"Secret Asset"

"Secret Asset" is Stella Rimington's second novel featuring Liz Carlyle,a young MI5 intelligence officer.  She reports to Charles Wetherby who is Director of Counter-Terrorism.

When one of Carlyle's agents reports suspicious activities in an Islamic bookstore, Liz is surprised when Wetherby pulls her off the case to work on a special project for him.  He wants her to find someone who may have been planted as a mole by the IRA but never activated.  It's a rumor from a credible source and he is taking it seriously but he doesn't want anyone but Liz and Peggy, a young woman loaned from MI6 to work with her, to know the true reason he has them vetting older agents.

At first it seems pretty unlikely to Liz but as she and Peggy begin their vetting project, they make a discovery that ties the mole to the current operation Liz was removed from.  Will they be able to confirm the mole's identity and stop whatever he and his rogue colleagues have in mind?

In the meantime, Carlyle's mother is in need of surgery to remove a cancerous tumor so Liz is preoccupied with her mother's situation but it doesn't keep her from maintaining her on the job focus.

It's another exciting race to the finish -- can't wait to read the third book in the series!  pazt