A Gathering of Spies (35 page)

Katarina ran to the bathroom, sick.

Afterward she lay with her head resting on the rim of the bowl, listening.

“An area of four square miles, approximately sixty percent of the city, has been destroyed. Casualties are unknown, but one witness's estimate places them at between seventy and eighty thousand. President Truman is demanding unconditional—”

She vomited again.

Then she rinsed her mouth, spat, went into the living room of her tiny apartment, and turned off the radio.

She stood, looking out the sooty window at the city, thinking, rubbing absently at her shoulder.

She thought for about five minutes.

Finally she went back to the mirror. Her lipstick was ruined. She blotted it off and began to apply it again.

The bomb had worked.

The bomb had worked, and they had dropped it on the Japanese.

If she ever grew tired of waitressing, she thought, the Russians might pay a very pretty price for the secrets in her head.

In the meantime, she had a date.

She finished her makeup, put a dab of perfume behind each ear, and looked at herself in the mirror again. What she saw there pleased her: an ordinary woman, pretty enough, dressed well.

Simple. Honest.

And boring, of course. Boring, most of all.

Boredom, she had discovered, had its advantages.

But for certain types of people—and Katarina knew herself well enough, now, to know that she was this type of person—boredom could remain appealing for only so long. There would come a time, surely, when security would lose its luster.

For the time being, however, it sounded just about perfect.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank the following for their invaluable help on this book:

Anicée Gaddis, Megan Newman, Richard Curtis, Jen Hackworth, Laura Taylor, Neil Nyren, Rachel A. F. Edelson, Joyce Glazer, Jennifer Altman, Michael Strauss, Sarah Jane Cohen, and Ronald Kessler, and William L. Shirer for his books.

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 © 2000 by John Altman

Cover design by Morgan Alan

ISBN: 978-1-4976-7271-0

This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

EARLY BIRD BOOKS

FRESH EBOOK DEALS, DELIVERED DAILY

BE THE FIRST TO KNOW ABOUT
FREE AND DISCOUNTED EBOOKS

NEW DEALS HATCH EVERY DAY!

EBOOKS BY JOHN ALTMAN

FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA

Available wherever ebooks are sold