Doctor Ioke Tuepker

I was born on a farm in Northern Missouri to parents who struggled all of their lives. I was the oldest of 14 children and was determined to leave the farm as soon as I was able. I worked very hard during school and graduated at the top of my class. During my senior year, I had applied to about a dozen colleges – many of them Ivy League. It was my dream to be one of the best surgeons in the world. I was accepted at the Stanford University School of Medicine, St. Louis University School of Medicine and the University of Colorado School of Medicine. I selected the University of Colorado School of Medicine thinking it would afford me the opportunity to try my luck at skiing and snow boarding. I guess I was not as smart as I thought I was. During my eight years of medical school and my internship, all I had time to do was study. There was no skiing or snow boarding. It was still wonderful being in Colorado and hope to one day return.

After my internship, and proudly being one of the leading surgeons in the world in speleology, I was accepted to practice at the Moscow State University in beautiful downtown Moscow, Russia. I was excited to have been given this opportunity, as Russia does not have very many female professionals much less surgeons. I did not realize the difficulty I would have in being accepted by my male peers but I was going to give it my best shot.

Upon arriving in Moscow, I found a small one room flat close to Red Square, which stretches along one side of the Kremlin walls. On the south side of Red Square was the Cathedral of the Intercession, also know as the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed. It is a wonderful creation of old Russian architecture. I enjoyed looking out over the square when I would come home from work. It was amazing how dark and cold my tiny flat was when I would look out over the grandeur of Red Square.

My first few months of working at the University were uneventful. I was settling into life in Moscow. The language was no longer a barrier. Moscow was cosmopolitan – after all, there was a McDonalds (one of the largest in the world) and a Pizza Hut. Everywhere you shopped in Moscow there were very long lines. McDonalds and Pizza Hut were no exception. I did have the advantage of not standing in long lines as my shift ended around 1:00 am.

I was about half way through my shift one day when the head surgeon brought a case study to my office. It concerned an elderly person with some very unusual symptoms. Evidently, this patient has been to many physicians at some of the top universities all over the world. No one was able to diagnose the symptoms and therefore unable to provide treatment. I was given the case. At first, I thought it was an attempt to prove to the Russian staff that indeed, a woman surgeon would never be able to solve this mystery. I was too stubborn to let that happen – by golly I would prove everyone wrong.

An appointment was scheduled for later in the week. This gave me time to do research on the symptoms. It was indeed a mystery as to what was going on and I expended many hours in the medical research library. I came up with nothing, which I found to be most confusing.

The day of the appointment finally arrived. I walked into the examining room with my head held high and my shoulders thrown back. I wanted to portray as much professionalism and confidence as possible. After all, this was going to be a tough case to solve. The patient was a quiet, slight man who was quick to smile. I was immediately taken in by his personality. He followed me to the exam room where I ordered a battery of tests. The attendant arrived for the blood draw. I was convinced the answer would be in the blood profile I was going to order. We did x-rays, EEGs, EKGs, a full physical. I used my periscope (yes, I said periscope. This is MY story), to examine his lungs and heart. After the full physical was conducted, I stated I would notify him when the results arrived. Keep in mind this is Russia so the results would not available for almost two weeks.

It was finally the end of my shift so I headed for home. It was such a cold night and the wind was blowing the falling snow into drifts. I had not dressed as warm as I should have so it was a nasty walk home. I had almost arrived at my cold, dark flat when I suddenly felt like there was someone else on the street. Remember, it was about 1:30 am and the streets were deserted except for the KGB and the big, black Russian Mafia cars driving around. I turned and looked around but could see nothing. It must have been my imagination but I did quicken my step home.

I stayed up until the early hours of the morning pouring over Mr. Tadzhikistan’s chart and medical journals. The results would be in tomorrow and I wanted to be ready to begin treatment. After I arrived at Moscow University Hospital, the orderly brought all the results of the testing I had conducted. I sat at my desk dumbfounded – everything was normal. There had to be a mistake. I ordered new tests and asked for a rush on the results knowing that probably would not happen. I explained to Mr. Tadzhikistan that the results were all negative and further testing had to be conducted. He seemed to understand. What a nice man he was.

I had earned a couple of days off so I decided to do some exploring around Moscow. I jumped on the Metro and headed for the Palace of Facets. This was the ceremonial throne room of the czars built at the end of the 15th century. It is one of the oldest stone civic buildings in Moscow. While on the tour, I had the strange sensation that I was being followed. This is not the first time I had this feeling. What was going on with me? I was really becoming paranoid. I had a great time at the Palace of Facets. When I arrived back at my flat, the door opened without the key. How strange, I was sure I had secured by flat. I cautiously went in but nothing seemed to be disturbed. Man am I paranoid!

Before long, after several days of rest, it was time to go back to work. I was anxious as I knew the results of Mr. Tadzhikistan’s tests would be in and we needed to get him on a treatment program. The results were waiting for me. I spent hours pouring over the results to no avail. There was no difference between these results and the first results. I spoke to the senior medical staff and they were of no help. I was so frustrated. I became angry at their insults stating they knew all along that a female would not be able to help this poor nice man. I left work early and headed for home. I was so confused as to not being able to figure out this poor mans symptoms and was determined that they would not see my frustration. It was so cold out and I was chilled to the bone. I took a different route home, as I had to stop for a few meager grocery supplies. I knew there would be a long wait at the grocer but I had no choice. I figured I needed the time to cool down and standing in the bitter cold would help.

I turned down a long dark alley and immediately knew it was a mistake to do so. I sensed I was not alone. I walked faster and the other person in the ally increased their speed as well. I was starting to be frightened and decided the best thing to do was to turn and face my challenger. I slowly turned around and was surprised to see Mr. Tadzhikistan. I felt relieved. I had not had a chance to tell him the results of the test and figured he had followed me to ask questions. He was such a nice man. As he approached, I got a good glimpse of his face. He looked like a different person. He was dark and angry. He drew a knife and a sinking feeling came over me. I immediately knew what was going on. My cover had been blown. Mr. Tadzhikistan was a member of the KGB and he had discovered I was an Intelligence Specialist with the CIA. This was not going to be pretty.

I let him approach me; there was nothing else I could do. There was nowhere to run. He screamed several words at me and I knew he was serious. One of us would not be leaving the alley alive. His eyes were cold and distant. I realized he had no medical symptoms all along. This was just a plot to get me out of the picture. I thought for a moment, "How long have I been followed"? There was no time to analyze anything. I quickly drew my knife, as he got close. I jammed the knife in his stomach, right above the navel and drew the knife towards his sternum. I then plunged the knife across his chest to the right and then to the left. He gasped and dropped his weapon realizing what had happened. His death would come quickly and painfully. I almost felt sorry as I thought he was such a nice, quiet man with a very lovely family. He wrapped his arms around his front trying to hold his intestines intact. It would be to no avail. He turned and took several steps towards the end of the alley and then collapsed. He was gone. It was quiet. A soft snow began to fall.

I dropped my bag of groceries and immediately went to the Sheremetyevo International Airport where I was able to book a flight to JFK Airport. I would arrive 17 hours later. I knew I had no choice, as the assassination would be discovered in several hours. It was my signature assassination method so I knew the KGB and the Russian Mafia would be looking for me. After arriving at JFK, I was able to connect on United Airlines for a trip to Maui, a small island in the Hawaiian Islands. I would arrive at Kahului Airport in another nine hours where I would be greeted by my brother and his family. I would be safe there and would await my next assignment. I sure hoped it would be somewhere warm next time.