Leo stood up, his steel restraints rattling. His daughters stepped into the cell, walking slowly towards him. Watching them in motion, observing the details of their posture, he was amazed by the lifelike details of this apparition. But he would not feel joy. He would not laugh or delight in this moment. He could not commit to it. He had no doubt, no doubt at all, that they would vanish as soon as he touched them, or if he closed his eyes their surface would shimmer, the light would break apart and they would be gone and he would be alone. They were a projection from his mind, a mirage, constructed to protect himself from the bleak reality that he would never see them again.

Exhausted, trembling and on the brink of insanity, Leo said to them:

—Make me know that you are real.

He noticed that Elena was pregnant, a fact he had not known, or been told. As he began to cry, his daughters hurried forward, wrapping their arms around him. And finally Leo allowed himself some happiness.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A special mention must go to my good friend Zoe Trodd who shared her research, her time, insights and support as I wrote Agent 6, particularly with relation to the subject of American Communism, and including guided tours of the relevant locations in New York. Zoe has been an invaluable source of information – she’s a wonderful friend, and a brilliant mind.

I have been lucky to have the support of two great editors, Mitch Hoffman at Grand Central Publishing, and Suzanne Baboneau at Simon & Schuster UK. I’d also like to thank Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown for all her help with this novel and Robert Bookman at CAA – I owe a great deal to both of them. And finally I’d like to thank Ben Stephenson for his support over the past two years.

Autor

TOM ROB SMITH (1979), hijo de madre sueca y padre inglés. Nació y se crió en Londres.

Se licenció en Literatura Inglesa en el St. John´s College de la Universidad de Cambridge, y gracias a una beca Harper, marchó a Pavía (Italia), para estudiar Escritura Creativa. A su vuelta, comenzó a trabajar como guionista de series para televisión.

El niño 44 es su primera novela y fue considerado el autor revelación del año 2008. Fue galardonado con el Ian Fleming Steel Dagger a la mejor Novela de suspense del año por la Crime Writers' Association. Los derechos para llevarla al cine han sido adquiridos por Ridley Scott.

Después ha publicado El discurso secreto (The secret speech, 2009) y Agent 6 (2011).