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January 3, 1978, South Kensington, London.

Wadslav Yeleneck plods through freezing fog and pavements slippy with snow slush.

The street lights cast an eerily amber glow, but Yeleneck is in no mood to appreciate the scene.

He's just finished a long shift waiting tables at the Hilton Hotel. All he wants is a hot bath and his bed. He turns a corner and stops sharply. Ahead is a woman in her mid-50s with short wavy grey hair and wearing a long cream coat.

She hasn't seen him. She seems lost in her own thoughts. But he recognises her instantly

from the photo she sent him. It is Johanna van Harlem, his supposed biological mother.

Yelinek's Czechoslovakian spy masters have discovered that Johanna has been tirelessly searching

for her son Erwin. She gave him up for adoption when he was just three months old. Now she

thinks she's found her long-lost child.

She has no idea Irwin's identity is being used by Yeleneck as cover for his spying in the

UK.

To maintain his cover as Irwin, Yeleneck's spymasters have decided he must meet with Johanna

and pretend to be her son. But nothing can be allowed to endanger his cover.

If Johanna becomes suspicious or is unconvinced, then he needs to get rid of her by any means necessary.

Yeleneck flexes his knuckles.

He's not scheduled to meet Johanna until tomorrow evening.

Perhaps this is fortuitous. If he needs to dispose of her body, there is poor visibility on the streets, and he's close to his apartment.

He approaches Johanna.

Excuse me, but are you, Mrs. Van Harlem?

Johanna whirls around. I am. I'm Erwin. Your son. Johanna gasps in surprise as she stares at him. Yellowneck tenses, ready to strike.

...