Agent Liz Carlyle Series

For MI5 officer Liz Carlyle, the nagging complications of her private life are quickly forgotten at Monday’s counter-terrorism meeting. An invisible may have entered mainland Britain. An ‘invisible’ is a terrorist who is an ethnic native of the target country, who can cross its borders unchecked and move about unnoticed – the ultimate nightmare. By the time they're identified, it may be too late. The intelligence operation that follows will test Liz to the limit. Who or what is the target? Where and who is the invisible? With each passing hour the danger increases.

An “invisible” is CIA-speak for the ultimate intelligence nightmare: The terrorist who, because he or she is an ethnic native of the target country, can cross its borders unchecked, move around that country unquestioned, and infiltrate its institutions with ease. An invisible on mainland Britain was the worst possible news. For Liz Carlyle, an MI5 Intelligence Officer, this report from MI6 marks the start of an operation that will test her to the limit and put her own life in jeopardy.

Liz Carlyle is a smart, impassioned MI5 intelligence officer. When one of her agents reports suspicious meetings taking place at an Islamic bookshop, she trusts her instinct that a terrorist cell is at work. But she's surprised when her boss suddenly takes her off the case and shocked to hear why: he has received a tip-off that a mole, a "secret asset", has been planted in one of the branches of British Intelligence.

Geneva, 2012. A Russian intelligence officer approaches MI5 with vital information about the imminent cyber-sabotage of an Anglo-American Defence programme, but refuses to talk to anyone but Liz Carlyle. At a tracking station in Nevada, US Navy officers watch in horror as one of their unmanned drones plummets out of the sky, and panic spreads through the British and American Intelligence services. Is this a Russian plot to disable the West's defences? Or is the threat coming from elsewhere?

CIA agent Miles Brookhaven was attacked in a souk while infiltrating rebel groups in the area. No one was certain if his cover had been blown or if the act was just an arbitrary attack on Westerners. Now, Liz Carlyle and her Counter Terrorism unit in MI5 have been charged with the task of observing the international under-the-counter arms trade. With the Arabic region in such a volatile state, British Intelligence forces have become increasing concerned that extremist Al-Qaeda jihadis are building their power base, ready to launch another attack.

Recovering from a gruelling terrorist investigation, Liz Carlyle has been posted to MI5's counter-espionage desk. Her bosses hope the change of scene will give her some breathing space, but they haven't counted on Putin's increased aggression towards the West. Soon Liz is on the hunt for a Russian spy who threatens to plunge Britain back into the fraught days of the Cold War. Meanwhile, MI6 has hired Jasminder Kapoor, a controversial young civil rights lawyer, to explain issues of privacy and security to the public.