Review: Spies, Double Agents, Intrigue, Murder
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 16, 2012
The story commences eight years after the fall of the Berlin wall when CIA agent David Ward was in Germany to look into events in the past.  At the same time German Hans Wermer, who twenty-five years earlier having fed reports to the CIA about Communist workers in East Germany, filed a requisition with the CIA for payment for his services, but no one knew what he looked like to substantiate his claim.George MacIntosh, CIA head of this department at Langley, needed someone to physically identify Wermer.  The only one alive who might be able to was Beth Parsons, widow of Lt. Stephen Parson, who was killed at the Officers Club in Munich when a bomb exploded.  Beth had been working temporarily as a secretary for the U.S. military Intelligence Group and she had never recovered from her husband's death, which left her aloof from any further romances.  At that time in Munich, one night Beth had been with her boss, Jack Lockheim, when a drunken German bumped into their table and offered them a drink.  Beth only glanced at him and now from the CIA she learned that he was a contact with her boss Jack.  She was expected to remember what he looked like and identify him?Kathleen Walker, an African American, a member of MacIntosh's team, was to take Beth to see this Wermer at an isolated cabin, but upon entering it there lay a shot dead man on the floor, but not Wermer.  Beth identified him as the driver who picked her up at the airport that morning in D.C.  Due to these unseen circumstances, Kathleen was requested to house Beth.  Kathleen took Beth to her apartment, but had to leave and locked Beth in.  Furious Beth quickly packed a backpack of a few essentials.  She climbed out through the bathroom window, down a rose trellis to the ground floor and escaped.  Renting a car, she drove until she was exhausted and holed up at a cheap motel.David followed her and when he attempted to communicate with her, she attacked  him with her karate skills, but he overcame her and after several attempts convinced her that he was on her side.  She told him of Stephen's death and wondered if the club hadn't been bombed to kill someone specifically.  David said yes and he thought it might have been himself for he was scheduled to be there, but being late, escaped death.David dragged Beth to an airplane and forced her first parachute jump into Germany.  They traveled around parts of the country where she had been with Stephen.  David sought clues to determine the truth of his CIA office:  Was he the target at the Officer's Club bombing?  Who were double agents?  Who was the mole in their CIA office?  He felt that Beth was an unknown factor in all of this and he attempted to keep Beth safe. Against Beth's determination to never let any man in, she found herself weakening.  During these exhausting searches, twice "karate Beth" managed to smash the knee of an unknown man, thereby hospitalizing two CIA agents.The cast of interesting characters included:  Charles Trenchant, CIA agent; Shmuel, a black belt Israeli commando; Fredrich, a German defector who worked in U.S. and reported to the Communists; plus a few interesting others to fill in the gaps of this spy novel.  The story moves fast, is filled with action, intrigue and mystery.  Readers of spy stories will enjoy this novel.