Jeffrey M. Carney
Published: 2013-08-07
Total Pages: 700
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West Berlin 1984. In a forest north of the city another chapter of the Cold War is being played out. A nineteen year-old American wearing the uniform of the East German border guards climbs over the Berlin Wall and disappears on the other side. A man living in two opposing worlds, but belonging to neither.What takes place that winter morning began a year earlier. Disillusioned and angry at the the things he sees working at a secret intelligence collection site in West Berlin, the young American makes the decision to leave it all behind. In the early morning hours of April 22nd, 1983 he crosses Checkpoint Charlie for what he thinks is the last timeOnce in the hands of agents of the Ministry for State Security he quickly realizes that his days of deciding his own fate are now over. Coerced by a clever combination of praise and threats, the young man is sent back to work against his co-workers. While he betrays the secrets of units collection activities in the name of world peace, other battles are raging inside his conscience.Living in a world where friends are now enemies and enemies now friends, he faces the realization that he is now alone. As hundreds of classified documents cross the border between East and West the stark realization of how close the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war emboldens the young man. Projects worth billions in research are compromised.The spy's work continues as he is transferred to the desolate plains of West Texas. There he continues to pass classified information to his handlers, this time in places such as Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City. In 1985 the Year of the Spy approaches. Worldwide, intelligence agencies are faced with defections and revelations of betrayal. As the United States considers aggressive measures to root our spies, the young man slowly becomes unstable, a risk to his work and to himself. Faced with the risk of exposure, the young man flees to Mexico seeking asylum at the East German embassy in Mexico City. At first turned away, the agent's handlers quickly reconsider, recognizing that the man knows too much about their work. While the East Germans are deciding how to best exfiltrate this once valuable asset, the Air Force is slowly coming to the realization that there is more to the disappearance of one of its own than at first appears. The clock ticks as the Air Force soon realizes that their missing man is a potential spy, but that time is enough for the agent to reach Cuba. Unsure what to do with a once-valuable agent, the Ministry for State Security considers extreme options. As the man discovers he is to be sent to Sweden to fend for himself, he comes to the painful realization that he was nothing more than a valuable pawn. Within months, however, he is sent to work against his former colleagues again, this time from the safety of secret sites in East Berlin. Soon he is listening the United States Embassy and has a front row seat in the political battle between East and West. Painfully aware that his adopted home is slowly but inevitably collapsing under the economic and political pressures within, he watches as the noose slowly closes around his neck.1990 brings reunification and open borders, but he is trapped. The man believes that his German passport gives him protection. While others flee or commit suicide, he has chosen to remain, since the papers he received from the MfS may not withstand intense scrutiny. After receiving a tip-off from an East German defector, the United States believes it has found its man. On April 22nd, 1991, the exact date of his defection in 1983, an apprehension team of the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations kidnaps the former sergeant on a busy street and secretly returns him to the United States to face trial in an empty courtroom.Seized by the US government in 1997, and now censored by NSA , the story can finally be told by the man who lived it.More info: http://www.against-all-enemi.es/