Baku, Azerbaijan, mid-1970s
Natalya's mother was a Soviet scientist of note, her father an American musician who didn’t care about politics. The day she turned six, her parents were called to Moscow, but never came home: accident . . . assassination . . . suicide? The same was meant for her too, but she had unexpected protectors . . . in the KGB.

Seattle, mid-1990s
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Natalya now runs a corporate security firm in Seattle. But corporate espionage bleeds into international intrigue when a few cookie-cutter corpses in designer suits are found floating in the lakes around the city.

Natalya has every reason to avenge her parents, and the past is now playing out in her dreams like scenes from an old black and white movie—but lately, the endings have been . . . changing.

"The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!" - Emily Bronte, 'Wuthering Heights'