num_pages: 436
description: Final Payment is an espionage story set in the depths of the Cold War in 1971. An Israeli aircraft flying over Sinai is attacked by a Soviet missile fired from Egypt, but the weapon fails to detonate and the pilot crash-lands his disabled aircraft with the live missile lodged in its fuselage. CIA officers Clay Kinkaide and Serina Gray are immediately assigned to purchase the damaged missile for intelligence analysis.The Israelis agree to sell, but demand $10,000,000 and delivery to them of Joachim Van Altmann, a U.S. citizen serving as caretaker officer on a ship marooned in the Great Bitter Lake whom they assert is the Nazi war criminal Martin Bormann. Van Altmann is not a Nazi, but an NSA officer operating a clandestine electronic monitoring station on his ship. The Israelis reject CIA assurances of his innocence, however, and insist they will kidnap or kill him if the exchange is not consummated. Soviet operatives also pursue Van Altmann as a bargaining chip to use in recovering their missile. To free the hostage NSA officer and obtain the missile, Clay and Serina lead a world-wide hunt for the real Martin Bormann. Besides the long-missing Nazi, their search turns up two Soviet double agents, a pair of armed nuclear warheads, a KGB scheme to intentionally detonate an atomic device, and a Soviet plan to exploit the ensuing fallout by blackmailing the West into unilateral disarmament.Before the CIA officers can extricate Bormann from his base of operations in Paraguay, or reveal the deadly plot they've uncovered, Serina is betrayed to the local police. Faced with torture, she tries to protect Clay and their operation by remaining silent. Meanwhile, he must choose to attempt her rescue or to deliver his prisoner and information which will prevent a nuclear holocaust to the Company. Final Payment is a chronicle of career intelligence operatives playing Cold War brinkmanship on a scale of horrifying proportions. It's also the story of two people who discover that they care deeply for one another. The game they play permits no error without penalty and payment exacted in pain or death. To survive and prevail, they must trust only each other and constantly guard against enemies, allies, and the ruthless policies of their employer.
language: English
title: Final Payment
titlecomplete: Final Payment
ratings_count: 2
publisher: Oquirrh Press