The NSA?””Yeah, they called and offered to help out. Same software they use for enhancing spy satellite imagery.”Venkat shrugged. “It’s amazing how much red tape gets cut when everyone’s rooting for one man to survive.

Being a spy was something like standing on the south shore fending off a hurricane with a $2 poncho and an umbrella.

I wish every envelope enclosed a love letter. It’s this hope that leads me to open strangers’ mail. So you see, I’m a romantic, not an NSA employee.

This is a war,” Lemas replied. “It’s graphic and unpleasant because it’s fought on a tiny scale, at close range; fought with a wastage of innocent life sometimes, I admit. But it’s nothing, nothing at...

I believe a family just isn’t complete without skeletons. My dearest momma clean bit off my daddy’s nose right around the time they divorced.

Being shaken to death by a Hawaiian tourist look-alike was not how Arena imagined her death.

Like a spy, I planted a bug. Like a farmer, I watched it grow into a politician that more than half the people chose not to step on.

I have a theory which I suspect is rather immoral,’ Smiley went on, more lightly. ‘Each of us has only a quantum of compassion. That if we lavish our concern on every stray cat, we...

And in a land accustomed to so much anguish, Chase tried to be careful with words. His soccer moms began assigningnicknames during the first day of official practice: Difom, Kakas, Kochma, and Maldyok, which roughly...

People who are different are considered ineffective. People who can’t hide their shortcomings are not considered a threat. A lot of spies rely on being unobtrusive, but we flat out flaunt the fact that we’re...

She could do anything with dynamite, except eat it.

Afterwards Smiley always thought of that interview as a fan dance; a calculated progression of disclosures, each revealing different parts of a mysterious entity. Finally Steed-Asprey, who seemed to be Chairman, removed the last veil,...

Do you think you could kill a person and not get all crazy about it?

Society tends to stick labels on everything and everyone. The label that is given to you will stick with you for a lifetime.

June’s clients did not have the patience to deal with problems or the personal courage and energy to find solutions on their own. What they did have was an almost endless supply of capital. With...

A man who lives a part, not to others but alone, is exposed to obvious psychological dangers. In itself the practice of deception is not particularly exacting. It is a matter of experience, a professional...

Noriega wound up like a baseball pitcher on top of the bed and hurled the small gun, but was low and outside for a ball. His tight-fitting house dress was bunched up high on his...

A bad leader wouldn’t stress the importance of staying together to stop the enemy. You want peace? You can’t forgive the enemy, if you can’t forgive your men for losing faith. You can’t force every...

He felt as though the bones of his ribcage were snapping beneath the weight of the stone that God had laid over his heart.

I’ve always wanted to play a spy, because it is the ultimate acting exercise. You are never what you seem.

Don’t give it to them all at once, make them work for it. Confuse them with detail, leave things out, go back on your tracks. Be testy, be cussed, be difficult. Drink like a fish;...

Diable!” They were hurling these words at Moreau like stones.

The room fell silent. I frankly didn’t know what I was going to do to help Eduardo, but I had the sense that he was right- no one else could help him, and without help,...

May be you find out I could be useful getting people out of camps and prisons in Germany – just before they got shot. I should love to do it and I like to jump...

Please don’t trouble yourself with my scars. At least not right now, OK?

Right now, I couldn’t have cared less if someone had waltzed across the room in a large flower costume with a sign saying GET YOUR BLACK TULIPS HERE. Every nerve in my body was on...

Grandpa said that we could solve a lot of the world’s problems if we considered cats and dogs edible. Like the neighbor’s dog who goes to the bathroom in his flower garden. And know what...

What’s your name, son?’ Sam said. The man looked to be about Sam’s age, but Sam always thought calling people ‘son’ immediately gave the air of imperial authority and opened the door for spanking if...

If man could apply half the ingenuity he’s exhibited in the creation of weapons to more sensible ends, there’s no limit to what he might yet accomplish

Waiting. Like it or not, it’s a skill all spies have to master eventually.

Amy wondered if Bonaparte could declare war on Miss Gwen alone without breaking his peace with England

Shit, man, if you see a dog scratching at the dirt trying to dig something up, walk away real fast,” he said, then pulled a little square of paper from his pocket and swallowed whatever...

Who cut him?’ Sam liked saying things like ‘Who cut him?’ It reminded him of being a kid and watching prison movies, which is probably why prisoners talked like that, too.

Democrats and Republicans were essentially the same party with different faces and that was why, no matter how many promises each leader made, significant change rarely transpired.

Cammie!” I’ll never forget the tone of Macey’s voice in that moment. “Cam,” she said slowly, moving toward me, “I know how it feels to be watched every second of every day. I know what...

dirty” before, I will compare it with dynamite in your ovaries. They say it with like, seven Rs.

The two smallest boys were cut down first, bodies bounding in different directions as they were shot from opposite sides of the field, like pinballs caught in a tight corner.

Sam took another sip of the pruno. It went down smoother this time, possibly because he no longer had feeling in his extremities.

I preyed on this sort of thing, discontentment, a clash of passions among the rivals, and the zealots. Open sores opened secrets. That’s how I roll.” Jackson Guild, The Trinity Conspiracy, Betrayal at Black Mesa

I didn’t know what was more disturbing—the fact that something was obviously wrong, or that three faculty members of the world’s premiere spy school had forgotten to lock the door.

You too.” Then he was gone.And then I was sad.It was ridiculous. Preposterous, even. I was going to have to come clean about the ring- eventually. I hoped he didn’t bring it up because I...

1225International big business has made revolutions before now to safeguard its interests. At one time it made them … in the name of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Now, with Socialism to fight, it makes them...

Never patronize your readers. That means don’t talk down to them.

There was an easier solution to the security breach. He could kill us all. An explosion at a bomb factory would tidy up the problems of a trial drawn out by national security motions. There...

Abby must have been the one who found the safe house, because Townsend didn’t like it.”The building across the street is under construction,” he snarled as soon as we’d carried our bags inside.”The elevator has...

If you live your life in fear and had the opportunity to change. . .could you muster the strength?

Sunny days are the perfect days to spy on people. Especially at night (offer only valid for residents of Alaska).

If quick, I survive.If not quick, I am lost.This is “death.

There’s no way out,” he announced with satisfaction, “and no amount of wishful dreaming will produce one. The demon won’t go back in its bottle, the face-off is for ever, the embrace gets tighter and...