I’ll tell you the idea as I had it, you can abuse it any way you like.
A man wakes up in a hotel.
He doesn’t know how to get to the hotel, or why he’s there.
He went to bed last night, woke up in a hotel this morning.
He is wearing pajamas that are not his own, but they fit well.
By context (TV, newspaper, or looking out a window) he concludes that he is in Paris.
That Paris, the one in France.
There are clothes in the closet, very good clothes that fit him.
He has a wallet with about five thousand Euros in it and four major credit cards in his name.
He has a drivers’ license and a passport.
There is also a cell phone that rings.
The man answers the phone and is informed that if he goes to Brussels, someone will give him a case and if he takes the case to Frankfurt, someone else will pay him ten million dollars.
This then begins a race to Belgium, and then Germany.
Our hero is not a member of the SAS, he isn’t a former Navy Seal, he’s a normal, everyday guy.
On his way to Belgium, our hero is nearly mugged, and someone approaches him to make an offer that they’ll give him twenty thousand dollars to just give this up.
No one tells him what’s in the case and warns that it’s probably booby trapped to stop anyone tampering with it.
He gets an accomplice/bodyguard in Brussels who helps him on the rest of the journey. The other person (it should probably be a woman because of tropes) doesn’t know what’s in the case or why they want it any more than our hero.
The two of them then adventure their way to Germany, after basically being in a coldwar spy thriller from the late 70s/early 80s.
And now, the spoiler (don’t read if you don’t want my spoiler)
When he gets to Germany, he meets a very wealthy man who opens the case and reveals that the only thing it contained was a GPS tracker. Or a note saying “Ha! Ha! He did it!” Or something.
It is then revealed that two very wealthy men made a bet. They bet that an ordinary guy couldn’t be put in this situation and make good on the delivery. It was one of those stupid arguments that turned into a bet. The winner got $5, and when asked about it says “Haven’t you ever expended more on winning a bet than the bet was worth?” or something similar.
The guy gets his money, and goes home, and does whatever it is he does when he goes home.
See, whenever I read spy stories as a kid, I was always kind of disappointed with the endings. It never felt like the reason for the adventure was very good. Yes, there were always nuclear launch codes, or microfilm filled with secrets, but often it was just “Oh noes! Der am a danger!” followed by a spy saying “Oh hai! I’m in ur europe. Avertn’ ur dangers.” And in the end, the status quo is maintained and no one normal ever even knew they were in trouble. This would be that feeling I always had writ large for the main character. There never was any real danger, because no one wanted to risk that kind of scandal over a $5 bet, but gee wasn’t it all exciting?
That’s the idea I had.
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