With the curve of his hook and his one good hand, the American shoved the boat from the shore.

It was tricky paddling. It would have been easier to get one of the sailors from the Darter to help. But his orders had been specific. Minimize exposure of the Darter's crew to anything and everything that had to do with retrieving the old man. Do whatever he had to do to enlist the aid of the Master of Sinanju. But do it alone.

ALONE. That was a word with which the American was well acquainted. Alone and Conrad MacCleary were old friends.

In the OSS in World War II, Conn MacCleary had worked mostly alone. Whenever some higher-up wanted to put him on a team, MacCleary's answer was invariably the same: "With all due respect, if I screw up, I die. If someone I'm with screws up, I'm just as dead. If it's all the same, sir, I'd rather be the one doing the screwing."

His lone-wolf attitude would never have been tolerated if not for one simple fact. Conrad MacCleary got results.

Fluent in German, MacCleary had spent much of his time behind enemy lines coordinating Allied spy efforts. In his six years in Germany-both prior to and throughout American involvement in that great conflict-MacCleary enjoyed greater success than all but one other deep-cover U.S. agent.

There was only one shadow in his entire wartime record. Although no one but Conrad MacCleary saw it as a blemish, to him it was the darkest moment of his entire espionage career.

It happened just before the fall of Berlin. The war in Europe was at an end. Bombs were dropping like April rain.

When MacCleary learned that Heinrich Himmler had fled Berlin, Conn gave chase. No history book would ever record the fact but, thanks to MacCleary, the SS head was captured attempting to sneak out of Germany. While Conn was away from Berlin the Russians took the city for the Allies.