Checkpoint Charlie

A dozen stories tracking the CIA's most adept—and unusual—spy

There are no more spies like Charlie Dark. An old-timer whose experience stretches back to the Second World War, his main distinction is that after decades playing the game he is still alive. He is overweight, clumsy, and afraid of guns—a nonconformist in an agency built on toeing the line. Though his superiors hate him for his eccentricities, they privately admit that he may be the best spy they have.

Charlie travels the glob...