Xx9 (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9798902716587)

XX9 is the sixth novel in the CIA series that continues the story of former CIA clandestine operator Woody Stressel and the beautiful KGB agent Ava Volkov. Six years have elapsed since the now-married couple escaped from Mexico and a planned horrible death by members of a Chicago mafia. In Reincarnation, the preceding novel, the woman, now known as Kinzie Reichert, is a pediatric oncology fellow, and her husband, Ben Reichert, is a general surgery resident. Their goal to live quietly and anonymously is disrupted when the couple's young daughter is attacked by a rude 10-year-old bully at the park. This forces Kinzie to resort to her KGB training to disable the boy's threatening father with a well-placed kick to his anatomical nether regions and a follow-up head smash. The father, Gregor Ivanovich, is a powerful Russian criminal lawyer and vows deadly vengeance.

As the story evolves, a number of unexpected deaths of wealthy people occur with surprisingly rapid autopsies by the medical examiner. His denier raises questions about the fraudulent death reports and becomes the victim of a mysterious fall from the tenth floor of the hospital tower. Ben and Kinzie befriend a nerdy MD/PhD pathologist who is working with XX9, a new Russian compound that initially seems to cure childhood leukemia, but causes rupture of the ascending aorta 4 weeks later with a horrible and painful death. The three new friends are suspicious that the dead people may have been surreptitiously fed the compound as part of an ingenious murder-for-hire operation involving the medical examiner, as well as the Russian lawyer.

XX9 introduces a number of fascinating new characters, including Lance Newsom, a handsome and arrogant cardiac surgeon whose goal is to know (in the biblical sense) as many women as possible. His equally handsome brother Matthew is a psychiatrist turned minister who has a Freudian fear of women. Fifteen-year-old quarterback phenom Rifle Winchester, who is dying from a metastatic bone tumor of his femur, is a pivotal character. The race between the Russians and the Americans to reformulate XX9 so it cures blood cancers without killing patients leads to violence and an accumulation of bodies. The ending of the novel cannot be predicted, although a few breadcrumbs are left along the way.