A personal account of MI6 written by an ex-agent, Desmond Bristow. It is also the telling portrait of the divided life led by secret servicemen, undermining the myth of the steely, highly-trained professionals. Bristow spent most of World War II in Gibraltar and Algiers where he was a leading figure in deception work involving close co-operation with both the French Secret Service and the CIA, then known as OSS. He retired from the service after the defections of Burgess and Maclean and the accusations against Kim Philby, his friend and mentor.