A Despicable Profession

May, 1946. America is basking in hard-won peace and prosperity. The OSS has been disbanded, the CIA does not yet exist. Rumors swirl about the Red Army massing tanks along the Elbe in East Germany. Former OSS agent Hal Schroeder gets an offer from Global Commerce LTD to be a trade rep in Berlin. He flies to New York to meet his new boss. Hal's jaw drops when former OSS Chief Wild Bill Donovan strides in. Schroeder, who survived perilous duty behind German lines, says he is no longer interested in being a spy. General Donovan assures him that's not part of his job description. Hal comes to doubt that when he meets his immediate superior in Berlin. It's Victor Jacobson, the case officer who sent him on repeated suicide missions in WWII.