…  I regret nothing. And I would do it all again, exactly as before. Everything I did, I reconciled with my conscience.

Even today, I’m occasionally agonized by uncertainty about whether—as a result or consequence of my actions—people might have come into harm’s way. But to the extent that any human being’s life can even be offset against that of another, one thing is certain: I saved far more lives—lives that were confronted with the utmost peril—than I ever jeopardized or destroyed.

The events in this novel took place between 1971 and 1979. They are based on true occurrences. In the Vietnam War, a proxy war among three superpowers—the United States, the Soviet Union and China—millions of people lost their lives. The Vietnam conflict ended in 1975 with the victory of the Communist Viet Cong.

Mohammed Zahir Shah peaceably ruled the Kingdom of Afghanistan for nearly forty years, until 1973. Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi autocratically ruled Persia—Iran—until he was expelled by his people in January 1979. A month later, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini installed the regime of the mullahs and proclaimed the Islamic Republic of Iran on 1 April 1979. At this time, a Siemens subsidiary, Kraftwerk Union AG, had been constructing a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf. Block 1 was 85% complete; Block 2 was half finished.

In those days, things were different than they are today; some were simpler, others more difficult. It was commonplace and legal for companies to bribe foreign politicians and to deduct the bribe payments from their taxes. You could still take fluids, scissors, and knives aboard commercial airliners, and smoking during the flight was allowed. The digital age still lay in the distant future. We had neither the internet nor emails, nor cellphones, apps, GPS, nor DNA analysis. From a technological perspective, video surveillance of train stations, airports, border crossings, public spaces, and dwellings was no more feasible than a worldwide data exchange. Cameras still had to be loaded with emulsion film; the most popular spy camera was the Minox C, a masterpiece of German engineering. It was an easy matter to forge passports by swapping the photographs and making the official seal look genuine using a hand-cut rubber stamp. In most countries, including Germany and the United States, a caller’s telephone number was never displayed, and you could place anonymous phone calls from any telephone booth. As for the calls themselves, it was a breeze to eavesdrop on them using swapped-out mouthpiece microphones or induction coils, or by tapping the lines. Vehicles, regardless of make, manufacturer, and size, could be easily repaired, manipulated, and hotwired using simple tools. Door locks could be opened with a master key, and safety locks could be picked using two staples or hairpins. The most greatly feared alarm system was a dog.

The Cold War prevailed between the Western powers, led by the United States, and the Eastern Bloc, led by the Soviet Union. The Iron Curtain, as Churchill famously called it, divided Germany and separated the West from the Soviet Union and its satellite Eastern Bloc countries — Poland, Czechoslovakia (then a single country), Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria. …