Finding Leila

By: Barry Freeman

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

When Dominican Republic Ambassador to Israel, Sam Goldberg, is called from Tel Aviv to attend a UN meeting in New York City, his wife, Stella, a university professor and former Mossad agent, decides to go with him to combine his business with the privileges and pleasures of New York. Concurrently in Tehran, an Iranian Intelligence officer, through interrogation, learns of Stella’s involvement six years earlier in the failures of two separate Iranian espionage endeavors while she was a Mossad agent. He thus decides to seek revenge for her perceived part in those failures while she is in New York, happily experiencing the creative arts via its museums, restaurants, theaters, and the city itself. After a botched attempt upon Stella’s life at the Museum of Modern Art, the revenge-seeking Iranian officer is found dead in Tehran of an apparent suicide. Stella believes, however, that the officer was murdered somehow at the hand of Leila Khani, an infamous Turkish spy, who was retired and in hiding for six years. Though on opposite sides, a strong friendship had developed between Leila and Stella during their involvement in the latter of Iran's failed espionage attempts, and Stella believed Leila committed the murder to protect her from further attempts. After several days in New York, through a series of clues, Stella deduces Leila’s hideaway to be in a particular area of Costa Rica, and she decides to find her there to thank her and renew their friendship. Unknown to Stella, Iran continues its pursuit for revenge as Stella continues her quest to find Leila in beautiful Costa Rica. The story ends with the exciting finding of Leila and the consequential humiliation of Iran's Intelligence.