GENRE:
Spy/Action/Thriller. Inspired by a true story and best selling novel.
VIRTUES/VALUES:
Patriotism. Courage. Resolve. Hope. Sacrifice. Redemption. Trials.
LOG LINE:
Intrigue, drama, and fear – all in a frozen Siberia. Not the most hospitable place to face the greatest challenge of your life! And with KGB and Russian Mafia the chasers, it’s only your life that they’re after!
AGENT MICHAEL RAMSDELL’S MISSION:
Mike is a CIA deep cover agent assigned to a team of 3 to locate, shadow, plot and then kidnap and extract one of the top 4 KGB/mafia bosses in the USSR.
SYNOPSIS:
With his cover blown during the surveillance of a top Russian mafia boss, CIA HQ orders a return to safety in the US Embassy in Moscow. MIKE, American cowboy by upbringing and CIA deep cover operative by profession, and his spy cell on stakeout in Siberia begin a hasty operation to extract themselves from their hunter/killer mission. Under orders to go their separate ways, Mike begins a life and death race to the nearest safe-house 6000 miles away in Potevka, and away from the pursuing mafia and KGB assailants. Not realizing at first his own operatives and country have abandoned him to a “convenient” death at the hands of the enemy Mike is blindsided by the treachery and barely escapes the pursuit of his first would-be killers only to stay just ahead of one sure death after another.
Mike’s journey begins via the decidedly unsafe Trans-Siberian Railroad. Sharing the train with peasants, refugees, soldiers and livestock, the odds become painfully clear - his battle of endurance will likely end in a silent death. With days to go, no food, no weapons and bloodied, battered and bruised from his encounter with the Mob, he can expect no help from his fellow passengers in the climate of distrust and recrimination gripping Russia as communism crumbles and crime takes over.
Starving, Mike finally arrives in Potevka. Driven by visions of food, new weapons, identity papers and a peaceful sleep, his expectation of safety is turned upside down when he discovers the CIA “safehouse” has been intentionally stripped of all supplies and communication. Now beyond starving, delirium and extreme fatigue set in, as he spends the next few days struggling for survival and beset by the dark thoughts of his past, a failed marriage, and his failure in being part of his son’s life. Caught in a blizzard while out trying to beg food from villagers, attacked by wolves, paranoid at being reported and at the point of total despair, a package mysteriously arrives to his cabin. It’s addressed to him with no return. Gripped by the fear that somehow someone has given up his secret location Mike, suspecting the box to be poisoned or rigged to explode, reluctantly must open it to find of all things, a Christmas care package. Shaking with uncontrollable emotion he devours the food inside. He has strength to continue his flight but no idea if he’s being “set up” for a bigger fall or where this package came from.
As his journey to safety and sanctification in the US embassy continues he is relentlessly pursued until love from an unexpected source helps him cling to sanity, resilience and resistance needed to survive the treacherous trip home.
Pursued literally thru the gates of the Embassy and into the clutches of his covert bosses who are convinced Mike is a double agent he must continue to fight for his freedom and prove the “mole” inside the CIA is not him.*
Finally vindicated, his love of family and patriotism help him look forward to a bright future, a future he thought gone forever during his journey on a train to Potevka.
*(The “Mole” turned out to be Robert Hansen.)
We've included here an edited excerpt of a book review by Terry Brewer to give you a glimpse into the power of this book. We recommend you buy and read the book available at amazon.com or www.michaelramsdell.com
A DIFFERENT KIND OF SPY NOVEL
By Terry Brewer
"Completely covered in ice, the old train from Siberia, with its baggage of refugee passengers and frozen freight, struggled against the storm like a huge white serpent. Its large yellow eye peering out into the darkness, the train slowly twisted and wove its way past endless snow-covered towns and villages on its 6,000-mile journey across Great Mother Russia.
Fierce arctic winds blew heavy snow out of the north as the first major storm of winter caught up with us outside the Russian city of Sverdlovsk. In some places the snow lay four and five feet deep across the tracks.
I was the only foreigner on board - an American intelligence agent desperate to get to an agency safe house several days away, somewhere in the middle of Russia. At this very moment, both the KGB and Russian mafia were trying to find me.
Safe - at least for now - on board the cold, overcrowded train, trying to rest my aching, wounded body, I sat at my seat mesmerized, staring through ice-framed windows. As I watched the storm and the endless, frozen desolation of Siberia slowly pass by, I struggled to make sense of the improbable events of the last 72 hours, amazed at how fortunate I was to still be alive."
The preceding paragraphs, from A Train to Potevka could be the beginning for any modern spy thriller. The mind’s eye has no difficulty envisaging the scene. There is something unique about this story based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Michael Ramsdell because the story happens to be based on his years as an intelligence officer in Russia.
A Train to Potevka is the story of a failed covert intelligence mission in Siberia, which drove Mike to flee for his life across the frozen vastness of Russia on a train full of refugees. His flight takes him to Potevka, a typical, small Russian village deep in the country where he must face hunger, cold, loneliness and his own personal demons. There, his life takes a new turn because of a simple, paper-covered box.
A Train to Potevka reveal s the maniacal grab for political ascendency of the power-crazed elite in Russia in the early 1990's during the fall of Communism and demise of the Soviet Empire. KGB, mafia, and former party officials, all scrapping over the remains of a once powerful state. The misery and sorrow of which impacts on the proud and beautiful people of Mother Russia, as they themselves go through a similar journey to Mike experiencing their own hopes, travails, and sorrows while trying to cope with the radically changing times.
A Train to Potevka is categorized as fictional because, even though the events described occurred more than ten years ago, much about them must remain classified 'secret' today, and ensure intentionally hidden details remain so.SOURCE:
Original. Based on actual events. Submitted by Mike Ramsdell.