by John Altman
“I see,” Eva said.
“We call it Double Cross. The benefits of having a Jerry on the team—and a pretty one, at that—are obvious. When a spy is arrested, he feels many things. Fear. Shame. Perhaps even a measure of relief. In this particular case, I’d like to think that we have right on our side. And I’m hoping that some of the spies we capture will feel the same way. But psychologically, they need an excuse before they turn over. Simply giving in equates to failure. But if we show you as an example …”
“An example?”
He took a long drag from his cigarette, gazing at her over the crackling ember.
“You’ll play a captured Abwehr spy. You’ll be left in a cell adjacent to our new recruits; and during those long lonely nights, you’ll strike up a friendship. You’ll explain that we’ve treated you well, since you began to cooperate. Make them feel they can trust us. You might even plant some ideas about Hitler being the worst possible thing for Germany. We’ll work on a script for you—and of course, you’ll be free to improvise.”
His spectacles slipped down; he pushed them up again.
“And for the time being,” he said, “that’s about it. I know it seems miserable here, but you’ll get used to it. Once in a while, if you get too browned off, you might even slip into London for a few hours. Of course, you’ll clear it with me first. What do you think?”
Eva caught herself twisting her hair, and made herself stop. After a moment, she reached forward and took one of Taylor’s cigarettes. He lit it for her, looking into her eyes.
“It’s not quite Royal Victoria Hall, is it?” she said.
“A far cry, my dear. This place was built as a mental asylum, after the Great War. But now it’s our home.”
“Well,” she said. “I suppose one’s got to begin somewhere.”
“That’s a yes, then?”
For some reason, she found herself thinking, all at once, of the girl who had sat reading her book by the harbor at Gothmund. The girl had reminded her of herself. And she had felt an urge, when she had seen the girl, to go and tear the book from her hands. It was the desire to make something more of herself, after all, that had put Eva into such an unpleasant situation in the first place. It would have been safer to try nothing. Because to try and fail was bad enough; but to try and succeed could be even worse.
Yet that was only one way of looking at it. She could turn the thought around, as if it were a diamond being held to the light. From a certain angle, the diamond would show only one side: that by striving to make something of herself she had lost everything. But another rotation would reveal another facet, which might mean just the opposite. From this facet, she saw that it was better to try, even if things did not work out just so. Without effort, after all, came passivity; and with passivity came people like Hitler, ready to take advantage.
The peculiar thing was that the diamond could show only one facet at a time. It was perfectly balanced, perfectly symmetrical, and each time one looked at it, one thought one saw the entire truth. But in fact there were many truths, as the diamond was rotated, seemingly at odds with one another, and yet all valid. And it was right that one could see only any one truth at a given moment. That was what it meant to be human, in a way. And that was why one required faith—faith that there was more to the diamond than met the eye, and that there was always another side of the stone to be seen.
Taylor was watching her, sitting straight in the chair with the flawless posture of the British. Sometimes it seemed laughable to her, that English propriety. But not at the moment. At the moment, it seemed as right as anything ever had. These were not her people; and yet they were, if only she was willing to let them be.
She smiled.
“Why not?” she said.
About the Author
John Altman is the author of thrillers including A Gathering of Spies, A Game of Spies, Deception, The Watchmen, The Art of the Devil, and Disposable Asset, forthcoming in 2015. A graduate of Harvard University, Altman has traveled to every continent, including Antarctica, and has worked as a teacher, musician, and freelance writer. Born in White Plains, New York, he now lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with his family.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2002 by John Altman
Cover design by Morgan Alan
ISBN: 978-1-4976-7272-7
This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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