an administrative clerk in an intelligence office. There she typed aircrew briefings and managed a large intelligence library maintained in support of a worldwide deployment contingency.
The future author deployed with her unit for operational exercises to places such as Zweibrücken, West Germany and Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where she learned the importance of coffee. Besides performing her ordinary clerical duties on these deployments, she was designated as a weapons custodian and classified courier. She attended the Foreign Internal Defense Course at the Air Force Special Operations School in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
During these years, Ms. Bachus developed a profound respect for the warriors and special operations experts she worked with, whose service and sacrifices during three wars far overshadowed her own limited role in the support and defense of the Constitution of the United States.
After being commissioned as a second lieutenant, Ms. Bachus served as an administrative officer in England and Japan, holding various positions including security officer, personnel reliability officer, chief of central base admin, executive officer and headquarters squadron commander. Later as a civilian, she wrote for a newspaper and practiced criminal defense law.
K.A. Bachus lives and writes in Maine, USA, where she is active in veterans’ and writers’ groups.
And, of course, she drives a black Mercedes.
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