Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Baksheesh (Bribes), a Techno Thriller by DS Kane (29 June 2015, The Swiftshadow Group, 316 pages). This is the fifth book in the Spies Lie series.
**Grab your Kindle copy FREE from Amazon**
PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below, as well as details about the whole series, and our Q&A with author DS Kane. Read the first five chapters with Amazon Look Inside. Baksheesh (Bribes) is FREE on Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owner's Lending Library.
DS Kane will be awarding ebook versions of the whole Spies Lie series (which includes Bloodridge, DeathByte, Swiftshadow, GrayNet, and Baksheesh) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).
Synopsis | Teaser | The Series | Author Q&A | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops
Synopsis
A covert operative is ready for a new life outside of international espionage. But her enemies are far from willing to let her live...She's run from more threats than she can remember. She spied for her country, but that led her to blackmail her president, to get the love of her life his freedom. But when he proposes, covert agent Cassandra Sashakovich is finally ready to settle down.
Unfortunately enemies from her past aren't quite ready to let her walk away.
Old enemies—including a vengeful president—want her dead, and they're willing to attack her loved ones, including her adopted teenage daughter, if that's what it takes.
But when a world leader is assassinated and an arm dealer's revenge threatens a global nuclear war, Cassandra and her security firm, The Swiftshadow Group, must defuse the threats and outmaneuver those who threaten not only her family, but her country as well.
Teaser: Excerpt
Lee Ainsley, her boyfriend, knelt, holding up the tiny ring with its miniature diamond in his hand, offering it to her. He seemed to sense the tsunami of emotions overpowering her. Feelings mixed with logic, pointing in every direction away from what she truly wanted.
He grinned slyly, like a child who’d waited too long for Christmas. “What’s your answer? Cassandra Sashakovich, I'm hopelessly in love with you. Please marry me.”
Her eyes had popped wide open the first time he asked. Now, she tried to speak but her lips wouldn't move.
She’d shown him her heart, her only private place where thought had no currency.
She forced herself to moisten her lips through the pain, preparing to speak. The voice inside her head told her not to try and sort all of it out before she answered him.
Time to feel? Time to think?
She realized there wasn’t time to sort this out properly. Cassie tried thinking anyway, since—for her—thinking always happened before any action. She wondered what she really wanted. Of course she wanted Lee. And the voice in the back of her head stated bluntly that having Lee would be dangerous for him. She wasn’t safe. No one with her could ever be safe.
Now, what she had originally dreamed of, being wanted and loved by an intelligent, good-looking man, was about to become her dream come true. But Lee had been targeted for death because of her. Accepting his proposal would only exaggerate his peril. And, Ann, her adopted daughter would be at greater risk with both her and Lee as choke points. Furthermore, it would be so much easier for any enemies of Cassie to use her family as leverage against her. Yet, if she declined, she'd acknowledge that her enemies had succeeded in destroying her life.
Cassie sighed. It was a lose-lose situation.
Her heart leaped at the sight of the miniscule ring. Where had he bought it? When had he had time? It had to have been just before he was picked up by the FBI and taken to Guantanamo Bay; it was so small that he’d probably bought it the day after they’d left the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC.
Cassie realized, ohmigod, he’s been planning this for months.
She heard Ann tiptoe down the stairs. She saw the teen’s reflection, watching from just beyond the kitchen doors, facing Cassie’s back. Ann’s ragged hair had been dyed back to its natural mousy brown, from the purple and pink she’d colored it to disguise herself when she ran from a Saudi assassin weeks ago. Ann held Gizmo, their small, black kitten in her arms. She smiled. “Do it, mom,” she whispered.
Time to choose.
He grinned slyly, like a child who’d waited too long for Christmas. “What’s your answer? Cassandra Sashakovich, I'm hopelessly in love with you. Please marry me.”
Her eyes had popped wide open the first time he asked. Now, she tried to speak but her lips wouldn't move.
She’d shown him her heart, her only private place where thought had no currency.
She forced herself to moisten her lips through the pain, preparing to speak. The voice inside her head told her not to try and sort all of it out before she answered him.
Time to feel? Time to think?
She realized there wasn’t time to sort this out properly. Cassie tried thinking anyway, since—for her—thinking always happened before any action. She wondered what she really wanted. Of course she wanted Lee. And the voice in the back of her head stated bluntly that having Lee would be dangerous for him. She wasn’t safe. No one with her could ever be safe.
