They look into each other’s eyes, Richard and Theresa, for what seems to be a long time. Maybe they’re thinking about what lies ahead. Both of them have changed in ways the other can’t begin to know. They’ll have to get to know each other once again, and most important, to trust each other. If they’re going to stay together, that is.
The same challenge, sort of, waits for Lyndsey. She doesn’t know if she should stay with the Agency. She knows what she told Claiborne, but she’s had time to think about it. Russia Division is in complete turmoiclass="underline" for better and worse, it’s losing the man who has been running it for years, who knew it inside and out, knew every man and woman who worked there, knew every asset they’d ever run, knew every operation backward and forward, knew its twisted, wicked history like his own. It’s been rocked by this scandal, made people shaky and timid. People are talking about leaving, finding new positions elsewhere or quitting altogether. The scandal has to be a sign of deeper rot, right? How can you trust this place to do right by you after what happened to Richard and Theresa, two of the Agency’s anointed?
Oh, but there’s more to the story than the rank and file will ever be allowed to know. Yet another deep, dark secret hidden away in its deepest, darkest vaults.
Lyndsey, hands shoved in pockets, pushes through the double doors and meanders out onto the tarmac. She has the same question before her: can she trust the Agency? Patrick Pfeifer has done the right thing, and that gives her hope, but how many men like him are there, and how many more are like Eric Newman, lying in wait? She’s agreed to run Tarasenko, yes, but it feels like she hasn’t fully committed. That she’s still looking over her shoulder, wondering if she’s doing the right thing. Kim Claiborne seems trustworthy. She’s no Eric Newman. But these managers all seem rock solid—at first. You must be confident to be a manager in the Directorate of Operations: people have to be willing to do some pretty dangerous things on your say-so, after all.
She looks at Richard and Theresa, still observing each other at arm’s length. This is what it can do to you: make you doubt the very ground beneath your feet.
Then, Richard stirs.
He stretches out his arm to Theresa.
She tumbles into him, pressing her face to his chest. His right arm wraps around her back, drawing her closer. They cling to each as tightly as possible.
Lyndsey edges closer to the family as they make their way to the ambulance. Richard is about to climb into the back when Theresa waves her over. Her eyes glisten with tears as she takes Lyndsey’s arm and pulls her into their circle.
“Richard, I want you to meet Lyndsey Duncan. We owe her so much… We owe her everything. If it weren’t for her, you wouldn’t be here today.”
He squints through his eyeglasses. She can tell he is searching his memory, perhaps remembering something about her face. Lyndsey is shocked to see how he’s aged. He could easily be fifteen years older. His clothes hang off his lean frame. His face is creased with wrinkles, the skin rough, as though he’s been left in bad weather for a long time. There seems to be an involuntary tremor in his hands—but Brian clings to them nonetheless.
But there’s the same intelligent twinkle in his eyes that she remembers from her earliest days in Russia Division. Despite what they did to him in prison, they didn’t manage to destroy the man. To break his spirit.
She’s glad to see, after everything he has been through, that sometimes the best endures.
“Hello, Richard. It’s good to see you.” She extends her hand. “Welcome home.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For those who know of me through my novels, it may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that before I started writing, I had a long career in intelligence, which I drew on to write Red Widow. I always wanted to write a spy novel because I felt there were things about working in this field that people didn’t understand, especially if what they did know came from popular movies, TV shows, and books. I am grateful for my career: as I’ve told many people, through it, I was able to do many things I would otherwise never have experienced. But it has its dark side, too, and it’s that trade-off and the personal toll it can take that I wanted to capture in Red Widow.
I can’t reveal the names of all the colleagues who helped, befriended, and challenged me over the years but know that I think of you and appreciate your kindnesses. I would like to drop the first names of a few special friends here (you know who you are): Andrea and David; Bev; Charlotte; Jen; Jan; Jay; Kathy; Peter, Simona, Jim, Gary, and everyone at the Center. Also, thank you to the patient folks in the Pre-Publication Review office and a special thanks to Larry P. for letting me base a character on him.
Thanks also to John Nason for his help understanding what happens when a foreign national is arrested by the FBI for spying. Thanks, too, to former colleague and friend Ed Mickolus for the introduction to John.
There would be no Red Widow without my editor at Putnam, Sally Kim. I had pretty much given up on writing a spy novel and I didn’t take it up again until she challenged me to come up with an idea that eventually blossomed into this book. She went through countless revisions to get me to the version you hold in your hands. I am grateful for her vision and patience.
Deep thanks to the entire Putnam team for all their support and enthusiasm: president Ivan Held; director of marketing Ashley McClay; director of publicity Alexis Welby; the tireless Gabriella Mongelli; Katie Grinch, Sydney Cohen, Emily Mlynek, and Nishtha Patel.
Many thanks, as always, to my literary agents Richard Pine and Eliza Rothstein, who make everything better. Thanks, too, to my film agent Angela Cheng Caplan. And last but far from least, thank you to my husband for letting me disappear behind the door of my study to write, after thirty-four years of letting me disappear behind the gates and barbed-wire fences of work.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alma Katsu is the award-winning author of five novels, most recently The Deep and The Hunger. Prior to the publication of her first novel, she had a thirty-five-year career as a senior intelligence analyst for several U.S. agencies, including the CIA and NSA, as well as RAND, the global policy think tank. Katsu is a graduate of the master’s writing program at the Johns Hopkins University and received her bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University. She lives outside of Washington, D.C., with her husband, where she is a consultant to government and private industry on future trends and analytic methods.
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THE DEEP
THE HUNGER
THE DESCENT
THE RECKONING
THE TAKER
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