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CHARLIE BROOKS
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Charlie Brooks’ education came to a grinding halt when he left Eton to become a stable lad. He has since worked as a racehorse trainer and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and GQ magazine. He lives on a farm in the Cotswolds with his wife and daughter. His autobiography, Crossing the Line, and his first novel, Citizen, were widely acclaimed.
To Rebekah – the best wife in the world – who inspires me with her sense of decency, her clarity of thought and her integrity.
Table of Contents
Moscow
Max Ward knew something was up. Things often weren’t as they seemed at the British Embassy on Smolenskaya Naberezhnaya, but that particular afternoon Max’s antennae were twitching more than usual.
For a moment his attention switched from his immediate superior, Colin Corbett, to Pallesson, who was crossing the main atrium. Max watched through the heavy glass partition as Pallesson, the department’s golden boy, gave some unfortunate underling a sharp dressing-down, then continued on his way with a quick glance at his watch. Max was now so far beneath Pallesson’s sphere of operation that he didn’t even warrant a greeting when they passed one another in the corridor. Their relationship had been poisoned long ago. It was unfortunate that they were now posted in the same city, but Max hadn’t let Pallesson faze him in the past and he refused to let the bastard do so now.
Max pulled his focus back to Colin Corbett, the source of his current unease. Corbett was an
