Citizen-Spy

40 I Led 3 Lives and the Agent of History
“If I didn’t know you were a loyal Party member, I’d say you were afraid of me!”
from her Luger, and he crumples to the floor, dead. When Philbrick enters the
room, she looks him over with contempt: “You hope that we have no assignment
for you. You would prefer to go home to your American family, to your
wife. That is more important to you than Party loyalty, isn’t it?” Herb protests,
but as proof of her seriousness Marta orders his return to America to show the
other comrades the spent shell casing from the bullet that killed Rudy. Little
does Herb know that Comrade Marta will soon bring her distinctive negotiation
style directly into his own living room.
Back in the States, Herb’s wife, Eva, is sewing a button on Herb’s jacket, a
gesture he clearly appreciates: “Thanks, honey. You don’t know how good it is
to have a wife who sews buttons on instead of shooting them off—meaning
Comrade Marta!” Later, when Marta arrives in the United States for a visit, the
Party orders Philbrick and his wife to house her. After the two women meet at
the Philbricks’ home, Eva sits in the living room painting her fingernails. The
armed and dangerous Communist operative glares at Herb’s wife and snaps,
“I find the charm you American women affect rather sickening. If I didn’t