Introduction

In the frozen wastes of Siberia, a silver artifact is stolen from a dead man . . . In the Middle East, the carefully planned strike on a terrorist leader goes disastrously wrong . . . Two seemingly unrelated incidents have placed the former CIA covert operative-turned-freelance spy, code-named Scorpion, in a desperate position: joining forces with a beautiful woman to prevent the assassination of a powerful Ukrainian politician.

But treachery breeds terror in the long shadow of a dangerous Russia, as Scorpion finds himself caught in a lethal trap sprung by an unknown enemy?perhaps someone on his own side of the game. And now time is ticking rapidly away with the whole world balancing on a knife's edge, just days from the opening salvos of a catastrophic war that could leave the earth itself in ruins.

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Excerpt

Penal Colony 9,
Siberia, Russia


The prisoner Pyotr S. lay awake in the darkness, listening to Lev die. The cell was icy cold. Inside Strafnaja Kolonija Dyevyit, Penal Colony 9, a prison so secret its existence was known to only a handful within the FSB’s headquarters in Moscow, even hardened prisoners accustomed to some of the coldest temperatures on the planet shivered in their sleep. The temperature outside was – 51 Celsius, 60 below zero Fahrenheit. The prison was a solitary island in the vast Siberian taiga covered with snow. Still more snow fell silently through the light from the floodlights on the outer fence. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

a. The American agent, Scorpion, and the Ukrainian woman, Iryna Shevchenko, are lovers who are deeply attracted to each other but face immense obstacles. Was their affair doomed from the start or was there a moment when it might have worked and if so, how?
b. Tragic events from Ukraine’s past – the starvation of the Holodomor, Babi Yar and the Holocaust, the Nazis, Russian Communism, Chernobyl, anti-Semitism – play an important part in this book. Is Ukraine, as a nation, doomed by its past? Is any nation?
c. In the end, this book deals with some basic moral questions: What is the duty to one’s country? What is the duty to one’s friends? What is your duty to the person you love? What do you owe to yourself? What if they conflict? What should you do? How would you resolve such a conflict?
d. An aspect of the book deals with a dilemma for the CIA. Should one do something one recognizes as wrong – or even evil - because it is in the interests of your country? And if you choose to act immorally, where are the limits? How, for example, do you distinguish yourself from the defendants at Nuremburg?

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