Eavesdrop by Ian Coates (a thriller) 250w synopsis Industrial espionage and a Mossad investigation into a Syrian hit-squad lead to Customs Investigation Office James Winter being wrongly dismissed for apparently colluding with smugglers. As he fights to salvage his career, Winter tangles with a police under-cover operation and discovers a link to a Mossad agent investigating a spate of assassinations. Winter discovers the smugglers can intercept his team’s radio messages, and joins forces with Lynne Douglas, Head of Security at the company that supplied them. They eventually trap the smugglers and, when they search the smugglers’ headquarters, they find a link to the Mossad agent Sol Halutz. When Winter tries to find Halutz, Halutz abducts him and would have killed him were it not for Douglas aiding his escape. During their getaway, they discover the agent has a reservation for a Finnish hotel. They follow him there, where they witness the Syrian assassin capturing Halutz. Winter overhears enough to realise he must free Halutz. During Winter’s attempt, Halutz admits he put a mechanism in place to monitor the Syrians radio traffic, which had also allowed the smugglers to eavesdrop on Winter’s team. Although Winter struggles to forgive, he agrees to help when Halutz explains the Syrian’s plan to release nerve gas at Arab-Israeli peace talks. The escape attempt fails, and Winter becomes stranded in the Finnish wilderness without cell phone coverage, but overcomes worsening snow, hypothermia and disbelieving policemen to reach the talks and prevent the atrocity. He is subsequently offered reinstatement, but declines in favour of starting out as an independent investigator.