Hinterland

Karolina Kuznetsova's Russian Military Intelligence unit are masters of the dark arts of assassination and blame shifting. With her country's leaders smarting from the failed attack on Ukraine, their agenda has moved to the frozen conflict between Moldova and Transnistria, a back water stuck in Soviet era neglect and mindsets. An unholy trinity of GRU agents, Transnistrian oligarchs, and local army chiefs are aiming to bring down the Moldovan government, cutting off its growing links to the West. Their methods are bloody and ruthless, extending to letting rip a lethal disease for the sake of political effect. In their way: a middle-aged archivist, a pilot with a death wish, and Joop, Flora, and Ben, entangled in a NATO mission to Moldova which is out on a limb and has been ordered not to help. And finally, Captain Maryam Maiwand, an intelligence officer tasked with a last-ditch mission to Central Asia, to the most biologically toxic spot on the planet.