Code Name: Misanthrope, by Anthony Genualdi

I have a new novel out now, with a contemporary setting. It's called Code Name: Misanthrope. It's a spy adventure. My hero, Harry, is the one named Misanthrope, and his female partner is called Amber. They are on the trail of a cloning operation in the Gobi Desert. They have a contact in the Chinese Army that can get them in. Here is the sample I'd like to share with you. I've added the cover at the bottom. It's now on Kindle, and should be on Nook and in paperback very soon.

CHAPTER FIVE


Harry and Amber stepped into the terminal in Beijing’s second airport and gathered their luggage. As they proceeded out the door, they saw a limousine with a driver holding a placard with Chinese and Latin characters. The words in German were “Menschenhasser” and “Bernstein.” Harry pointed and said, “Those are our codenames in German.”

“Nice touch.” Amber replied. The duo stepped up to the driver and Harry told him in German that they were the scientists whose names were on the card, and there were invited by General Meng. The driver nodded and helped them put their luggage in the trunk, while a second man held the door for them to get in. Amber nodded and thanked the man in Mandarin.

The limo brought them into the Haidian District, to General Meng’s office at the Fourth Military Medical University. Its shimmering glass and white concrete façade were sterile and cold, yet strangely compelling, all at once. The limo took their bags to the hotel and would come back for them after their meeting with the general. At the reception desk, Harry said their names and Amber said they were there to see General Meng. The receptionist called up the office, and then told them to wait by the elevators.

A female lieutenant stepped from the elevator and said their names. She asked them to come with her and they took the elevator to the top floor. Harry looked her over as they rode up, and bemoaned how skinny he thought Asian women were, with hardly any curves, as well as only being able to see her knees between her boots and the hem of her uniform skirt.

As they exited the elevator, Amber told the general’s secretary who they were. Before the woman could get on the intercom, the general emerged from his office. The Chinese women came to attention. Meng’s wrinkled face was stern, and he looked Harry in the eye for a moment before smiling and offering his hand. “Wie Gehts, Herr Doktor?”

Harry shook hands and bowed. “Guht, Herr General.” He gestured to Amber and said, “Fraulein Doktor Bernstein.”

“Fraulein,” the general said as he shook Amber’s hand.

“Herr General,” she replied.

Meng gestured for them to enter his office, and closed the door behind them. Everyone sat down and the general finished the tea in his cup. The general spoke English with a flat, Midwestern tone. “Does anyone want tea?” The operatives both shook their heads. “Did you have any trouble?”

“No,” Harry replied, “we got through with no extra scrutiny.”

“Your cover story is that you’re microbiologists.” Meng refilled his teacup. “Do you know anything about microbiology?”

Harry shook his head. “I’m more up on explosives. I’ve come to believe there’s no problem that can’t be solved without them.”

Meng chuckled and turned to Amber. “What about you?”

“Me neither.” Amber smiled. “I can kill with my hands, a garrote, a knife, or with firearms. That’s my specialty.”

“Can you seduce a man in order to kill him?”

“Easily, and it seems my clone could, too.”

Meng nodded. “She had to be taught. She nearly succeeded with your partner, too. It was only a wild stroke of luck that saved him.”

Amber smiled again. “That’s how I earn my pay.”

Meng shook his head. “I’ve never taken life. I’ve always worked to preserve it. I created it, too, with my wife in having our daughter. It’s also how I chose to serve the Party and China.” He sighed. “When my daughter was killed, I realized how she was right in her criticism of the Party and their work to have China be a new superpower. That’s when my wife and I made up our minds to work with The Trust.”

“What does your wife do?” Harry asked.

“She is a captain in the PLA Support Force.”

“Space and cyberwarfare.”

Meng nodded. “In her case, hacking. She’s stolen plans from your country for planes and quiet submarines.” Meng turned up his teacup. “That brings me to the point. In three days, her section will conduct a security test on the cloning facility. She will work to break in and download all our data on human cloning and send it to your people. When that’s done, you can destroy the computer servers and the storage tanks. We have more clones, I don’t know of whom, that are nearly finished. That can’t be allowed.”

Harry and Amber looked at each other. “Now we know what the urgency was.” Amber said.

Harry turned to Meng. “We’ll notify our superiors.”

“Good,” Meng said, “my wife will signal when she’s ready on that morning. It should be just after midnight.” Everyone stood and bowed. “I’ll collect you from your hotel at 6 AM. Goodbye.”

 

..I like the Chinese aspect

 

Thank you.

 

Now also available on Barnes and Noble Nook reader.

 

Now available in paperback from my publisher.
CODE NAME: MISANTHROPE