Arthur Kerns

The Riviera Contract: A Hayden Stone Thriller Arthur Kerns

TERROR, INTRIGUE, AND ROMANCE ON THE RIVIERA

"Deftly plotted and compellingly readable, Kerns takes his readers into the shadowy world of international terrorism. Hayden Stone is a character worth rooting for, and Arthur Kerns is a talented storyteller." -Sheldon Siegel, New York Times bestselling author of Perfect Alibi

Retired FBI agent Hayden Stone needs a change of pace. Working now for the CIA, on his last assignment to Afghanistan a colleague was killed, and Stone blames himself for the death. A friend in the upper ranks of the CIA offers him an assignment to the South of France, hoping this is what Stone needs to keep an even keel: French life on the Côte d'Azur. His attempts to relax are thwarted, however, as two separate terrorists attempt to murder him. Meantime, Stone meets an old love, a contessa, who he had seduced and abandoned years before.

Stone's investigation into his assignment and the attempts on his life lead to a brutal Middle Eastern terrorist in Provence to deliver a strain of the Ebola virus to major U. S. Cities. At the same time, the CIA and French intelligence have targeted a seriously ill al Qaeda functionary who is seeking medical attention in Nice. Complicating matters still, a Saudi prince and his son-in- law on a yacht off Villefranche are assisting this al Qaeda figure. They lease the contessa's palace so that, without her knowledge, doctors can administer to the functionary. Stone romances the contessa who loves him, but doesn't trust him and with cause, for he also has become fond of a young French researcher, who secretly works for French Intelligence.

Stone certainly has his hands full.