In the chap­ter titled “COMMUNISM REARS ITS HEAD,” the pro­tag­o­nist recounts the third and final meet­ing with his Blue Fairy God­moth­er, Colonel Frank Wirta­nen, in a des­o­late shop across from Jones’ house, where he, Resi, and George Kraft are hid­ing. The pro­tag­o­nist hes­i­tates before enter­ing the dark shop, antic­i­pat­ing any num­ber of poten­tial threats from Amer­i­can Legion mem­bers to Israeli para­troop­ers. With a pistol—an Iron Guard’s Luger—visible and ready in his hand, he stealth­ily scouts the front, not­ing the dark­ness that cloaks the entrance and cau­tious­ly mak­ing his way toward the back.

Feel­ing like an infantry­man, brac­ing against dan­ger, he reflects on the nature of human­i­ty, sug­gest­ing that humans are fun­da­men­tal­ly infantry ani­mals. Upon reach­ing the back of the shop, he observes a serene scene through a win­dow: Colonel Wirta­nen, now elder­ly and rem­i­nis­cent of Bud­dha, awaits him. Enter­ing the shop, the pro­tag­o­nist express­es sur­prise that Wirta­nen isn’t retired, to which Wirta­nen reveals he was called back to duty as a spe­cial­ist, specif­i­cal­ly con­cern­ing the pro­tag­o­nist.

The dia­logue unfolds, with the pro­tag­o­nist curi­ous about Wirtanen’s renewed inter­est in him. While he under­stands why the Israelis might seek him out, he ques­tions the Rus­sians’ motive. Wirta­nen divulges unset­tling infor­ma­tion about Resi Noth and George Kraft, iden­ti­fy­ing them as com­mu­nist agents under sur­veil­lance since 1941. The U.S. has allowed Resi into the coun­try to inves­ti­gate her inten­tions and poten­tial ties to the larg­er com­mu­nist agen­da.

This chap­ter delves into themes of espi­onage, trust, and the com­plex­i­ties of human motives against the back­drop of a world bur­dened by polit­i­cal ten­sion. The pro­tag­o­nist grap­ples with his pre­car­i­ous sit­u­a­tion while nav­i­gat­ing through lay­ers of deceit, reveal­ing the dark­er intri­ca­cies of his envi­ron­ment and the indi­vid­u­als he is inter­twined with.