Now, what she had originally dreamed of, being wanted and loved by an intelligent, good-looking man, was about to become her dream come true. But Lee had been targeted for death because of her. Accepting his proposal would only exaggerate his peril. And, Ann, her adopted daughter would be at greater risk with both her and Lee as choke points. Furthermore, it would be so much easier for any enemies of Cassie to use her family as leverage against her. Yet, if she declined, she'd acknowledge that her enemies had succeeded in destroying her life.
Cassie sighed. It was a lose-lose situation.
Her heart leaped at the sight of the miniscule ring. Where had he bought it? When had he had time? It had to have been just before he was picked up by the FBI and taken to Guantanamo Bay; it was so small that he’d probably bought it the day after they’d left the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC.
Cassie realized, ohmigod, he’s been planning this for months.
She heard Ann tiptoe down the stairs. She saw the teen’s reflection, watching from just beyond the kitchen doors, facing Cassie’s back. Ann’s ragged hair had been dyed back to its natural mousy brown, from the purple and pink she’d colored it to disguise herself when she ran from a Saudi assassin weeks ago. Ann held Gizmo, their small, black kitten in her arms. She smiled. “Do it, mom,” she whispered.
Time to choose.
Baksheesh (Bribes)
Available NOW for FREE download!
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The Series: Spies Lie
Bloodridge | DeathByte | Swiftshadow | GrayNet | ProxyWar |All titles in the series are FREE on Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owner's Lending Library.
Click on the book cover to Look Inside the book on Amazon and read an excerpt.
Bloodridge [1]
To find justice for those he loved, a man finds himself at the center of a dangerous global conspiracy...
When Jon Sommers finds out his fiance Lisa Gabriel died in a terrorist bomb attack, he is visited by spymaster, Yigdal Ben-Levy, who throws Jon's life into chaos, when he tells him that Lisa was not a fellow graduate student but a Mossad spy sent to bring him to Israel. Ben-Levy convinces Jon to seek justice for Lisa's murder by joining Mossad and going after Tariq Houmaz, her killer.
Shortly after training, Jon's entire new team is executed by the bomb maker, who murdered Lisa, and only Jon escapes the massacre. As he leaves the scene, Jon finds himself captured, threatened and turned into a double agent for MI-6. When his Mossad handler, Ben-Levy learns this, he wants Jon dead as an example to other Israeli coverts.
If being a hunted double agent isn't enough, Jon comes across information in his spying for MI-6 that suggests Israel is in impending danger from Houmaz. To stop this catastrophe, Jon must put together his own team, one he can trust with his life. Can Jon bring justice to Lisa's murderer, or will millions of lives be lost?
[Published 27 April 2014, 396 pages]
DeathByte [2]
When the plans to a new device that could change the course of world politics forever is stolen, every country goes looking. It's going to be a free-for-all.
When someone breaks into William Wing's Hong Kong apartment and steals the hard drives from his computer, it sets several intelligence services searching for the plans to a new device that could change the course of world politics forever.
Wing's worst fears, that he might become hunted for what they think he knows, is the least of the issues at hand for his friend, Jon Sommers. Sommers will have to leave his deep cover assignment to help his friend, and he'll need a team. The Mossad wants what Wing lost, and so do the Americans, the Chinese and the Brits. It's going to be a fight to see who finds the plans first...
[Published 16 June 2014, 356 pages]
Swiftshadow [3]
A spy's cover is blown and she is fired from her agency. To survive, she must fight for her life against terrorists and work to uncover a mole...
When Cassandra Sashakovich, a bright but arrogant economist and consultant, is in Riyadh completing a financial forecasting assignment, her cover is blown by a mole from her intelligence agency. A covert agent whose call sign is "Swiftshadow," she barely survives an encounter with a hit man and escapes to Washington, where she is fired by her agency for becoming a liability.
On her own and with her cover blown, Cassie finds herself in the crosshairs of terrorists, who fear she may have hacked the details of their pending operation. To survive and recover her life, Cassie must identify the mole in her agency and neutralize the terrorists. To do this, Cassie finds help from two unlikely sources, a rogue agent, Lee Ainsley, and a homeless teen named Ann Silbee.
Cassie desperately races against the clock to expose plots by both her own government and the terrorists, so that she can recapture her life and save her country. Can Cassie find a way to survive and avoid being a naive tool of her country again or will death find not only Cassie, but millions of Americans?
