If he's doing some secret covert op to stop the Soviets from planning an attack, where would be the best location in Russia for his mission? A more industrial or mountain region? And if he met a female spy there that he teams up with, what background would make more sense for her? American? Russian? British? Or something entirely different?
I feel like an attack would be discussed in a secure location, mayyyyybe in the countryside? But I feel like more realistically, it'd be in some government building with lots of security and not a lot of room for spies. The challenge would be real. For the female spy, I'd suggest either Russian or British. I think we were very strained with Russia in the sixties, so unless she was a double agent working for the US in the guise of being a Russian agent, then she wouldn't be trusted too much with Russian secrets otherwise.
Perhaps you're right about a government building with tight security. But maybe I could have some scenery of a countryside in a secure location. If she's a double agent, she could disguise herself as a Russian woman I think will work. If she falls in love with the US spy, would her age seem inappropriate if she's 30 or in her late 20's if the US spy is close to 40? I thought of making him a few years younger but then he wouldn't of been old enough to served in WW2. Or I could say he served in the Korean War and Bay of Pigs mission. So he'd be in his early to mid thirties by then
I mean, if the show Babylon Berlin is accurate, the people before Hitler's rise to power held meetings in the backyard of an apartment complex, with no security. So you could probably get away with it being in a scenic farmhouse situation. If the woman falls in love with the US spy, her age can be whatever as long as she's legally able to consent. I don't abide anything illegal, but after she's 18, or whatever, then it's whatever you need it to be. I think if she's in her late 20s you could use some of the male character's insecurities about why she's even interested as part of a thing. I don't know. I'm just typing without really thinking too much about it.
I think that works. If it's a more isolated area. Or I could have it set in Vietnam with the Russians conducting secret planned attacks deep in the jungles against the US. But might be too controversial and not taken lightly in such an area. The insecurities method might work. Do you think his background of being a WW2 vet or a Korean War vet seems more plausible if he's an agent spy in the 1960's?
What other occupation would he need to have been before becoming a spy? Because if he's working as an agent spy, why wouldn't he have been one during the war? Eddie Chapman was a spy during WWII for the British and had the Germans believing he was working for them. He was a con man, and a former prisoner, and had no experience whatsoever being a spy. But he carried out his missions all the same, albeit with some irritation and feeling like he'd been forgotten by each side at some point. Spies during the war had just as an important spot as the soldiers did. Sometimes they were in even more danger because if they were discovered to be spies, well, they could be killed, or sent to one of the prison camps, or any number of things. Maybe your main male character has always been a spy and gets annoyed with the female because he doesn't think she's taking it as seriously or something, which could add in another layer of depth for both of them. I dunno, but I'd be willing to read whatever you come up with if you post it up here.
Is he an action spy? As in, is he going to parachute in, break into a high security location and root around? Or is he simply going to meet a contact in East Berlin and smuggle documents out? A spy is going to find it hard to establish himself in Russia. Foreigners were closely watched.
Well he would of been a high ranking soldier during the end of WW2 and helped win the war with a group of team that supported the Allies. Then he would have gotten training with the CIA and become a top spy sent into Soviet territory. Though I could go with saying that he we was in the Korean War as a soldier instead before becoming a top spy. Unless I save that for another character. That's another possibility that could work. Do you think this would set better in the jungles of Vietnam rather than Russia?
I was thinking more action. He does meet up with someone not knowing who his contact would be until it turns out to be a female agent spy who's playing double agent disguised as a Russian. There's finding documents with stealth and such but would involve lots of action too. Would this play better if this mission was in the jungles of Vietnam and for him to stop a nuclear attack that the Soviets are working on out there? It would then be right before the height of when the Vietnsm War got really messy. So this would be early 60's like 1963. But it makes more sense for this mission to take part in Russia or East Berlin right?
You know this sort of action spy stuff didn't actually happen though, right? Given that fact, you can set it wherever you like, since the premise is already fictional, you don't have to make anything particularly historically accurate.
I am not as familiar with the Cold War and the wars after that as I am with WWII, so I'm not sure what the relations between Vietnam and Russia were for them to even be okay with Russia plotting a nuclear attack. Could it be rumored so the agents are sent to find out? That's still somewhat risky though because most US folks in Vietnam wouldn't be welcomed anyway. But like Naomasa said, it could be anywhere because it's fictional.
Vietnam was tied closely to the Soviet Union and not communist China, emphasis there being China. Those two countries had a long antagonistic history. OTOH, I rather doubt that Ho Chi Minh would have appreciated a nuke in Vietnam. Nor China or most any country. Now, a chemical or biological weapon would be more believable, but Vietnamese assistance would be necessary, I think.
I think I have an idea how I can fix all these different secret missions into all these different war periods. Even connecting secret missions from Vietnam to the Soviets and WW2.
