You Can't Walk Off the Island
Backstop is a member of the Moe Berg Society, a secret government agency that uses baseball as a cover for covert intelligence work. With his athletic and spying careers stalled, he works as a private instructor and saves up for a life of luxurious isolation on an idyllic Caribbean island. His plans for early retirement are dashed when he learns of a strange plot to “train” captured refugees as baseball players at a secret prison camp, then sell their identities to the highest bidders. Even stranger, the man behind the bizarre scheme appears to be his ex-partner and roommate who was “disappeared” by The Society years earlier. To untangle this mess, Backstop will need the help of the journalist who turned his life upside down a decade ago, a Cuban shortstop who was robbed of his name, and a teenage border patrol agent whose brain has been poisoned by internet conspiracy theories. Together they embark on a mission to find the truth behind the prison camps and the stolen identity racket, all while being pursued by fanatic cosplaying militias and racist ex-cops who believe Backstop is the key to the mysterious goal of their paranoid fantasies. As Backstop reenters a game that has no room for him, he must consider the true cost of a life of alone on the island.