Jinnik — Gideon D. Asche

Fear is like a drug; you can become addicted to it. I did. We were an anomaly, the four of us; Heiney, Turk, Andrea and I. We were all veterans of more than four years in the field and we could count our combined border crossings in the hundreds, two of us even had sanctioned kills. When we arrived at the Scheuner I was told the normal useful lifespan of an operator was 3 years, we were all working on five. The tension and pressure of our operations were every bit as intense as combat and none of us knew how it was changing us and shaping us into something most of us, if given a choice, would chose not to become. Set in a time and place remembered only by those who survived and a row of upside down shot glasses behind an old bar; this exhilarating and previously untold tale of the Cold War is relayed to us by the only Operator to ever return from hell and drink from his own overturned glass. Outwardly, Jinnik and his team were on a European vacation much of the time but this was no trip to the Riviera. Jinnik retraces his recruitment into and training for this unknown, most peculiar and dangerous Foreign Service. They were soldiers charged with the task of doing whatever they could to end the Cold War. Terrifying border crossings into and out of enemy territory, and countless heroes on both sides of The Wall who risked, and too often paid life and limb to destroy the Red Menace. The actions of Aufkl?rungs-Gruppe 31 and others like them did more to undermine the enemy than any politician or mere civilian could ever envision. Reading Jinnik, one can imagine how the 'battlefield' tactics Jinnik and his band of soldiers inherited, invented, and perfected, are most certainly studied by others learning and plying Jinnik's trade today and tomorrow. Stereotypes are eviscerated and the humanity which existed on both sides of The Wall is revealed; a humanity transcending politics, language, ideology, and ultimately saved Jinnik himself. Sacrifice, strategy, trust, honor, te