The Spy Coast

As Maggie tells the story, Declan gets the bottle of Longmorn whisky and pours a drink for each of them. She tells them that Danny accepted the job, “reluctantly.” He wasn’t comfortable with being a concierge doctor for the wealthy but needed the money to help his mother. Danny’s job brought Diana Ward into their lives; as Maggie tells Declan and Ben, “It all started in Istanbul” (104).

Maggie always has to act as if someone is watching her, so when she leaves her apartment in Istanbul, she consciously relaxes as she walks. She goes into the innocuous building in which she works, supposedly in the offices of Europa Global Logistics. Once inside, she walks through the offices and uses her security code to open the door to their real offices. The other operative, Gavin—his cover is as an agricultural equipment expert, and he has nearly 30 years of experience as an operative. Maggie is flying to London in three days to visit Danny—they’ve been together for six years now, long-distance.

That night, Maggie attends a jazz performance, and afterward, she slips backstage, changes clothes, then leaves by the back door. She gets into a car that’s been left for her and drives to a dark street, where a man gets in the passenger seat. Doku, one of her informants, gives her the details about a weapons shipment into Chechnya. He is resigned about the fate of the man he is betraying, even as he hates what he is doing. He asks her to look after his sister and her daughter if anything happens to him.

After Maggie pays him, Doku convinces her to drop him at a nightclub. She is reluctant, believing it isn’t safe, but he convinces her. As she leaves, she sees a car speeding toward the club. She hears a woman scream and decides to drive by again. Doku is dead, lying on the sidewalk. Maggie immediately drives to Doku’s sister’s apartment building, but when she gets there, she finds the building on fire. She drives away, knowing there is nothing she can do.

Two days after Doku’s murder, she and Gavin go over the night of Doku’s death, and Maggie tells him everything, but they can’t figure out how the Russians knew that Doku was a member of the Chechen resistance. Maggie blames herself for his death and the deaths of his family members.

The next day, Maggie flies to London to see Danny, but she is still thinking about Doku. She lets herself into Danny’s flat. When Danny gets home, he tells her that he wants more for their relationship and proposes. She is surprised, and he is hurt by her silence. Maggie imagines what their life would be like together, in London, and says yes.

A week later, Maggie returns to Istanbul, planning to submit her resignation to the CIA. When she enters her apartment, she finds Gavin with a woman she doesn’t know. He introduces the woman as Diana Ward, another operative. She asks Maggie about Danny and tells her that the Agency believes that Danny might be working for the Russians. Maggie is incredulous.

Diana wants to know more about the work Danny does as a concierge doctor. She shows Maggie a picture of Danny at a cocktail party with several people, including Phillip Hardwicke and a Russian oligarch named Simon Potoyev. She also theorizes that the Russians arranged for Danny to meet Maggie and enter into a relationship.

Maggie is shocked—if this is true, then what does it say about her judgment? She thinks back over their history, wondering if she ever dropped any information to him. After a moment however, her belief in and love for Danny reassert themselves, and she denies that he could have anything to do with the Russians. Then she realizes that Diana is not there to reveal Danny as a Russian spy—she has another plan. Diana tells Maggie that Phillip Hardwicke launders money for Russian oligarchs, but every time British authorities have tried to stop him, it has ended in death. The CIA has decided to try to take Hardwicke down themselves.

Hardwicke sees Danny regularly because of a seizure disorder, and Danny has traveled with him several times. Diana wants Maggie to use her connection to Danny to get close to Hardwicke. She encourages Maggie to continue her relationship with Danny, even get married, but to pass intelligence about Hardwicke and his Russian oligarch friends along. However, she can’t tell Danny—even the Agency knows very little about this operation because Diana isn’t sure they can be trusted.

Maggie, Declan, and Ben finish the bottle of Longmorn. When Ben asks why she never told them any of this before, she reminds them that it is all still classified. Maggie says that Diana causes her to doubt her own judgment, and Danny, and that’s why she doesn’t care about her. Diana is responsible for what Maggie’s life has become and forced her to choose between her love for Danny and her country. As painful as it was, Maggie had chosen her country and married Danny.

Ben and Declan didn’t even know she was married. Declan tries to comfort her, but she shrugs him off—the conversation has raised too many painful memories. Ben and Declan leave, and Maggie goes upstairs to bed, thinking about Danny.

