Excerpt from Trading Dangerously – Import/Export & a Little Thievery by Billy Mays

Blake, the bartender at the “Marine Bar” at the US Embassy in Warsaw only once let on that he knew that the notes he handed me across the bar were from the CIA desk.  And on that one occasion, he did so in such a way that no one else around knew what he was talking about. Jane, at the USIA, always told me when to approach him and ask if he had anything for me. For seven years the routine had remained the same.  This time he leaned over to whisper that this note was not to leave the bar area. As before, Blake was my “Mercury” delivering a “task” for me to accept (or refuse) when I went to the Embassy’s special watering hole for US citizens working or studying in Poland. 

It wasn’t just Blake’s unwavering nonchalance over the years during our exchanges that became unnerving as the complexity of tasks expanded and the danger associated with carrying them out similarly grew.  Jane also started to distance herself from me and had warned, “If you get caught doing anything for these guys, the embassy will disavow any knowledge of your activities. You are alone in this.” She hardly flinched when I reminded her that the “disavow any knowledge” bit was a line out of the ‘Mission Impossible’ TV series from the early 70’s. She liked to remind me, “You teach English for the USIA American Language and Culture Program that I direct…that is all you and I have in common.”

There was never any tape that self-destructed after my meetings with Blake at the Marine Bar. But then again, the rules we operated by said I couldn’t take the note out of the bar. Blake was built like an NFL linebacker…or a tall version of a US Navy Seal. I had no intention of walking out of the US Embassy in Warsaw with evidence that I was doing anything for the CIA.  Officially I wasn’t. On this occasion, Blake came over to my table as I was weighing advantages and disadvantages of accepting a mission in Moscow. He seemed worried that I might be copying the note on a different piece of paper and did not want me leaving with that pirated version. In fact, I had two columns on my paper…a plus column and a minus column. My notes read:

***

pluses are I will get $2500 for one week...nothing sensitive to be delivered...will be meeting with prostitutes and not killers...will likely not be recognized  
minuses are I have to find a way to explain the trip to my wife...every prostitute is a spy in moscow...every spy is a killer...BULLSHIT...they already know me in moscow.

***

Blake walked up to my table and calmly took all papers I had out and sternly told me “follow the rules”.

The rules were that if I immediately accepted the mission, I was to order a beer. If I did not accept, I was to order wine. If I was uncertain about things and needed more time, I was to order a straight vodka or whiskey and then go sit down and make a final decision within 15 minutes. Who knows what would have happened if I had taken 20 minutes to decide if my mission was to kill someone and then stuff them in a dumpster. Blake seemed the type to manage his bar very well…and I tried to follow the rules most of the time.

The note from Blake, on this occasion read:

***

You are to take a package of documents to Moscow. Check in to the Leningradskaya Hotel on the 20^th of November and show up at the Lobby Bar between 9 and 10 pm. Do not take the package to the bar. There will be one tall long-haired brunette Natalia waiting for you. Invite her to your room for the usual. She will suggest having other female guests join you, as well. You should accept.  The package needs to be “stolen” by your female guests so that they think they have done so without your knowledge. You have done this before…we trust you will do so again. We will be watching....  $2500 for one week

 ***

Blake seemed relieved that my scribbling was not a copied version of the note. He brought a beer out to me and hesitated before he put it down. “You’ve never refused before.”

“Thanks, Blake. I’ll take the beer.” I told him.  “Good luck” he responded, “…and dosvidanya!” he added.