[Published 7 August 2014, 454 pages]
GrayNet [4]
**ONLY .99!!!**A spy quit and blackmailed her way out of the business. Now she finds the leverage needed to keep her alive falling apart…
Cassandra Sashakovich quit spying for her country. To do this, she blackmailed the White House to get her boyfriend, Lee Ainsley, released from Gitmo. She also rescued the teenager, Ann Silbee, from homelessness. Now they're safe and so is she. So everything should slowly become normal.
But Lee and Ann hate each other. Worse still, all those she broke and mangled on her mad run to survive want revenge.
Her life starts to unravel when the brother of murdered terrorists discovers it was Cassandra that killed them. Then the President's secret, the one she promised to keep hidden in exchange for her boyfriend's release, leaks to the press.
Her leverage is vaporizing.
It's time to run again…
[Published 9 December 2014, 378 pages]
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ProxyWar [6]
During a massive winter global snowstorm, two invading armies converge on an unsuspecting United States. Only an old dying spymaster can stop the war that threatens America. Who said dying was easy?
He used to run the Mossad, but now he’s Israel’s Assistant Foreign Minister in Washington D.C., exiled and long out of the game. Told he has just weeks to live, Yigdal Ben-Levy refuses to relocate to hospice, and when a file folder crosses his desk by mistake, he realizes there is one thing he must do before he dies. When no one will listen to him, he decides to tell the world, at the UN General Assembly.
But he is being hunted by Russian and Chinese assassination teams, and the UN is nearly 300 miles away. The snowstorm has closed most airports and roads are treacherous. He still has some operatives he can rely upon, but the odds are worse than terrible. It’s a threadbare team: Jon Sommers, Cassandra Sashakovich, Avram Shimmel, William Wing, and a few others. Not enough to stop the world war that’s about to happen
But bad odds won’t stop The Swiftshadow Group from trying to defuse the threat and outmaneuver those who threaten Israel’s best and only ally.
[Available December 2015, ### pages]
About the Author
DS Kane is the name I've chosen to write under. I worked in the field of covert
intelligence for over a decade. During that time, my cover was my real name, and I was on the
faculty of NYU's Stern Graduate School of Business. I traveled globally for clients including
government and military agencies, the largest banks, and Fortune 100 corporations, and while incountry,
I did side jobs for our government. One of the banks I investigated housed the banking
assets of many of the world's intelligence agencies and secret police forces, including the CIA
and NSA. Much of my work product was pure but believable fiction, lies I told, and truths I
concealed. Secrets that—if revealed—might have gotten me killed. When my cover got blown, I
fled the field and moved 3,000 miles.
Now, I'm a former spy, still writing fiction. Through my novels, I expose the way intelligence agencies craft fiction for sale to sway their countries and manipulate their national policy, driving countries into dangerous conflicts.
I've been published under my real name many times in financial trade journals on topics including global banking, computer fraud and countermeasures, financial forecasting, global electronic-funds transfer networks, and corporate finance, including one book on finance published by a major publisher. I've been a featured speaker at financial conferences and conventions. My children's book, A Teenager's Guide to Money, Banking and Finance, was published in 1987 by Simon & Schuster. I was once the CEO of an ebook publishing company.
I've been adjunct faculty at the Whidbey Island MFA program, and also teach a course at the Muse Online Writers Conference entitled Covert Training and Covert Operations for Fiction Writers, and taught one on a similar topic at California libraries, funded by a federal grant. I've taught a thriller-writing course at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference and was a featured speaker at a dinner meeting of the California Writers Club. I taught finance at the Stern Graduate Business School of New York University for over ten years, and am one of the co-founders of ActFourWriters.com, a unique email-based novelists' critique group.
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Giveaway and Tour Stops
Enter to win ebook versions of the whole Spies Lie series (which includes Bloodridge, DeathByte, Swiftshadow, GrayNet, and Baksheesh).Remember to comment to win!
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Follow Baksheesh (Bribes)'s tour at:
November 9: It's Raining BooksNovember 11: Stormy Nights Reviewing and Bloggin' ✍
November 11: The Voluptuous Book Diva
November 12: Queen of the Night Reviews
November 13: Reviews by Crystal
November 16: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
November 17: Christine Young
November 18: BooksChatter
November 19: Room With Books
November 20: Long and Short Reviews
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