FINDING LEILA
We first met Stella Rubenov Goldberg in Assassination in Santo Domingo as a young Mossad agent working in 2012 for Israel Intelligence in the Dominican Republic. Now, in Finding Leila, it is 2019; Stella has left Mossad, is married to Sam, the mother of two, and is a professor at the University of Tel Aviv. When her husband, Sam Goldberg, the Dominican Republic Ambassador to Israel, is called to attend a UN meeting, she decides to go with him to combine his business with a vacation in New York City. Concurrently, in Tehran, an Intelligence officer in Iran’s infamous Islamic Revolutionary Guard first learns of Stella’s earlier involvement as a Mossad agent, in two separate humiliating Iranian espionage failures. The officer determines, despite the time gap, to take revenge against her while she is in New York,
As Stella and Sam experience the wonders of New York’s art museums, fine dining, theater, and the city itself, an Iranian-hired assassin stalks Stella but is thwarted at the Museum of Modern Art. He is arrested and reveals the plot and its source. A few days later, the source, the revenge-seeking Iranian Intelligence officer, is found dead of an apparent suicide in his Tehran apartment,
Stella believes, however, that the officer was murdered and that the murderer was Leila Khani, an infamous Turkish spy, retired, and a fugitive who has been in hiding for six years. Though on opposite sides of the spy world, a strong friendship and mutual respect had developed between Leila and Stella during their opposing involvement in the latter of Iran’s failed espionage attempts: Leila was helping Iran steal US secrets, and Stella was there to stop the plot. Iran’s Intelligence erroneously concluded that Leila joined Stella against Iran to make it fail. Stella surmises that Leila stealthily murdered the Iranian officer to prevent him from attempting further harm to Stella (and perhaps herself) and made it look like suicide.
After several satisfying days in New York, through a series of clues, Stella reasons Leila’s hideaway to be in an area of Costa Rica, and she decides to find her to thank her and renew their friendship. Iran continues its pursuit of revenge as Stella goes on to find Leila while avoiding her pursuers’ attempts on her life. The story ends when the two women renew their friendship, and Iran’s Intelligence suffers another satisfying humiliation
The book is now available on Amazon as an eBook, a hardcover, and a paperback. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CQVZV81X/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title