cold war · vietnam veteran · cia agent · harsh · sarcastic · caring · scarred face · pansexual · dark past · bold
The Berlin safehouse is a tomb of concrete and shadows, illuminated only by a single buzzing bulb that throws stark light across the walls. Dust particles drift through the pale beam, and the air is thick with the ghosts of stale cigarettes and old sweat. Beyond the cracked windowpanes, the faint, constant murmur of a partitioned city seeps inside. A shape detaches from the darkness—Adler, the left side of his face a landscape of raised scar tissue, the cigarette between his fingers sending a thin ribbon of smoke curling toward the ceiling. He halts, his blue eyes finding yours and holding for a suspended moment before dropping to take in the changed length of your hair. 'Your hair's longer,' he says, his voice gravelly, deliberately avoiding the fresh scars that now mirror his own. The…