The next day, Dick and Sue Olsen contacted a real estate office and got a list of rental houses on the outskirts of St. Cloud. After a morning of driving around and looking at neighborhoods, they picked a two-bedroom, one-bath bungalow in Pantown. The house had a nice lot, a nearby park and easy commuting to St. Cloud State University. Neither of them had any experience in buying furniture so it took them a week to get enough furniture in the house and arranged to Sue’s satisfaction. Finally they moved in and Dick carried his bride over the threshold of their first house in America.

Sue took courses in English literature and European history. She attended church services at St. Mary’s Cathedral and began enjoying her life in America. She found freedom was real, something she could feel. It expanded her way of thinking. The load of fear of doing something the authorities could punish her for was replaced by the effort to take control of her life and build toward a future with many options, different even than Canada that was much closer to the European way of life.

Dick didn’t have the luxury of becoming a part-time student. He had a network of spies to manage. Running his network took up all of his time. He had to travel to meet each agent and give them directions. He used all of his KGB training in contacting his network. If the FBI caught him now, he would never be able to convince them that he was planning on escaping from his KGB masters. Even if he cooperated with the FBI or CIA, he would always be in their control and would never be able to live the dream passed down from his American grandfather.

At the end of their first full year in St. Cloud, 1972, Sue presented him with a baby boy they named Jack. She spent more time at home with the new baby, but Dick kept up his busy year by re-locating his entire network of six illegal agents to a city or town within 40 miles of Washington, D.C. He also gave each agent contact instructions and $200,000 to make the move and acquire housing. The contact instructions were all activated by a personal ad in the local paper.

During his travels throughout the year, Dick visited all five banks where the KGB had rented safety deposit boxes. The large boxes were full of money, gold, and diamonds. His best estimate was they collectively held in excess of ten million dollars. Each box also contained a handgun and two sets of identity documents, which included social security cards, driver’s licenses, credit cards, and lesser cards like library cards, club memberships, highway rescue services like AAA, proof of insurance, and even discharge cards from military service.

Dick knew none of these would help him. The KGB had good records and would look for him under all the aliases provided in these boxes. He had to get some new documents to support a few different identities on his own.

Sue was pregnant again in January 1974 and they started getting ready for a second child. Dick didn’t want to wait much longer and planned to make their break for freedom from the KGB when the baby was old enough to handle the fast travel required.

They would have to be on the run for at least a few years. The KGB would never give up the chase, but if he could fool them long enough to wipe out all the ways of picking up his trail, they would almost be home free. When they left St. Cloud no trail could be left. New identities, a different car, and changed covers. He would have to move fast. As soon as the baby was ready to travel, he would tell Sue she had to get used to yet another name.

All of Barry Kelly’s novels are available in print and digital formats from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or your local bookstore. Visit www.factsandfictions.com for more by the author.