{"product_id":"2940013768802","title":"The Avanger","description":"CAPTAIN MIKE BRIXAN had certain mild and innocent superstitions. He\u003cbr\u003ebelieved, for example, that if he saw a green crow in a field he would\u003cbr\u003ecertainly see another green crow before the day was out. And when, at the\u003cbr\u003ebookstand on Aix-la-Chapelle station, he saw and purchased a dime novel\u003cbr\u003ethat was comprehensively entitled  \"Only an Extra, or the Pride of\u003cbr\u003eHollywood\", he was less concerned as to how this thrilling and dog-eared\u003cbr\u003eromance came to be on offer at half a million marks (this was in the days\u003cbr\u003ewhen marks were worth money) than as to the circumstances in which he\u003cbr\u003ewould again hear or read the word \"extras\" in the sense of a\u003cbr\u003esupernumerary and unimportant screen actress.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe novel did not interest him at all. He read one page of superlatives\u003cbr\u003eand, turned for relief to the study of a Belgian time-table. He was\u003cbr\u003ebored, but not so bored that he could interest himself in the sensational\u003cbr\u003erise of the fictitious Rosa Love from modest obscurity to a press agent\u003cbr\u003eand wealth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut \"extra\" was a new one on Michael, and he waited for the day to bring\u003cbr\u003eits inevitable companion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo say that he was uninterested in crime, that burglars were less\u003cbr\u003ethrilling than golf scores, and the record of murders hardly worth the\u003cbr\u003ereading, might convey a wrong impression to those who knew him as the\u003cbr\u003ecleverest agent in the Foreign Office Intelligence Department.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis official life was spent in meeting queer Continentals in obscure\u003cbr\u003erestaurants and, in divers roles, to learn of the undercurrents that were\u003cbr\u003edrifting the barques of diplomacy to unsuspected ports. He had twice\u003cbr\u003eroamed through Europe in the guise of an open-mouthed tourist; had\u003cbr\u003ecanoed many hundred miles through the gorges of the Danube to discover,\u003cbr\u003ein little riverside beer-houses, the inward meanings of secret\u003cbr\u003emobilizations. These were tasks wholly to his liking.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTherefore he was not unnaturally annoyed when he was withdrawn from\u003cbr\u003eBerlin at a moment when, as it seemed, the mystery of the Slovak Treaty\u003cbr\u003ewas in a way to being solved, for he had secured, at a cost, a rough but\u003cbr\u003eaccurate draft.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I should have had a photograph of the actual document if you had left me\u003cbr\u003eanother twenty-four hours,\" he reproached his chief, Major George\u003cbr\u003eStaines, when he reported himself at Whitehall next morning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Sony,\" replied that unrepentant man, \"but the truth is, we've had a\u003cbr\u003eheart-to-heart talk with the Slovakian Prime Minister, and he has\u003cbr\u003epromised to behave and practically given us the text of the treaty--it\u003cbr\u003ewas only a commercial affair. Mike, did you know Elmer?\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069008691440,"sku":"2940013768802","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013768802_p0.jpg?v=1763590017","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013768802","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}