Maggie marries Danny in London. Danny’s friends and family are there, and the CIA has sent another operative, Josie, to play her maid of honor. Diana and Gavin are nearby, posing as a couple staying at the hotel where Maggie and Danny have their ceremony. They hoped Hardwicke would attend, but instead, he has arranged to hold the reception at one of his restaurants.

The restaurant is closed to the public, and Maggie watches the crowd, feeling as if she’s performing in a play, waiting for Hardwicke to arrive. When she finally meets him, she can tell that although he smiles at Danny, for him, this is just about establishing his dominance and securing Danny’s loyalty. Silvia Moretti, Hardwicke’s lover, is with him, and Hardwicke’s daughter, Bella, enters behind them. She looks uncomfortable in an ill-fitting pink dress that clashes with her red hair. After they enter, Hardwicke’s security locks the restaurant doors.

Maggie smiles and makes conversation, but secretly feels trapped. Hardwicke asks her about her job, her background, and how she met Danny, and she and Josie both start getting nervous. It is clear that Hardwicke has done a background check on her. When Maggie mentions that she is in fashion and textiles, however, Bella suddenly gets interested. When Hardwicke refuses Bella a second glass of wine, she pouts and goes off to the bathroom while Hardwicke continues questioning Maggie. He wonders what she will do for work in London, and Danny mentions that she would be great working at the medical firm.

Maggie is shocked by how endangered she feels in Hardwicke’s presence and excuses herself to go to the bathroom. She understands why Diana doesn’t want to share this operation with the British—restricting the number of people who know about it is the only way she will survive. She hears someone in the next stall, and a blue pill rolls onto the floor. Bella comes out of the stall and Maggie reluctantly gives the pill to her. Bella tells Maggie that she likes Danny and thinks he’s a good person, before leaving the bathroom. Maggie realizes that Bella might be her entry into Hardwicke’s inner circle.

Maggie and Danny honeymoon in Turkey, at a place Maggie chooses, knowing it is exactly the kind of place a woman like her would take her new husband. She knows that although she can’t see anyone, they are being watched. At breakfast one morning, Danny raises the possibility of them leaving their jobs behind and traveling together, doing charity work. Maggie brings up Hardwicke and how she didn’t like the way he treated Bella. Danny tells her that Hardwicke has epilepsy and needs medication to avoid seizures. That’s why he’s traveling to Cyprus with the man next month. Unhappy, he changes the subject, and they plan to go snorkeling that day. The day is magical and feels like a real honeymoon to Maggie, but this only makes her feel more guilty about her secrets.

The morning after Ben and Declan’s visit, Maggie drives out to feed the chickens. As she is leaning into her RTV, the bucket in her hand jerks, and she hears a loud crack. Water streams out of the bucket, and Maggie realizes she is being shot at. She drops to the ground and gets her rifle as bullets hit the RTV. She fires into the woods, where she sees a camouflaged figure. The man retreats, and she hears another four-wheeler approaching. It is Luther, and he tells her that Callie has called the police. She tells him to get down, and he realizes that the shots didn’t come from an “idiot hunter”: Someone is purposely shooting at Maggie.

Later, Jo questions Maggie about the incident. Maggie sticks to the story that it was an errant hunter. Jo questions how Maggie stayed so calm during the incident. Maggie falls back on growing up on a sheep ranch to explain her comfort with guns. Jo connects the incident with finding Bianca in her driveway, but Maggie doesn’t give her any more information. She knows, however, that Jo won’t stop looking for answers.

Declan and Ben arrive and immediately head towards where the shooting occurred. Maggie and Jo join them at the RTV, and they assess the scene. Declan identifies the ammunition type used, and together, they find a footprint in the woods. Maggie assesses the size of the shoe and then quickly glances at Ben and Declan’s feet, even though she feels guilty for doing so. She is dismayed to realize that the life she has built at Blackberry Farm is under threat.

The four of them follow the shooter’s boot prints to a nearby road and find tire tracks from the shooter’s vehicle. After Jo leaves, Declan tells Maggie that she needs to leave Purity, and Maggie agrees. She goes to Luther’s farm and gives her chickens to Callie. Callie is upset by her departure, but Maggie is determined not to put her in danger.