She could tell right away they were spies. The realization was met with a sense of excitement and relief. Karen had been waiting for this moment since she came to Switzerland three months ago. She knew there were spies on the trains, it just had taken much longer to find them than she anticipated.
Maybe “spy” wasn’t the right word. These were secret agents. It was so obvious. The guy who got on the train in Arth-Goldau was handsome, but in a tough-guy way. This wasn’t some male model, although he could have been if his face didn’t show the marks of a life in espionage. That scar that dented the left side of his chin could only have been inflicted from escaping an impossible situation.
He wasn’t carrying a briefcase exactly, but it he did have a very nice backpack. Actually, it was better than nice. It was a Jansport! Those were pretty rare in Switzerland. Karen hadn’t seen one since she moved here. Sure, maybe most spies carried carbon fiber briefcases, but if they were going to carry a backpack, it would definitely be high class like a Jansport.
Plus, he was wearing cuff links. Cuff links! Nothing says spy like cuff links. Well, he had one cuff link on. His right sleeve didn’t have anything holding it together. He probably had some sort of secret weapon in the missing link and had to use it just to get past some bad guys and on the train.
Under his suit, which wasn’t tailored, but still fit nicely, was one of those dress shirts without a collar. Not many people can pull that look off, but she knew who could: a man of espionage.
At first, Karen was a little miffed that he didn’t sit down next to her on the train. The seat next to her was empty, as were the two seats across from her. When she saw him board the train, eating the last bites of a croissant, she moved her bag right away. It didn’t matter. He picked the seat across the aisle from her.
When the woman boarded in Walchwil, she understood why. They needed to be alone, or at least as private as possible on a public train. The woman gave the man a quick hug and sat down across from him.
If he was ruggedly handsome, Karen could only think of her as athletically beautiful. And it was so obvious she was a spy as well. For starters, she was wearing a black business suit – nothing too remarkable there – but she had on sneakers! Not just any kind of sneakers, but some really expensive looking Nikes. The perfect type of shoe for making a quick getaway.
It was also clear that she had just escaped from something, given the gigantic run in the pantyhose on her left leg. No one would leave their house with that type of run, unless they were on the run! Karen shook her head to herself as she put the pieces together. Wow, there was something afoot in the Alps right now and she had a front row seat.
The woman’s face was angular, or at least was in the past. Her make-up was a disaster, but in an elegant way. Her eyeliner was way too dark and her lipstick had stained her teeth, which she was now flashing quite a bit as the man across from her spoke. Karen had no idea what they were saying since she didn’t speak German, but she was convinced it was full of code words. It definitely sounded that way.
Karen wanted to get closer to the action, but she didn’t want to spook them either. The train slowed down for the Zug train station. This is where most of the riders, including Karen, would get off the train. She wondered if the two of them would depart together or if they had already exchanged whatever information needed to be passed between them and would go their separate ways.
Just before the train stopped, she saw it happen. The woman reached into her purse, which looked remarkably cheap given her secret agent status, and pulled out a flash drive! Or at least something that was generally the same size and shape as a flash drive. Karen didn’t have the best view of it, but it was definitely something. It had to have some secret plans on it.
As the woman stood up to leave the train, she flipped the object onto the man’s lap and quickly turned the other direction. Seconds later she was off the train and the man just sat there, a smile stenciled to his face.
Karen needed to get off the train to make it to work on time, but this was just too intriguing. She decided to wait and see when the man would make his exit. The train only had two more stops before it turned back around, so she would only be a little late. She was sure her boss wouldn’t mind.
As the train continued down the track, the man placed the mysterious object in his front pants pocket. He tapped it a few times, which seemed like a strange move for a spy, but who was Karen to judge? When the train reached its final stop in Baar, the man stood up slowly and shuffled off the train. Karen followed behind him, curious to see if he would be meeting with another secret agent.
If he was meeting someone, the man was certainly not in a hurry. He walked slowly towards one the cement staircases that led down from the train platform towards the main station. Karen hid behind a vending machine as the man took the first step down.
Karen sprinted to the top of the stairs. Other than the man, no one else was around. Now it was her time to be a spy. Technically, she wasn’t working for any government or secret organization, but why couldn’t she be her own independent contractor? Maybe this was a test and she was being recruited secretly. How cool would that be?
The man started walking down the stairs. She wasn’t sure what do. When he was about halfway down the flight, she suddenly yelled, “Hey you!”
The man turned around, but carelessly kept walking. He missed the next step and started tumbling down the stairs. He was only about seven steps from the end and Karen was sure that he would use some secret spy martial arts, pull off some sort of backflip and land safely. That did not happen. Instead, he landed hard on his right knee before somersaulting down to the cement below.
Karen leaped down the stairs after him. When she came to his side, he yelled something in German and pointed down towards his right leg. Karen looked down and saw the man’s shin bone protruding through his skin. It was such a pure shade of white. Weren’t bones much more an off white, maybe even grey? Perhaps all the blood pouring out improved the contrast.
“Shhh. It’s going to be okay,” Karen said calmly. “Please, lie down on your back. Don’t try to get up.” He must have understood English, because he did exactly what she said. Once he was completely lying down, Karen reached over and quickly stuck her hand into his right pocket. She grabbed the object and quickly slipped it into her purse. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but there would be time to examine it later.
The man reached out to grab her and screamed something again, but Karen was too quick and jumped out of reach. She looked around to make sure the coast was clear and then, just like a spy would, casually walked away.
©2017 Benj Vickers