Ring of Spies (Richard Prince, #3)

by Alex Gerlis

people who feel they don’t fit into a society tend to make good agents against it – they have few qualms about betraying it because they’ll feel it has in some way betrayed them.

They walked briskly through Schaerbeek, Palmer following her at a distance so they did not appear to be together. She assured him that the papers she’d given him were fine: he was a labourer from Charleroi.

Major Mark B. Fine made a number of decisions on the short journey from Stavelot to the woods outside St Vith. When he finally got home to Chicago, he’d quit his job as a lawyer with the bank and stop working such ridiculous hours. He’d find a job with a smaller law practice, perhaps one that defended people with limited means. And hopefully he’d be able to spend more time with his wife and his two kids, whom he hadn’t seen for three years. He’d even try and make sure to visit his folks in Florida. He’d be less worried about money. He’d go for walks in the country. He’d stop smoking and cut down on his drinking, especially during the week. He’d read more books.

What was most noticeable about Berlin was how the ubiquitous and enormous swastika flags that had draped almost every building had disappeared – but then so had most of the buildings they’d hung from. It was as if the city he’d seen before was an illusion, a stage set revealed for what it really was once the props had been removed.