{"product_id":"9781429936293","title":"The Contractor: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eRick Behringer is an outside contractor working for the Central Intelligence Agency. He owns a small company that, in the light of day, provides communications security for government offices, including the CIA. In the shadows, though, Rick's a spy. He runs overseas agents for the CIA and, through his firm, buys foreign military technology that the Agency wants to inspect but can't be seen purchasing. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe divorced father of two little girls, Rick carries on a cold war with his ex, Liz, and a hot romance with his sexy girlfriend, Frannie. He still broods over the mysterious death of his father, a high-level CIA officer during the Vietnam War, who committed suicide when Rick was thirteen. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough contacts in what he calls the \"Black World,\" Rick hears of a mysterious Pakistani Islamist, a rogue nuclear physicist, who is trying to acquire highly-enriched uranium in order to construct \"an Islamic bomb\" - a scheme that is all too credible. In tracking him down, Rick encounters a host of characters, some willing to help, many more willing to take his life. And in the explosive conclusion, he struggles in a deadly game of wits with Russian gangsters and the terrorist who is plotting nuclear mass murder in America.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Contractor\u003c\/i\u003e, Colin MacKinnon shows once again his rare ability to turn real-world facts into riveting spy fiction. \u003ci\u003eThe Contractor\u003c\/i\u003e could happen...could be happening now.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"St. Martin's Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47141710856432,"sku":"9781429936293","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781429936293_p0.jpg?v=1769902126","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781429936293","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}