An action-packed, no-nonsense counter-espionage story featuring Mr. Calder, Mr. Behrens and Rasselas, a Persian deerhound.

The Britain’s Counter security service are keen to uncover the M Route, which is used by Russia to spirit defectors and others from Britain, across Europe to Russia. Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens are assigned to track a colleague, a supposedly Russian agent being transported along the route to discover the various staging points. In the excerpt below Mr. Calder is investigating a building.

“As he started to move forward, Rasselas gave out a very soft, rumbling growl. Mr. Calder paused. When nothing happened, he moved again. Rasselas caught his ankle in his teeth. At that moment the ground under Mr. Calder’s hands gave way. At one moment he had his palms on solid earth. The next, his fingers were slithering over the lip of a cavity which had opened in front of him.”

A flash, bang, wallop story. Full of daring-do, lively characters and plot.

First published in Argosy, October 1963. Collected in Game Without Rules, Harper, 1967