Thanks to IO and Charlatan for playing through a somewhat unusual session of James Bond 007. I felt a little bit constrained because of trying to keep Sternum's activities "in continuity" and didn't want to stray too far into the future. If we had played through the remaining 45 minutes or so, I expect we could have had a satisfying showdown with Juergen Fisch, rival to Frau Besse. But since Richard Loubeau was injured and needed recovery time, I didn't want to jump forward too far.
The Story So Far
After participating in Operation: AJAX by deposing Mossadegh in Iran and cementing the Shah's grip on power, CIA agents Felix Leiter and Richard Loubeau are stationed in 1954 Berlin.
There (along with some support staff from the CIA, MI6, and the West Gernman Gehlen Org of recycled SS officers) they are part of an operation to construct a tunnel from the American Sector into the Soviet Sector and tap some underground phone lines. Their cover story is that they are eccentric artistic-photographers. Off hours, they spend a lot of time in an artist colony-night club-casino run by the motherly Frau Elodie Besse.
Their tunnel operation is soon compromised when the British engineering nerd responsible for its construction falls for an East German bombshell. When the nerd can't be talked out of the relationship, Leiter follows the girl back into East Germany, and observes her meeting an East German or Soviet official, "the toad woman."
Meanwhile, Richard Loubeau decides to help Frau Besse, who is worried about one of her pet artists, a heroin addicted painter named Gabi. Richard trails her on the way to her dealer, tries to chat her up, is told to get lost, and is just about to trail her again, when he gets hit on the head by a brick from a four-story building. He is seriously injured.
The next day, the men compare notes, chat with co-worker and Nazi war criminal Franz Cadavus who claims to have a new an important lead which he forbids anyone from investigating. The duo then introduce James Bond to Berlin. (Bond has been dispatched by MI6 to ensure their engineering nerd doesn't give any secrets to the East Germans, ideally by seducing the bombshell spy away from the engineer.)
Bond mingles with the cast at Frau Besse's, beats up a Turkish waiter-assassin with the aid of a urinal, half-seduces the East German agent, follows her over the border into the Soviet Sector, and gets attacked by the toad woman (Rosa Klebb!) who Bond beats half to death with his bare hands. He then finishes his seduction of the girl, and learns that she would have defected to the West long before, except that her mother is being held prisoner in a Stasi prison.
Leiter meanwhile lies to the artistic addict Gabi that Richard is suicidal, and he needs a beautiful German muse to inspire him to artistic glory. After receiving a large amount of cash, Gabi agrees, and divulges that she is a Communist sympathizer for artistic-ideological reasons.
Meanwhile, Richard learns from Frau Besse that the guy who dropped a brick on his head was probably "Metzger," an enforcer for Juergen Fisch, a West German gangster, drug dealer, numbers racketeer, blackmarket guy, and gambler - likely Gabi's heroin supplier.
Leiter and Loubeau resolve to pay Fisch a visit once Loubeau's wound has healed. Loubeau is also babbling about creating a photo collage in the style of Man Ray.
