CIA operatives Sia and Max enter Russia to recruit Vladimir Putin's moneyman. Sia works for aLondon firm that conceals the wealth of the super-rich. Max's family business in Mexico ? a CIAfront since the 1960s ? is a farm that breeds high-end racehorses.\n\nThey pose as a couple, and their targets are Vadim, Putin's private banker, and his wife Anna, whois both a banker and an intelligence officer. As they descend further into a Russian world drippingwith luxury and rife with gangland violence, Sia and Max's hope may be Anna, who is playing a gameof her own. Careening between the horse ranch and the dark opulence of Saint Petersburg, Moscow Xis both a gripping and a daring work of political commentary on the conflict between Washington and Moscow.