(untitled spy novel)
an excerpt

1. Argentina

Conrad Gray lies on the floor of an abandoned factory. Rats crawl around him as rainwater leaks in from the ceiling onto his face like a crude form of Chinese Water Torture. His wrists are bound in plastic ties and his left knee has been blown out. Above him, a man is standing with a full syringe. Across the room, lies the body of Nam Kiltong, a South Korean agent killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Barely able to move, Conrad slowly wiggles in an attempt to get out from under the dripping water. Or so his captor thinks. In reality, Agent Gray is working loose a small blade from his belt loop. The man comes closer, bringing the needle to Conrad’s arm, at the moment that Conrad cuts through the strap around his wrists. After releasing himself from his bondage, the young agent swings out his good leg, bringing his would-be attacker to the ground. In one fluid motion, Conrad then catches the syringe in his right hand and jams it into the fallen man’s neck. He then pulls out two quick ties which he finds in the man’s back pocket and restrains his wrists and ankles. Once confident that the man is secure, Conrad picks up the man’s dropped revolver, checks for ammo and points it at the man’s head. Before firing, Conrad’s attention is brought back to his dead partner across the room. Conrad hobbles over to Nam to check his pulse. He shakes his head, finding none, and Seal-walks across the factory, eventually finding a cell phone. He checks for a signal then dials.

Punching a small red button on the keypad, Agent Gray drops the phone and collapses on the floor.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth hunter sits in a large black SUV being questioned by her handler, Alexander Grant - a middle-aged man with distinctive round glasses. Grant had a long and decorated career with the CIA before taking early retirement on the heels of a scandal which nearly ruined him and his department. After a few years of laying low, Grant created an independent intelligence bureau which he dubbed the Allied Intellegence Service, called AIS or “Ace.” The woman across from him, Agent Hunter, was recruited shortly after finishing her tenure with the Naval Reserves. She and Conrad Gray are the newest recruits to Grant’s AIS team.

“Where are the others, Agent Hunter?”
“I don’t know,” she answers, visibly distressed, “as I said I was in a different part of the building and was blindfolded the entire time. Once we were separated, I never saw or heard Gray, Schott or Kil Tong again.”
“What about your captors?”
“Three, maybe four men, again, the blindfold was never removed so I didn’t get a look at any of them.” She takes a drink out of a polystyrene cup, “they all spoke Spanish; only one of the men spoke clear English, and he asked the questions.”
“What kinds of questions did he…” Grant’s SAT phone beeps loudly, “Conrad?”

Grant ends the call, and instantly the screen flips over to a map with a blinking red dot. He turns around to the driver, “We’ve got them. Let’s move.”