Ruth Wind, Countdown

Ruth Wind, Countdown - Athena Academy graduate Kim Valenti of NSA is terrific in breaking codes and has helped other agencies' staff like FBI bomb expert Alexander Tanner with her skills. Though they never met, Kim and Alex have a thriving email repertoire with hopes that one day Windtalker2 and Lex Luther, as they respectively sign their electronic correspondence, will meet.

That day occurs when both are assigned to a joint task force looking into Q'rajn terrorist group activities tied to Berzhaan. They are to work together to determine whether known terrorist Fathi bin Amen Mansour or apparently clean Professor Hafiz abu Malik Abd-Humam is planning an attack on western soil. Though Fathi has used his Oxford-educated chemical engineering skills to enact revenge for the deaths of his mother and brothers, he holds the west culpable and Hafiz has only written articles demanding the west leave his country, the two Federal agents know either or both could be the suspect and are assigned to take out the right one.

The Athena Academy graduates continue to provide action-packed, romantic, suspense thrillers that grip the audience from start to finish. Kim is a fabulous alumni as she works with and falls in love with Alex, who reciprocates, having been three quarters in love just on their email exchanges. The terrorist aspects are handled with dexterity so that the audience receives a fast-paced tale in which a mistake could cost more than your life; it could cost the lives of numerous innocents. Fans will want to know which way the wind is blowing during the COUNTDOWN to a terrorist attack with Kim and Alex trying to abort it.

Silhouette Bombshell, Apr 2005, $4.50

ISBN: 0373513526

Harriet Klausner