Free - Foxbat by James Barrington
Published 2007 by Macmillan UK
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The year is 1976.
The Cold War is at its height.
A Russian front-line pilot defects to Japan in a MiG-25 Foxbat interceptor, flying virtually at sea level to avoid the pursuing fighters and surface-to-air missiles.
With about thirty seconds of fuel remaining, he lands at Hakodate Airport, bursting a tyre and skidding off the runway.
But before the aircraft was handed back to the Russians, American intelligence agencies reduced it to a pile of components and then rebuilt it.
Despite the wealth of intelligence gleaned, they completely failed to realise the purpose for which the Foxbat was created.
In the present day, American satellites have detected unusual activity at several Algerian air bases, and at Aïn Oussera a large hangar has been cordoned off and armed guards posted outside.
Western intelligence agencies suspect that Algeria might be preparing its forces to launch an attack on Libya or Morocco, unleashing a war across the region.
They’re also concerned that they might have obtained new aircraft or weapon systems, perhaps secreted in the guarded hangar at Aïn Oussera.
The only way to find out is to get someone to look inside the building, and it will have to be a covert insertion.
Paul Richter is called in as ‘a deniable asset’.
But what is the connection to events almost forty years earlier?
Richter must find out before it is too late.
'Foxbat' is an exciting non-stop thriller that moves rapidly through Bulgaria, Russia, and ultimately North Korea.
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