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Before the midnight when young Johnny Angel went whistling up his steps to find a gun jammed unceremoniously into his stomach, he would have described himself as a simple, everyday sort of person. He loved his job as A-1 mechanic in a defense plant and slaved nights over a union plan to increase production. Other nights he devoted to Janie Allen, to whom he proposed at least once every twenty-four hours.

But a white paper containing a message in mysterious code was thrust into his hand and suddenly he was being...