Tiny Deaths, an interactive Cold War adventure

on DenyConformity.com, a very interesting website place.

posted Mar 27 2021

The fog was lifting a bit, but it did little to lift the dreadful mood hanging over the streets of Prague. I don't know if it was just the biting cold, or the context of my business there, but the grey gloom of that cold winter morning hung thicker than the fog. I always thought this was such a lovely city. Full of history - full of happy people. However, my line of work didn't afford sentimentality. This city and all its lovely people might get wiped off the face of the Earth if I don't stay focused. If I didn't have some actionable intelligence for MI5 soon, Kaiser was going to get the upper hand. Wisps of clouds drifted lazily from my mouth with each breath. The Walther under my coat chilled me as much as the winter air. "Blue sky?" With practiced effort, I didn't immediately show any indication of recognizing my code name. Agents died that way. I cautiously glanced in the direction of the thickly accented voice, my arms crossed tightly against the cold. The man who called my name matched the description of the contact I was there to meet - an informant on the Kaiser cell operating out of Czechoslovakia. I gave the small man a subtle nod, and then stepped into an alley nearby. "Nice weather for a stroll," I said after the man tentatively stepped into the alley behind me. "K-keeps the dogs in check," he replied, completing the codephrase. I don't know if he was stuttering from the cold or from fear. "Thank you for meeting me." "I wasn't expecting a w-woman." "Nobody ever does. You're 'button pusher?'' "Why do you spies always insist on these nonsensical codenames?" He said, rubbing his hands together for warmth. "I do not push button." "That's the point," I replied calmly. "It's untraceable. These codenames keep us alive." "You really trying to save world?" "Depends on what you know." "Kaiser is making move," he said. "Big. Soviet ambassador came in yesterday. I have transcript." He pulled a folded sheet of paper from his jacket and handed it to me. I tucked it into an inside pocket without checking it. If 'button pusher' was right and Kaiser was making a deal with the Soviets, this could be huge. "Anything else?" I asked, the fur lining of my hood framing my impassive face. "You are really, how you say, attractive for a spy." "You should make your way out of the country," I responded, cold as the wind, before walking casually back to the safehouse. <hr /> When the informant showed up at the morgue a few days later, it confirmed two things - he didn't heed my advice to run, and his information was most likely accurate. I told my MI5 handler what I had found. The transcript mentioned a meeting in Berlin between the Soviets and at least one known Kaiser operative, an enemy agent we only knew as "La Petite Mort." My next mission was to try to track down this operative, shut him down, and hopefully get him to lead me further up the chain. Word was that at least one Kaiser op was posing as an art dealer. My cover was a rich socialite traveling through Europe to invest in art for a gallery I want to open back in London. I waltzed into one of Berlin's premier nightclubs wrapped in a fur coat, ready to make contact. Of course, I had no idea that the Kaiser operative was, ironically, also a woman, or that she was, ironically, also quite attractive. I knew I had to focus, what with the fate of the world at stake. This line of work did not leave time for sentimentality. "I hope you have enjoyed our European hospitality," she said, adding emphasis no doubt to make me feel like a stranger in a strange land. "Miss...?" "St. Claire," I responded. "Samantha St. Claire."