It isn’t easy to get inside CIA. The agency is famous, yet governed by compulsive secrecy. In this challenging environment, the author worked on covert projects giving him access to the hidden lives of Eastern European agents and powerbrokers within the KGB. He shared an office with a man who operated listening posts along the Berlin Wall, conducting electronic and photographic surveillance. The author participated in the exchange of prisoners and spies at Checkpoint Charlie. These experiences inspired his spy thriller, which begins shortly after the Berlin Wall is torn down in the early 1990s.