Prelude to Terror — Helen MacInnes

American art expert Colin Grant is sent to Vienna on a seemingly simple mission in this suspenseful, action-packed first installment in the thrilling Robert Renwick espionage trilogy

New York art expert Colin Grant takes on an easy commission: to travel to Vienna and bid on a priceless Old Master on behalf of a Texan millionaire. The painting has been smuggled out of Hungary by a defector, and Grant must get it at any cost, while keeping his employer's name a secret. 

But all is not as it seems. No sooner has Grant landed in Austria than his seemingly simple assignment turns into a nightmare, as he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy to unleash a wave of international terrorism. Grant must now navigate a hidden and terrifying world, as he and the woman he loves become pawns in a war between the secret armies of East and West.