Alexsi

"A single spy - in the right place and at the right moment - may change the course of history." Aleksi Ivanovich Smirnov, an orphan and a thief, has been living by his wits and surviving below the ever-watchful eye of the Soviet system until his luck finally runs out. In 1936, at the age of 16, Aleksi is caught by the NKVD and transported to Moscow. There, in the notorious headquarters of the secret police, he is given a choice: be trained and inserted as a spy into Nazi Germany under the identity of his best friend, the long-lost nephew of a high-ranking Nazi official, or disappear forever in the basement of the Lubyanka. For Aleksi it's no choice at all. Over the course of the next seven years, Aleksi has to live his role, that of the devoted nephew of a high Nazi official, and ultimately works for the legendary German spymaster Wilhelm Canaris as an intelligence agent in the Abwehr. All the while acting as a double agent - reporting back to the NKVD and avoiding detection by the Gestapo. Trapped between the implacable forces of two of the most notorious dictatorships in history and truly loyal to no one but himself, Aleksi's goal remains the same - survival. In 1943 Aleksi is chosen by the Gestapo to spearhead one of the most desperate operations of the war - to infiltrate the site of the upcoming Tehran conference between Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin and set them up to be assassinated. For Aleksi it's the moment of truth; for the rest of the world, the future is at stake.

Alexsi Smirnoff, a Russian orphan, is trained as an agent by the Russian Secret Service and inserted into Nazi Germany, where he rises to a position in German intelligence services. As the war grinds on, trapped between two brutal dictatorships, Alexsi betrays both sides in a desperate ploy that succeeds...and fails. His false identities burned, his life at risk, Alexsi attempts to disappear in the hills, but is caught by the British. Recruited by the SIS, and by C himself, Alexsi is once again a double agent. Initially betrayed by a Soviet agent inside the SIS, Alexsi is sent beyond the reach of the Soviets, into Italy with a new identity as a sergeant in the German army. Settled into the headquarters of Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, Alexsi finds himself at the nexus at a critical point in World War II, balancing between the various forces vying for control in the Vatican, the Italian resistance, and the brutal German Army that is determined to maintain control of Northern Italy. In the end, Alexsi is finally forced to choose sides over his own survival. Sequel to the well-regarded “A Single Spy”, “The Double Agent” is a fast-paced, compelling novel of espionage set in the most momentous and dangerous of times.