The Fat Man's Watch

When a coded transmission crosses three continents—Northern Ireland, Spain, and Morocco—America’s intelligence network stirs awake. At first, it looks like routine chatter. Then someone mentions Oujda.

Fred “Fat Freddie” Ward, the CIA’s legendary Chief of Station in Morocco, has seen everything in his twenty-nine years of fieldwork. But this time, the signals don’t add up. As fragments of an international conspiracy surface—assassins for hire, encrypted calls, and whispers of a plot reaching into royal circles—Ward must race to piece together the truth before it detonates into global chaos.

From Langley to London, Rabat to Madrid, alliances are tested and loyalties blurred. Every message hides a secret, and every operative knows too much.

Taut, authentic, and relentlessly fast-paced, The Fat Man’s Watch propels readers through the shadow world of modern espionage—where the question isn’t who fired the shot, but who paid for the bullet.

Randall W. Stephens writes espionage fiction rooted in realism, professional tradecraft, and global politics. A native of Houston, Texas, he spent much of his early life in East Texas before earning a BBA in Finance from Sam Houston State University.

After a career in real estate appraisal, Stephens fulfilled a long-standing desire to serve by enlisting in the U.S. Army Reserve. He completed Basic Training, Airborne School, and Parachute Rigger School, serving with the 11th Special Forces Group. Following his honorable discharge, he transitioned into national security–adjacent work in Washington, D.C., serving as a Legislative Assistant focused on defense and foreign affairs.

Since beginning his writing career in 2015, Stephens has published seven spy novels distinguished by their emphasis on intelligence operations as they actually function―patient, complex, and consequential. He lives in Northern Virginia.