Framed

Mace and his team have promised to protect her but when she is kidnapped from her sister’s wedding and taken prisoner there is no one there to help her except herself. Learning more about the maleware and delving into the programs and given access to find out where the hacker came from, the original site on outlook.com and more Lark learns that someone hacked into the computer software of the Delta Force and that person might be hiding in plain site. When they realize that someone has managed to hide and wants to sell a suitcase nuclear bomb it sets them in motion as a team but the end result will shock readers just when they think they solved the problem and have the bomb.

The man in charge of kidnapping her was Mr. Sokolov and his henchman is Palachka plus another one named Iggy who would not hesitate to blow your brains out if it suited him. Questioned by Sokolov he noted that she works for the FBI in their Cyber Crime Division and stated that she used the handle SPURious and that she hacked into the MIT mainframe while at Cal Tech. Supposedly she stole his 50 million dollars and the rest of the meeting got painful and violent he even threatened his nephew Elliot. This she explained to the Delta Force Group in more detail and hoped they along with Mace would give her access to the FBI’s computers to locate the money and more. Getting on she contacted her connection named Chaos Cowboy hoping this person would help her find the information she needed.
There is a Russian connection and a group that managed to get hold of the nuclear bomb except someone named Fitch was holding it ransom and wanted payment for delivery until he flipped in another direction. He belonged to Citizens for Free Americans White folks only. Fatianova was the link and the one who was going to broker the sale of the nuclear bomb at a silent auction the highest bidder the winner but first she had to deal with Fitch and her cohort Fyodor.

Mikhail Kerghahov is Sokolov’s accountant and is next in line to be questioned by the FBI and warned that if he did not comply to what they want he just might disappear and his family too. When the FBI agent explained his choices will he give her what she wants or take his chances?

The author uses her experience and knowledge as an army intelligence officer which shines through in this novel. The characters are realistic, strong, and she allows readers to understand the strain, the coordination needed to pull off many kinds of operations. Lark is tough, no holds barred and yet at first when dealing with her critical and overbearing mother she backs off. The team consists of Jace, Alex, Tag, Gabe, Ken, Gavin and Scott. Doug is the man in charge and you get to know each of these men as they work together to stop what someone has put in place. She needed access to the SCIF and when she gets it you won’t believe what she finds.

Jocelyn worked with her when they both were hackers and developed a close friendship but not everyone is what they appear to be and in this world you never know who your friends are. Someone created a fake account and Lark was running an algorithm to match collar amounts with the dates and destinations. She also realized the time stamp or the time on the computer was one half hour in the future. Speaking to Doug she explained how he had assigned her to deconstruct a piece of malware that a security scan detected. The infected server was not located in the SCIF. It was just a regular server but in reality it was just a regular average server running virtual machines. The author once again uses her experience to full explain this on pages 234-235.

Bottom line someone she learned has been stealing classified information from their facility but for what person and where is the information going and to whom? Espionage!

Going back to Fatinaova and Fitch who hoped that he had delivered the package but did not and what he decided to with the bomb is more than terrifying and would kill thousands of people yet he had another use for holding it hostage. But, wait until you learn what happens at the silent auction when a startling revelation is revealed and lives are in danger when the unexpected happens. What happens when Fitch realizes that   the package contained a nuclear bomb?
Fitch Otis is dangerous and the end result you just won’t believe as the silent auction takes place the team is ready and the end result terrifying. But, first the author reviews once again about the computer clock and then we learn more about Fatianova when questioned and the end result of what she hoped to put in place followed by the Delta Force operators hoping to take down Fitch Otis. A violent ending where someone close to everyone is fatally killed and Mace feels that it’s his fault and he failed someone on the team and might take quite a while for him to recover. As they hoped to recoup and relax at Lark’s parents home or mansion the end result there is more violence, more critics from her mother and the final scenes will you wondering if this battle will ever end and who will come out alive.

This is a story ripped right out of the headlines and the author’s knowledge of computer and computer hacking and malware helps add intrigue and more suspense to the twists, turns and surprise ending. The final revelation will make you understand that in this case there are many who were FRAMED!

Fran Lewis: Just reviews/MJ magazine