Hell's Bells Are Ringing

Book excerpt: A master of impersonation and a specialist in assuming false identities, Charles Buford Lowell was recruited by the C.I.A. while attending college. He was well trained as a special agent even before being assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, but it was there that the nightmare began--his wife and daughter were savagely murdered by G.D.R. agents. His desire for vengeance in response to the murders of his family results in him being placed on permanent furlough by the C.I.A. Lowell becomes a private detective in Los Angeles, where he accepts covert contracts for the P.R.I. in Mexico and the I.R.A. in Ireland. The violence and bloodshed associated with these assignments places Lowell at the brink of insanity. Then James Davis appears in Lowell’s life. Acting as C.E.O. and president of Worldwide Aerospace Corp., Davis hires Lowell as his personal assistant. Convinced that he has assumed an easy, safe job, Lowell takes comfort in the idea that he is finally free from the violence and terror that devastated his life and his family. However, his sense of security is only short-lived. Is there any escape—short of death—from his former life as an agent?