In their 21-month relationship, Marti and TRIGON never met. “We were only passing in the night,” she said.
Instead, the two communicated by a series of “dead drops.” Ogorodnik would leave film and messages for the Americans in a secluded site, often camouflaged in a used milk carton, a crushed can or even prophylactics. Peterson would follow at a distance, or wait some time, and pick the package up. Later, she would leave follow-up packages for Ogorodnik.
Things worked well until July 15, 1977, when, returning from a drop on a railroad bridge, she spotted three suspicious men in white shirts emerging from a nearby cemetery into her path. Suddenly, a van pulled up. More than dozen other Russians leaped from the back.
Peterson was searched and photographed with the concealment device she’d just dropped off. Then she was rushed to Lubyanka, the feared KGB headquarters. After a three-hour interrogation, in which Peterson said as little as possible, she was released. Following a quick debriefing, her superiors rushed her to an airport and flew her home. In Russia, to this day she remains “persona non grata,” an unwelcome alien.
“I can never go back,” Peterson said. “Never. “
The Soviets would wait a year to break the story.