The Killing Circle

Emily Stearn is an office-based secret intelligence officer with an expertise for deciphering codes.

Despite a quirky nature and a history of anxiety, her ambition is to serve in the field. Fighting terrorism.

When Sir Robert Bellingham, a high-ranking naval chief, is murdered, Stearn is given the opportunity to infiltrate a London gang of female mercenaries, prepared to maim and kill in pursuit of the UK’s defence secrets.

She discovers the women, known as the Ivan Group and controlled by Roman Smirnov, a charming but ruthless Russian oligarch, are already in possession of the UK’s most-guarded political secret, the Letter of Last Resort, setting out the nation’s orders in the event of a nuclear attack.

With its military strength weakened by war in Ukraine, and an agent aboard a UK submarine, Russia is prepared to do whatever it takes to break the code that the letter contains – to take control of Britain’s nuclear arsenal.

When her true identity is discovered, Stearn is given a chilling ultimatum.

She must deliver the code in 48 hours – or die along with her fiancé.

As a ballistic missile is readied to launch, a special ops team is deployed to rescue Stearn, triggering a shoot-out with the mercenaries in the ghoulish setting of a London cemetery. The stakes are too high for either side to back down.