Francis Gary Powers’ Silver Dollar

Origin
Flying experimental aircraft for the CIA would normally be an aviator’s wet dream. Until they’re told the flights are reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union. The engineers at Lockheed cooked up the U-2, “Dragon Lady”, just for the task. It flew higher than other aircraft (70,000 feet or 21,000 m) to collect data on the enemy without entering missile range.

In theory.

The plan was to sail high above radar detection on a trip spanning Pakistan to Norway, photographing naval yards and nuclear plants along the route. It would be the furthest attempt yet made into Soviet airspace. Unfortunately, it was timed for May 1 – a national holiday which sees minimal air traffic. The craft was identified halfway through the trip and shot down by missile. Powers managed to eject with his emergency cache but failed to destroy the photos taken and classified machinery.

Premier Nikita Khrushchev flouted the evidence (ample wreckage and a captured pilot) when President Eisenhower tried to pretend it was a minor training accident. A planned peace summit days later failed. Powers served two years in prison knitting and learning Cyrillic until he was traded in a package deal for a Soviet spymaster. Returning home was unending hearings about his failures to properly destroy evidence and forget the provided “suicide pill”, a hollow coin with a poisonous needle inside. Powers later became a news chopper pilot and was killed in a crash from equipment failure and low fuel.

Effects
Contains a saxitoxin dipped needle which must be separated from the coin at all times. Allows the user to detect whether something secret is occurring. Office birthday parties and military meetings are no match for a newfound intuition that something is off. Whether someone decides to follow any of these tantalizing clues is their choice.

Makes very unfavorable and more importantly, unlikely, events happen. To only the user. Freak accidents and bad timing start occurring on an almost continual basis until they just relinquish control over their life.