Mary Slade and James Swensen were strangers, recruited into the Central Intelligence Agency, created by the National Security Act of 1947--possibly in response to the nation being dragged into two world wars in thirty years. It eliminated many of the rules and procedures restricting the way the U.S clandestine services were able to combat enemies of the country; such as those imposed on the FBI. It also exempted the CIA from most of the usual limitations on the use of Federal funds. Working only outside of U.S. borders, there were few rules of engagement with foreign nationals and few restrictions on how they accomplished their objectives, which were primarily to gather intelligence on the country's enemies, and eliminate threats to the United States--that meant spies, top-secret missions, and, in some cases, assassinations. Most of the agents that originally made up their ranks were recruited from other agencies, such as the FBI, military intelligence, and the military's elite forces. Additional agents were recruited from security companies and University programs around the country, to fill their ranks. In the latter case, the Agency insisted on at least two years of higher education in a field related to political science, criminal justice, or something similar.
Mary and Jim crossed paths for a few years during their assignments, she as a courier and he as an undercover agent, and assisted one another as their experience increased and their attraction to each other grew. But the organization and training the government developed to protect their agents was challenged by other country's clandestine services, making it a hazardous profession when your opponents had similar tools, resources and freedom of action.
When the Agency got the idea to bring the two agents together for missions that required a couple, rather than an individual agent, the attraction between them became a powerful connection and they accepted more challenging missions, to pit their skills against the most aggressive and violent agent the KGB could point at them.
