Altar of the Enemy by Stacy Benedec

About the book

Freelance agent Adam Crawford is tired of life on the edge. When Adam takes a holiday in Morocco, it is to choose thoroughbreds for his new ranch in Kentucky.

Approached by his former best friend, now enemy, Timothy Cross, he is offered a contract he can't refuse. The CIA will pay Crawford $500,000 to assist with the defection of a top soviet businessman and the transportation of some microchips for a Russian Satellite. Against his better judgement, he agrees. He hates Cross, but needs the money, and figures it will be his last official job anyway before he retires to Kentucky.

He resents working with his assigned partner, Whitney Hill, a CIA agent Crawford regards as a "blue-blood debutante". He doesn't have time to train a replacement, however. They only have twelve days before the satellite is launched. So, he reluctantly takes her as part of the package as well, figuring he can stand to do anything for a couple of weeks, if there is a light at the end of the tunnel, especially one with a $500,000 payoff attached.

Nikolai Chekov has ulterior motives besides his defection, and Adam soon believes that Tim Cross is still alive. Someone has been smuggling expensive jewelry out of Russia, priceless in fact, and Adam finds the middle man in Gibraltar. Meanwhile, the defection is going as planned, and the chips are being delivered one at a time, on schedule.

Once the chips are delivered and Chekov is out of Russia, Adam and Whitney are told that their jobs are over. For Adam, however, the job has just begun, and he stays in Gibraltar. He finds Tim alright, and the confrontation that has been building for almost twenty years erupts, and the two men have to deal with almost two decades of hostility and hatred.

About the author

I grew up in Southern Missouri and Oklahoma. My background is International Finance, and I worked in banking for many years. Then in 1994 I changed careers and went to work for a business-to-business EDI company, handling Investor Relations and working for the Chairman and CEO.

In November 1997, I decided to focus on my writing fulltime, and left the workplace. You can see my website at or email me at

FOOD: I love to cook. I was trained at the Cordon Bleu in Paris.

SCUBA: I have an NASDS Advanced Open Water Certification.

MUSIC: I have played guitar since I was 11 years old. I have also played concert violin.

CALLIGRAPHY & ILLUMINATION: I have done this since I was 13 years old. I have been a lay member of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators, United Kingdom for 11 years.

CHESS: I am an avid chess player.

BASEBALL: I love this game! I am one of those annoying people who quote players hometowns, batting averages, ERA's and former teams. I drive people nuts with it.

MARTIAL ARTS: I have studied Shotokan, Kung Fu, and in Po Shin Do.

PHOTOGRAPHY: I did this professionally for five years in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.