In June 1963 the Berlin Wall has been up for almost two years. The CIA has had a rough
time maintaining an intelligence operation in East Germany, known as the German
Democratic Republic (GDR), because of the Stasi—the East German secret police who have
perhaps the best surveillance system ever established. There are rumors that the Germans
were working on a weapon of mass destruction during World War II that was never
completed, but the U.S. intelligence service has no easy way of finding out anything
about this project. For the security of the free world they want to beat the Soviets in
acquiring what information they can. Ted Robinson, an agent who is acquainted with
financial analysts Charlie Ebersole and Liz Reid because of their operation in Castro’s
Cuba, attempts to recruit them to go through the Wall into the GDR. Liz’s second cousin
lives in the GDR, and his father, who is dead, may have worked on the World War II
project. Motivated by patriotism and concern for Liz’s cousin, who may have so
me knowledge of what his father did, the pair agree to go, despite the obstacles put in
the way of travelers to the GDR. Their job is to gather what information they can before
the Soviets do, and stay out of the hands of the Stasi.