Man in the Middle

Small-town life has its perks-that's why I moved back to my beloved Yellow Springs from DC after ending my reluctant gig as a professional hacker for the Feds. Penetration testing for defense contractors here pays the bills, and keeps my hacking on the right side of the law...mostly. Plus I can spend time with Grandma Zigana, caring for her the way she cared for me growing up.

But it also means I'm expected to bail out fellow Springers when security issues come up, and they always do. From the credit union hack to reining in Antioch College students who think computer security is for everybody but them, to finding my favorite coffee shop's missing baker. Which wasn't a big deal itself, until my former DHS/FBI boss called with the same assignment.

Turns out Fred, born Pietra Vershynin, was more than just a refugee from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He had a secret life with the FBI that I unraveled in bits and pieces because of the Feds annoying "need to know" policy. That went out the window when the Russian mob showed up on my doorstep looking for Fred and his previously unmentioned duplicitous twin sister who arrived in the US illegally and promptly vanished as well.

Now the goons are after me, and my friends and family-and the job has become dangerously personal.

Which one of us will find Fred first? And who will pay the price along the way?