“The Soviets knew exactly what they were doing…” The man nodded.

“In a few seconds, Discoverer will be perfectly in line with the missile. We have to call the President.”

The man rushed to the nearest phone and dialed Kennedy’s emergency contact line.

“President Kennedy speaking.”
“Sir, this is Michael Keller. I’m one of the operators at Vandenberg. The Discoverer satellite is going to be hit any second. You have to do something.”

Kennedy thanked the man and assured that the problem would be solved. Then, he hung up.

Suddenly, Kennedy was manning the cockpit of Air Force One. He rushed through the air, nearing the missile. Meanwhile, on the ground, Wallinsky was shocked. Is he insane?

Kennedy realized everyone probably thought he was nuts, but didn’t care.

There’s a method to my madness.

He wondered whether it were possible for the plane to move any faster. He glanced up into the sky. The missile’s just inches away… will I get there in time?

Kennedy neared the missile, closer and closer. If I could just nudge it with the nose of the plane…

He tried to, tilting it away from the satellite. One more time…

The next nudge of the plane was much harder, much faster than the others. It sent the missile flying into space. Bingo… now it will burn up somewhere outside the atmosphere… and never bother us again.

En Route to Washington, D.C.

It was supposed to be the perfect crime! How could it have failed?

Wallinsky had had the entire thing planned out. I used a Russian-made gun, launched the missile from a base in a Soviet-controlled country. Yet, somehow, he’d gotten caught.

“Well, great plan.” Conrad rolled his eyes.
“Did I know it was going to turn out like this?”

“Look, you promised me revenge or else I wouldn’t have done it.”

“Well, if they believed it was the KGB, you would have had revenge.”
“Why did you do it, anyway?”
Wallinsky sighed; the memory was quite painful and he wasn’t sure he wanted it to bring it up.

“When I was little, my father was in the Air Force and he died in a war. I was young, and I promised revenge on the Air Force… although it wasn’t really their fault. Still, I guess I let my childish instinct get the best of me. And everyone was so afraid of the Soviets… I thought they were the perfect people to blame.”

“So you scammed a bunch of former KGB agents for your own purposes?”
“Well, when you put it like that…” Wallinsky sighed again. There’s no denying it…

“Yes.”

Conrad nodded. “I see.”

He glanced out the window of the plane, pondering what his fate would be…

After-Note:

Wallinsky and Conrad were tried and convicted on charges of Conspiracy, Treason, and Murder. They were sentenced to one life term each, but reduced their sentences by revealing the names of the other two KGB Agents, who were later captured. When Conrad got out, he wrote a book of all the events that had happened to him, entitled The Cold War Conspiracy. In the book, he revealed he’d never planned to kill Nadia or Dunlap. According to him, he had to keep them quiet about the conspiracy they’d uncovered. Bellville and Lindsay were appointed the new Heads of the VENONA Project and President Kennedy became even more of a national hero than before. Redford was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor and then lived a quiet life, at least until his next case came along….