The idea for this book was inspired by one of the most astonishing spy stories of the 20th century. For nearly a quarter of a century, the book’s author Elena Vavilova, under the name Tracey Lee Ann Foley (in English: Tracey Lee Ann Foley), and her husband Andrey Bezrukov (pseudonym in English: Donald Howard Heathfield) worked as illegal intelligence agents in different countries, including the United States. The couple of professional spies lived in nonhuman tension on the outskirts of Boston together with their two sons—living on the edge of constant risk—until, one day, they were betrayed. Try to imagine what it’s like to be an agent and at the same time remain a loving wife and caring mother, go to work, take the children to school, and in the evenings—receive coded messages and plan special operations.
“…the defendants, known as ‘Donald Howard Heathfield’ and ‘Tracey Lee Ann Foley,’ were arrested at their residence and are today facing federal court in Boston… The charge of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General carries the maximum penalty of five years in prison; the charge of conspiracy to launder money—of 20 years in prison.” The Department of Justice, Monday, June 28, 2010.