John Hopkins

The task is intelligence gathering in its purest form, digging around, talking to people, sorting truth from rhetoric.

The Bolsheviks speak of withdrawal from the war, but are they serious or are they posturing?

He operates alongside the British diplomat Robert Bruce Lockhart, who is attempting to answer the same questions through formal channels.

Lockhart works the drawing rooms while Riley operates in the shadows, cultivating contacts, probing loyalties, and testing who might be persuaded.

By that time, the Bolsheviks' new secret police, the Cheka, are already active in the city.

Suspicion is everywhere, and foreigners are being closely watched.

Yet, for all his self-interest, Riley does produce results.

London is getting answers out of their man in Moscow, but those answers are troubling.

If Russia does pull out of the war, German forces can redeploy west, and the balance of the war could shift dramatically.

Though Lockhart continues to negotiate, behind closed doors something more radical emerges.

What if this new Bolshevik government could be toppled before it consolidates power?

Riley embraces the idea with open arms.

No longer merely gathering intelligence, he and his associates begin exploring the possibility of bringing about a regime change.

They hope to replace Lenin's government with one willing to resume the war alongside the Allies, and in doing so reopen Russia to the West.

The plot that takes shape is breathtakingly reckless.

Guards are to be bribed and strategic buildings seized.

Loyal military units will either be persuaded or bought, and if necessary, Lenin himself will be eliminated.

Riley throws himself into it, convinced that boldness will succeed where diplomacy has failed.

By late summer 1918, the conspiracy is gathering momentum, but also drawing attention from potentially dangerous eyes.

Then, in the dying days of the summer, everything accelerates dramatically.