Strange Bedfellows

An ace, in Burkholz's lexicon, is a mind reader. Specially gifted, specially trained, an ace is a government operative called upon when regular departments need supplemental help. Such is the case when a high-ranking Defense Intelligence Agency officer disappears shortly before Mikhail Gorbachev is scheduled to sign a major arms limitation treaty in New York. Assigned to tap the minds of the officer and his family, Ben Slade and his group of fellow aces, also known as sensitives, are too late to stop the man's attempted assassination of Gorbachev or the horrors that followthe violent murders of their subjects. Further attempts to prevent the Russian premier from signing the treaty reveal an international conspiracy as Slade joins forces with two Russian acesone of whom is a beautiful young womanto save both the man and his mission. Slade hides his charge first in a mob-controlled gambling casino, then a brothel in ""Little Odessa'' in Brighton Beach. But no place is safe as the conspiracy proves to have deeply penetrated both the U.S. and Russian military. A suspenseful, explosive and utterly satisfying finale winds up this sequel to Burkholz's The Sensitives, which is marked by deft characterization, complex plotting and a premise readers will love to accept. (May)