Spymaster Quotes
"The limbs of the tall pines hung heavy with ice. When they snapped, they gave off cracks that echoed through the forest like gunfire."
"No one had expected the storm to be this bad. Ice covered everything and made the sloped ground almost impossible to walk on."
"Their target was a weathered cabin in a remote, heavily wooded area."
"As the teams slowly picked their way through the forest, sheets of snow and ice blew at them like shards of broken glass."
"Ignoring the trepidation sweeping through the ranks, the PST leader pushed on."
"Heart rates increased. Grips tightened on weapons."
"When the explosions stopped, those who could scrambled for cover, dragging their injured teammates behind them."
"Harvath hated gunfights. Both as a SEAL and now as a covert counterterrorism operative, he had seen way too many of them."
"If you fall, fall forward in service of the mission. Only the mission mattered."
"He tried to clean out the Augean Stables—and they soon realized it would take far longer than any of them ever anticipated."
"To his credit, Harvath hadn’t wasted time. He already had a contingency plan."
"The United States will not agree to soften the language. Absolutely not."
"He was like a bear in a pit. If you climbed in with her, you might make it back out, but not without suffering tremendous damage."
"We fight here, on these terms, right now, or the entire continent of Europe becomes a battlefield."
"It’s like Swiss fucking cheese. For every Russian you uncover, there are two more hiding somewhere else."
"And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time."
"What was now making sense to Jasinski was that with its invasion of Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimean peninsula, Russia was taking on the role of Nazi Germany."
"By allowing Russia to invade Ukraine uncontested, America had emboldened Russia."
"Harvath liked that she was using the word 'we.'"
"A GRU cyberespionage group called Fancy Bear rounded everything out."
"The truth was, he didn’t plan on changing anything. Not without a good, solid reason."
"Russia was better than this. His countrymen had lost their pride."
"The Europeans, like any noble society, prided themselves upon what set them apart, what made them better than the barbarians—their laws."
"To those three categories, Harvath had added another—wolf hunters."
"Law and civilization were supremely important things, but without strength, and a willingness to engage the enemy, they were worthless."
"No. He’s very kind. He’s in charge of the animals on the farm."
"I eventually turned the TV off. They just kept repeating the same images."
"I think Harvath enjoyed picking out our outfits,"
"I quit a week ago. Very few Swedes actually smoke, maybe 10 percent of the country."
"It’s a little black dress," Harvath replied. "Don’t be so melodramatic."
"I bet at least half the women in there are going to be wearing jeans,"
"Our dacha is only an hour away," replied Kushner. "Besides, you said it was important. And worth my while."
"The beauty of the Gotland cell was that it wasn’t trying to hide. It was operating right in the open for everyone to see."
"Putting it under surveillance seemed to suggest that they were still gathering information."
"By all accounts, there were no Gryphons in NATO’s inventory. But did that mean they didn’t exist?"
"Once you had the media’s attention, the public’s followed, like a dog on a leash."
"The road mobile launchers used for the missiles were not vehicles that were easy to hide, nor were rumors of their existence."
"If Russia keeps this up, we will also have a crisis of confidence."
"It was an inconvenient truth if ever there was one."
"The Russian President had been involved in a major charm offensive with the Turkish President."
"There was something poetic about using a man known as the Troll to disrupt the Troll Factory."
"My guy in St. Petersburg should have the last of it out tonight."
"The more fatigued he gets, the more difficult it is for him to hide from me."
"Promise me we’ll go see him when you get back."
"First we make our deal. Then we talk about everything else I know."
"With every stride he grew closer. Tretyakov didn’t stand a chance."
"When you get a shot, you take a shot. It’s that simple."
"Being good at waiting made you good at the game."
"Whatever was being said, at any time, anywhere, the Kremlin wanted to know it."
"The position was so draconian that even foreign visitors were mandated to purchase Russian SIM cards for their satellite phones or face fines and potential imprisonment."
"If everything went well, they’d be back in twelve hours with the rest of the team, doing the exact same thing."
"Though it felt like an eternity, very soon they’d be on their way and one step closer to home."
"As soon as he learned Kopec was a spy for the Russians, he began devising a way to exploit him."
"It’s time to turn them loose and to see what they can do."
"We should give them a bonus for initiative. That’s a valuable relationship we need to maintain."