Welcome to Tuesday’s Washington Secrets. We sat down with thriller writer Simon Conway to hear about his new novel, The British Agent. It touches on two very real questions about national security: How can you be sure that weapons sent to Ukraine won’t be used for nefarious ends, and how well can you protect the U.S. president when he is in the air? (Donald Trump being smuggled off Air Force One last month for fear that Iran might shoot down the presidential jet could almost be a plot point in the novel.)

Simon Conway was having his morning coffee, gazing out from his new Georgetown apartment across the Potomac in 2022, when three helicopters bearing the Marine One livery flew into view.