"Atomic Secrets" from A Mysterious Evening in Vienna

The Soviet rocket scientist met with the covert agent in the café in Berlin. West Berlin? East Berlin? We don’t know. That information was classified.

Agent Harderman had bought off one of the rocket scientists working behind the Iron Curtain. Dr. Ivanov had access to the plans for the atomic facility that, among other things, would build nuclear missiles that Moscow would aim directly at Washington, DC. With access to these secret plans, Dr. Ivanov was willing to exchange them for an astronomical sum. The amount Harderman gave Dr. Ivanov was enough dollars to build the entire atomic facility itself. But now without the plans … or the planner: the coffee was poisoned.

Dr. Ivanov dropped his coffee cup and watched it shatter on the floor. With exasperated eyes, he glanced with fear at the agent. “You?- You?-”

“Sorry,” Harderman said, as Dr. Ivanov collapsed to the floor. “I had to cover my traces. But keep the money. There’s plenty of that where that came from.” And the agent took the briefcase with Soviet atomic secrets and walked away.

Taking the train back West, Agent James Harderman kept an extra eye out for followers. For followers from any country. From anywhere. For everyone.

In fact, a little bit too much of an eye out.

He suddenly gazed upon the most beautiful lady he had ever seen. From head to toe, she was entrancing. All language – and mind you, as a covert operatives agent, he knew quite a few languages – all language was lost from his entranced mind. He dropped his briefcase, which quietly thudded on the floor of the coach heading through Prague. At lightning speed. Things can get overlooked when passing at lightning speed. Including the fact that he had just dropped the briefcase containing papers with atomic secrets that could destroy the world should they fall into the wrong hands. Or, better yet, fall to the floor.

But Agent Harderman was so taken aback by his natural attraction to this woman that he momentarily lost all sense of time, place, perspective and identity. He was not Covert Agent James Harderman of the U.S. CIA. He was a lover and she was his soulmate. And-

Bam! Suddenly the burst of a machine gun struck James, and he fell backwards. Away from her. Away from his future. Away from his love. Away from his briefcase. Away from the papers containing the atomic secrets that could destroy the world.

And he blacked out.

Beep! Beep! Beep! The heart rate monitor was the first thing James heard. He must be in a hospital. Somewhere in Switzerland. And-

Her!! It was the lady on the train! “Where?- Wh-?”

“Shh!” She told him. “They will find you if you make noise!  And -”

“Where am I?”

“We’re hiding you in my home in Spain. Soviet agents seized the train in Czechoslovakia and shot you.”

“And who are you?”

“Maria.”

“Are you a spy? A civilian? A Soviet? A NATO operative? A -”

“I am Maria. A Spaniard. Nothing more.”

“Can I trust you?” he probed.

“How should I know? Why should I care? How should I know who you choose to trust or not?”

“My briefcase!” Harderman exclaimed as he suddenly realized he was missing the papers that could unleash the plans for an atomic facility.

“Don’t worry.”

“But-”

“They’re in good hands,” she reassured.

“Do you have them?”

“They’re in good hands.”

“But-” he stammered.

“No time for details. We must move on now. Hurry!” And they got into a car and headed for Paris.

Border police. James had bloody bandages wrapped around his left arm where he had been shot. What will they do?

“Are you together?” asked the border agent.

“Yes,” responded Maria.

And they lived the rest of their days together in France.

So how does the story end? Anyone who saves the world from nuclear armageddon deserves a happily ever after. James and Maria got married in Paris. They had an elaborate wedding at the beautiful Notre-Dame Cathedral. To protect their identities they were married under the names on their counterfeit French passports. After a career of killing spies and high-stakes secret nuclear negotiations, James retired to a peaceful life of playing boules in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. Maria wrote adventure novels about falling in love with mysterious spies on trains and the exciting adventures that result from these encounters. She wrote under a pseudonym in her native Spanish so none of her new friends in Paris would know about her past. Maria and James had a long and happy marriage. There was a sense of freedom they won by giving up their previous identities – their past – and living the dream they chose for themselves. They loved each other more and more each day and were forever grateful they met on the train in Prague.

What about the atomic secrets? The briefcase that disappeared on the train? What happened to the papers that could destroy the world?

During the mêlée that ensued during the shooting on the train, the papers were victim of a defenestration. They flew out the window during the chaos. Another Defenestration of Prague[1]. The Soviet Czech civil authorities had over-chlorinated the drinking water. So when the papers reached the gutter, they disappeared in the chlorine-heavy water. Without the plans the atomic facility was never built. Everyone lived happily ever after. Including James and Maria.

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[1] The word “defenestration” means to throw someone or something out the window. It is a really cool word to write and say, mostly because it is so uber specific in its meaning. In 1618, the Second Defenestration of Prague – where three men were literally thrown out the window – started the Thirty Years’ War. While the train carrying James and Maria was passing through Prague, the papers flew out the window. What better occasion to use the word “defenestration”? This could be the Third Defenestration of Prague.

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A Mysterious Evening in Vienna
By John R. Teevan III
ISBN 978-1-5489-2287-0