Operation Double Check: A Spy Caper like No Other

Boris, Misha and Anatoly, three bumbling and dissembling Russian diplomats (think Hogan's Heroes if you are old enough!), each named after a renowned Russian grand master, find themselves face-to-face with Gen Alpha in a contest that will tell the future of the Cherokee National Forest. Will it continue to be a wilderness, with roaming bears and 500-year-old trees, or, as the Russians hope, will it be turned into the largest shopping mall in the history of the world, complete with four-lane highways and go-cart tracks? The Russians don't reckon with Kevin, Luke, and Natalie whom the diplomats believe to be illegal aliens, and who, according to the President of the United States, are enemies of the people, all for trying to break up the sale of the forest. Nor do the Russians reckon with Ranger Bob, as he is known by the three amigos, and as "No Shadow" by his associates in the CIA. The action begins with a gambling team chess match deep in the Forest, with the Russians' iPad wagered against the three amigos' drone, and with Natalie delivering the win with the most devastating windmill attack that anyone present had ever seen and then having to use a kick to the "nuts," as some people call it, in order to claim the prize. The action then moves to the Four Under Eight, an international chess tournament in London, where the amigos face the Russians in the championship game and also deal with the Russians' plan to attack Julian Assange with anthrax-coated "cock-a-roaches" as the Russians call them. The action then returns to the Forest for a climactic poker game which ends with Boris and a mysterious additional passenger being unexpectedly air-lifted - in a tent - by a Chinook helicopter from the Forest and plopped down in front of the President and a worldwide television audience, much to the delight of Ranger Bob and the three amigos. As one independent reviewer has said, "...a spy caper that will have readers of all ages flipping pages as fast as they can, grinning at every absurd turn, and cheering as these amateur heroes take on global villains in the most epic game of chess and chance imaginable."