There is only one, main line—survival on the “no man’s land” of Mikhail Sergeev, a former GRU operative turned into a retiree after the collapse of the country. He is forced to rely only on himself and his close friends. For what is he fighting now? For what country? For what justice?
He makes a decision to hand over a possible component of a weapon of mass destruction to obvious terrorists. After thinking it through and understanding that it means hundreds of thousands of deaths—he gives it anyway. Because those countries where such weapons will be used no longer matter to him. Only his circle matters, his friends, the inhabitants of no man’s land—people forced to survive behind barbed wire.
This is a book about friendship, about loneliness, about love, about betrayal, about politics—both secret and open—about the dirt connected with it, and about real grime; about the Directorate, about people. It isn’t always fantastic, which is a little frightening.