Need help starting my espionage sci-fi story... again Im writing a graphic novel about a secret service officer named Martin who works for a megacorperation called Echelon. It opens with a the agency finding massive intelligence leaks within from agents who are selling secrets that put the corporation at risk. Echelon has its hands in government and governs Dodge city with an iron fist. Dodge city is enclosed within a massive dome structure that prevents people from entering or leaving undetected and there are strict laws that prevent people from leaving. Echelon senses that a foreign agency is buying off their agents and promising them a new life outside of DC. Martin must find out who is helping the agents flee the city-state. What Martin and Echelon don't know yet is that their threat uses an underground pathway in Dodge City to give politicians, researchers, and secret agents looking for asylum in other countries a way out of Dodge City. The people behind this scandal are planning to start a revolution in the city's underclass(people who are forced to live in dodge city against their will). Martin himself was forced to live in dodge city and chose to join echelon so he can soon leave (People can earn naturalization in other countries by contributing to DC's society). He hates the idea of treason because its what brought his family (who had mafia ties) to be murdered. However, Martin will soon question whether hes fighting on the right side as the possibility that Echelon had a hand in his family's systematic murder becomes more evident. Im kind of stuck at how martin finds out about the underground passage way and how he gets a lead on the enemy. I was thinking he can interogate a bar owner who has wine improted from a embargoed countries through the pathway but thats too easy.I need something sleuthy. Ive beeen researching but information on espionage is so elusive.
Sounds a lot like the Underground Railway to me. You might do some research into that, Harriet Tubman, etc. for ideas.
If you are looking for information on elusive-ness why don't you read some stuff about Nazi's that escaped after WWII. There has to be a lot of information on that since it was such a big deal for many years.
If Martin is renown as an agent, and people deeper in the underground conspiracy than him know more about his family's death, perhaps they might see him as a potential high-powered recruit within the company itself. He's called in to interrogate a prisoner - a suspected member of the resistance brought in for lesser charges (perhaps deliberately to get in contact with M) who reveals to Martin that he knows something about the circumstances surrounding the MC's family's murder, offers to tell him more if he negotiates his release and alludes that they're not so different - referring to Martin's aspiration to defect, and the resistance member's aspiration for sedition. So, maybe the lead comes to him and he becomes embroiled in convincing his superiors that he is making progress with his investigation, all the while he's delving deeper into the resistance group and learning more about what happened to his family, and the evils of Echelon in general - while not raising too much suspicion among either groups: among Echelon that he's planning to defect/cooperating with the resistance, and among the resistance that he's an Echelon spy. I would doubt that the resistance are all knights in shining armor - it may be wise of him (and add suspense to the plot) to reserve judgment on who to fully side with until a line must be drawn in the sand. Ya know, the whole double agent angle. Just a few thoughts. Good luck. PM me if you'd like someone to bounce ideas off of.
Hi, It sounds almost like Logan's Run. However the basics of finding an underground railway are probably all the same. Find people who have either brought stuff in through it, or got stuff out through it. Then your options become to interrogate them (which is pretty straight forwards), spy on them which is a bit more sleuthy but allows you to track down the smugglers, or if you really want to be cunning, find a way to get something either brought in or sent out and track it, perhaps with a bug / tracking device. Hope that helps.
