MOSCOW METAL

Frequently bored Concord, Massachusetts dental surgeon Charles "Doc" Adams gives sanctuary to his neighbor, a Hungarian scientist. His name is Emil Haszmanay. He is revealed as a double agent spying for both the Soviet KGB and the US CIA. Evidence grows that both agencies would not mind seeing Emil dead. Haszmanay works on top-secret US government projects at nearby Lincoln Laboratory. He suspects two things (1) Someone in the lab is leaking secrets to the Soviets and (2) Someone in the CIA is a mole planted by the KGB. *****Doc's cat is hit by a pellet fired at Haszmanay. The cat dies is agony. An autopsy shows that the pellet was radioactive thallium, a favored KGB weapon. Poisoned thallium pellets are so closely identified with the KGB that they are styled "Moscow Metal" by the CIA and FBI. A tiny bit of the pellet gets into a cut on the hand of Mary Adams, Doc's wife and she is seriously ill for days. *****For a while Doc is able to shield Emil Haszmonay from both CIA, FBI and KGB pursuers. Emil fears that the dreaded KGB killer called TALIN is after him, which means he is as good as dead already. ARGUS, a secret super computer named for Odysseus's faithful old hound, is going to be transported from the Lincoln Laboratory by train to the western USA. The KGB wants to steal it, analyze it and thereby prevent the West from gaining a ten year advantage in "Star Wars" missile defenses. ***** Doc, working with local police, manages to set a trap for the robbers. As the freight train begins to move west, Doc sneaks aboard. He finds himself involved in a deadly struggle for a thallium-shooting pellet gun with a CIA agent supposedly protecting the mighty computer ARGUS.The landscape in and near Concord and Boston, Massachusetts comes alive by day and especially by darkest night as Doc Adams makes time between pulling teeth and repairing jaws to defend his country from the evil Soviets. His ways are not always approved by the CIA and FBI but they get results. A pleasant page-turner. Light bedtime reading. Timely in mid 2010 when Russian sleeper spies fill the headlines of American media. -OOO-