Palace of Treason
Page 56
Unaware of the spectral visitor, the new Chief of Line KR brushed a strand of hair behind an ear and threw the report on the Natanz fire into the out basket on the corner of her desk.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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Writing a novel is a lonely job. What got me through the wilderness were the many people who advised, supported, reviewed, suggested, corrected, and contributed to the finished product.
My thanks to my literary agent, the transcendent Sloan Harris of International Creative Management, who continued as the unerring windsock of taste and class and grace in all aspects of the manuscript. His advice and counsel have been invaluable. Josie Freedman in Los Angeles translates the cuneiform tablets of Hollywood Babylon, and Heather Bushong tames the hordes. And my thanks to Heather Karpas for her unending support.
My editor at Scribner is Colin Harrison, and he is the best in the galaxy. He walked with me through the damp basement of the original manuscript, guiding and suggesting and encouraging, in a process that was much more than editing, much more than proofing. As he read and reread the book, his discerning eye missed nothing, equally pondering the historical arc of modern Russia or the science of uranium enrichment, while pointing out the tautological difference between “mud” and “sludge.” The book would not have been finished without him.
Thanks, too, to the extended family at Scribner and Simon & Schuster, including Carolyn Reidy, Susan Moldow, Nan Graham, Roz Lippel, Brian Belfiglio, Katie Monaghan, Kyle Radler, Rita Madrigal, and Benjamin Holmes. Special thanks to the prescient Katrina Diaz, for endless hours of assistance. The support everyone showed during the protracted coordination process was greatly appreciated.
I must acknowledge colleagues on the CIA Publication Review Board and thank them for their assistance in getting final approvals for the manuscript.
My brother and sister-in-law, William and Sharon Matthews, read the draft manuscript and suggested changes and improvements. William sells commercial real estate, lectures on economics at a university, and somehow knows the difference between a surveillance satellite’s low-earth orbit and a geosynchronous one. Inexplicably, my brother is moreover aware of the fortifying effects of scandium on aluminum. The combustible seismic floor in the novel is his invention. He encouraged the author and strategized with me on matters large and small. The book is dedicated to him, and CAJW would be proud.
I send heartfelt thanks to a former Cold War colleague, BB, who reviewed and massively corrected the Russian words and phrases used in the manuscript. He is a virtuoso operations officer, a scholar, and a legendary linguist. He added critical cultural comments about how Russians behave. I appreciate his help, and salute him.
Daughters Alexandra and Sophia continue to advise the author drolly in matters of popular music, clothing, and cinema with patience and good humor.
Despite all the input, I hasten to add that any error of fact or language or science is mine.
Last, but not least, I thank my wife, Suzanne, for reading the draft, twice, which is more than anyone should have to do, and for her discerning eye and steady hand, tempered by her own career of three decades in CIA. Over the years, we did a few of the sorts of things described in the book together, and she knows what’s real and what is fiction. I thank her for her enthusiasms and for her patience as I wrote.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
* * *
© DAVID MOORE
Jason Matthews is a retired officer of the CIA’s Operations Directorate. Over a thirty-three-year career he served in multiple overseas locations and engaged in clandestine collection of national security intelligence, specializing in denied-area operations. Matthews conducted recruitment operations against Soviet–East European, East Asian, Middle Eastern, and Caribbean targets. As Chief in various CIA Stations, he collaborated with foreign partners in counterproliferation and counterterrorism operations. He lives in Southern California.
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ALSO BY JASON MATTHEWS
Red Sparrow
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Jason Matthews
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First Scribner hardcover edition June 2015
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015017172
ISBN 978-1-4767-9374-0
ISBN 978-1-4767-9375-7 (ebook)
CONTENTS
* * *
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Acknowledgments
About the Author