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Authors: Stephen L. Carter

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ALSO BY STEPHEN L. CARTER

Fiction

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln

Jericho’s Fall

Palace Council

New England White

The Emperor of Ocean Park

Nonfiction

The Violence of Peace:

America’s Wars in the Age of Obama

God’s Name in Vain:

The Wrongs and Rights of Religion in Politics

The Dissent of the Governed:

A Meditation on Law, Religion, and Loyalty

Civility: Manners, Morals, and the

Etiquette of Democracy

Integrity

The Confirmation Mess:

Cleaning Up the Federal Appointments Process

The Culture of Disbelief:

How American Law and Politics

Trivialize Religious Devotion

Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Copyright © 2014 by Stephen L. Carter

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House company, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

www.aaknopf.com

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Carter, Stephen L., [date]

Back channel : a novel / Stephen L. Carter.—First edition.

pages cm

“This is a Borzoi book.”

ISBN
978-0-385-34960-4 (hardback)

eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-34961-1

1. Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962—Fiction. 2. African American women—Fiction. 3. Suspense fiction. 4. Spy stories. I. Title.

PS
3603.
A
78B33 2014 813′.6—dc23 2014019240

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Jacket design by Oliver Munday

v3.1

For Lynn Nesbit
with gratitude, admiration, and affection

“You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”

—Attributed, incorrectly, to Leon Trotsky

Contents

Other Books by This Author

Prologue: The Sacrifice

Part I: Standoff Position

One: Deductive Reasoning

I

Two: First Contact

I

Three: Uncle Sam Wants You

I

Four: The Social Contract

I

Five: Counterintelligence

I

I

Seven: A Brief History of Santa

I

Eight: Babysitting

I

Nine: Bureaucratic Snafu

I

Ten: Priorities

I

V

Eleven: How News Travels

I

I

Thirteen: Like Father …

I

Fourteen: Officers

I

Part II: Evens and Odds

Fifteen: The Larger Story

I

Sixteen: Fire on the Water

I

Seventeen: The Midnight Oil

I

Eighteen: The Elusive Peace

I

Nineteen: Conduit

I

V

Twenty: The Recluse

I

Twenty-one: The Committee

I

V

Twenty-two: Cut Off

I

V

Twenty-three: Plans Within Plans

I

Twenty-four: The Grand Illusion

I

Twenty-five: Double Dactyl

I

Twenty-six: Risk Assessment

I

Twenty-seven: A Word to the Wise

I

Twenty-eight: Jerry

I

Twenty-nine: Indecision

I

Thirty: Washington Rumor

I

Part III: Prisoner’s Dilemma

Thirty-one: Ground Zero

I

Thirty-two: Checks and Balances

I

Thirty-three: Cover Story

I

Thirty-four: The Presence

I

Thirty-five: Premature Celebration

I

Thirty-six: Premature Panic

I

Thirty-seven: A Brief Series of Errors

I

V

Thirty-eight: The Visitor

I

Thirty-nine: An Exclusive Interview

I

V

Forty: An Invitation to Escape

I

V

Forty-one: The Threat

I

Forty-two: A Credible Commitment

I

Forty-three: Another Celebration

I

Forty-four: An Unfortunate Incident

I

V

Forty-five: Interference

I

Forty-six: Autobiography

I

Forty-seven: Whom Do You Trust?

I

Forty-eight: Reasonable Efforts

I

V

Forty-nine: Half Disclosures

I

Fifty: Points of View

I

V

Fifty-one: A Question of Evidence

I

Fifty-two: The Crisis Behind the Crisis

I

Fifty-three: The Night Visitor

I

Fifty-four: The Kitchen

I

Fifty-five: Negotiations

I

V

Fifty-six: More Negotiations

I

Fifty-seven: The Café

I

V

Fifty-eight: Morning Rush

I

Fifty-nine: Infiltrator

I

V

Sixty: The Lineup

I

V

Sixty-one: Payback

I

Sixty-two: Additional Terms

I

Sixty-three: Powerful Friends

I

Part IV: Credible Commitment

Sixty-four: Pilgrim’s Progress

I

V

Sixty-five: Back in the Pool

I

V

Author’s Note

Historical Note and Acknowledgments

A Note About the Author

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