Book excerpt: John Scobell risked everything to escape slavery at the outset of the Civil War. He thought he'd made his way to freedom – until the moment he was recruited and sent back to the Confederacy as an undercover Union spy. Can Scobell avoid capture and certain death at the hands of brutal Rebel spy hunters? Will he find the one object that can break the Confederate codes and earn his emancipation? Or will he remain forever in freedom's shadow? In Freedom's Shadow is based on the heroic true story of John Scobell, an African American slave who escaped bondage at the outset of the Civil War only to return to the Confederacy as a Union spy. From daring border crossings to nerve-wracking dead drops, In Freedom's Shadow puts a historical but fresh twist on the classic espionage thriller.