Summary

The Prologue takes place in Moscow in 1974, and follows an official limousine from the airport to an apartment. A child exited the limousine and counted the steps to the entrance to a nearby apartment, where a man holding a drink waited. He spoke a single Russian word.

Chapter 1 begins Part One of the novel, subtitled “Night Train to Vienna.” It begins with Gabriel Allon, the head of Israeli Intelligence Service, as he reminisced about the origin of the entire conflict of the novel. He recalled that it all began with Heathcliff, a courier for the Russian intelligence community, who turned double agent for the West after a beautiful agent named Astrid lured and seduced him. Several times, Heathcliff told his new Western controller named Marcus about his desire to defect. Marcus denied his request until he felt Heathcliff’s life was truly...