“I’d give it up if I could. I didn’t have a choice.”
“Well, my choice right now is bed, and no, it’s not what you think. Sleep, we both need sleep. There’s a lot to sort out in the morning,” then glancing out the window he added, “later today.”
Amie didn’t think for a moment she would sleep, but she went out like a light the moment her head hit the pillow.
When she woke and crawled out of bed, she found Simon in the lounge pouring over the file he’d taken out of the Isuzu.
“What does it say?”
“Some of it’s in code, so I’m not absolutely sure. There’s bacon and eggs in the microwave, should still be edible, and fresh coffee on the stove. I hope you’ve not sworn off coffee, have you?”
“Not a chance. You’re amazing, and thank you.” Amie bent over to kiss him as she brought her plate to the table. There was a lot she didn’t know about this man she realised, but she was looking forward to finding out.
“So, what now?”
Simon put the file down. “I guess we just hand it all over to London, let them deal with it. It’s definitely about the arms deal so it may have contact numbers they can follow up.”
“Do you think Ken was the only bad apple in the service?” Asked Amie.
“Don’t forget Karen. I doubt she had British interests high on her agenda.”
“Where do you think she fits into all of this? She and Ken were certainly very friendly, and, they travelled together going up to the camp.”
“If she was of African origin, I would’ve assumed they worked together but she was Caucasian.” Simon frowned. “I think either they fell for each other, or Ken was simply using her, or maybe she worked for the arms dealers. The answer might be somewhere in that file. Only London probably won’t tell us, all that bloody need to know thing.” Simon sighed.
“What do we do now?”
“I can think of something,” he grinned.
Amie jumped away before he could grab her. “No, I mean tomorrow, next week, the future.”
“We go to work as normal. We might be able to scrounge another day if we hole up here, but then it’s back to the office and the paperwork. They’ll send someone out to debrief us for sure.”
Amie’s heart sank. The last thing she wanted was to go back and sit in that office. If only she could stop all this nonsense and make films like she’d always dreamed. Then another awful thought struck her.
She took her empty plate back to the kitchen and fetched a piece of paper and a pen. She wrote, I’ve just remembered the apartment is still bugged. We’ve no idea who might be listening. Ken might not have been the main man.
Simon looked thoughtful then nodded. He wrote, good thing you remembered, I’ll get someone to give it a proper sweep. No more talk for now.
Amie smiled and nodded. There would be no more making love either, the thought of someone listening to them made her cringe. She had opened her mouth and admitted to being a spy. Had anyone heard? Her safe world crumbled around her again.
Pack up. We’ll sneak out and go to my place, Simon wrote. She grinned and went into the bedroom to grab some clothes. Then she came rushing back into the lounge and grabbed the pen out of Simon’s hand. My phone was in Ken’s pocket, with the photos of the arms deal and it will have my few contacts in there as well. What are we going to do about that?
Simon sat and thought for a moment then scribbled, don’t panic, we’ll sort it out, diplomatic immunity comes in handy and hopefully the phone will have smashed to bits in the fall. Promise not to worry?
To Amie’s surprise everything went back to normal very quickly. Simon explained their absence to the staff with some story about being held up by poachers. He arranged to have her flat swept for bugs and to Amie’s relief all the others were removed. She’d got her privacy back.
She purchased a new laptop, her old one was nowhere to be found, and immediately logged on to email Maddy to ask for instructions. The reply was to carry on as normal and she would be debriefed when people arrived from London.
Three men duly arrived a few days later and commandeered a room in the Consulate, and separately, Simon and Amie spent days answering the same questions over and over again as they described every event in minute detail. She had no idea if they believed a word either of them said, but breathed a sigh of relief when the car eventually took them back to the airport.
A couple of weeks later Simon called her into his office and told her to shut the door. He waved a piece of paper and smiled.
“The last piece of the puzzle – Karen.”
“She was working for the arms dealers?”
“Wrong. For the right side. Ken had persuaded her I was the one working for the other side. She’d reported her suspicions back to London and was told to keep a close eye on me, and if necessary, terminate me.”
Amie huffed. “So, when she saw you with the folder …”
“…Possibly destroying evidence – she had to stop me.”
“I’m glad. I liked Karen. I was wrong about her. She may have mistaken the big cats at the elephant carcass and saw cheetahs and not leopards. It’s good to know we were on the same side. But there’s still the danger the police may want to question us about her body. I can’t stop worrying about that.”
“Another piece of good news. When I went to return the Isuzu, I asked casually if they had a good Nissan to hire next time, but they have never bought in that make. So, it looks as if Ken hired from two different outlets.”
“Sounds like the sort of devious thing he’d do,” Amie said as she went to look out of Simon’s office window.
“A good tip for you to remember in your spying career, Felicity.” Simon held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry, but I can’t call you by a different name at work now, can I?”
Amie sighed. She was still a spy and still at the mercy of the grey, faceless men in London. If she was a very bad spy would they would cut her loose?
“I received a missive this morning addressed to you. It’s probably your next assignment.”
“What! Already!” Amie couldn’t believe it.
Simon took the envelope off his desk, opened the top drawer of the filing cabinet and dropped it inside before double locking it.
“Let’s pretend it hasn’t arrived. I can think of much better things to do. Take the rest of the afternoon off and I’ll pick you up at six.”
“Great! Where are we going?”
“Not to uShaka Marine World! But I’ll think of somewhere.”
Amie grinned and left the office. They would probably send her somewhere else without Simon. It was too good to last, but she would enjoy it while she could. One day at a time, Amie, one day at a time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lucinda E Clarke has been a professional writer for over 30 years, scripting for both radio and television. She’s had numerous articles published in national magazines, written mayoral speeches and advertisements. She currently writes a monthly column in a local publication in Spain. She once had her own newspaper column, until the newspaper closed down, but insists this was not her fault!
Many of her books have been bestsellers in genre on Amazon on both sides of the Atlantic, she has won over 20 awards for scripting, directing, concept and producing, and numerous awards for her books. She’s had two educational text books published by major traditional publishers. Sadly, these did not make her the fortune she dreamed of to allow her to live in luxury.
Lucinda has also worked on radio – on one occasion with a bayonet at her throat – appeared on television and met and interviewed some of the world’s top leaders.
She set up and ran her own video production company, producing a variety of programmes, from advertisements to corporate and drama documentaries on a vast range of subjects.
She has lived in eight different countries, run the ‘worst riding school in the world’, and cleaned toilets to bring in the money.
When she handled her own divorce, Lucinda ma
de legal history in South Africa.
Now, pretending to be retired, she gives occasional talks and lectures to special interest groups and finds retirement the most exhausting time of her life so far; but says there is still so much to see and do, she is worried she won’t have time to fit it all in.
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© Lucinda E Clarke Spain 2019
To my Readers
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Also by Lucinda E Clarke
Amie Cut for Life (book 4)
What was supposed to be a look and see mission for newly qualified spy Amie, leads her into danger as she ties to rescue four little girls destined for the sex slave trade with a horrifying twist.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07545M9DB
Amie Savage Safari (book 5)
An auction for the right to mine minerals leads to in-fighting among the delegates, while the local Africans will go to extreme lengths to disrupt it. Amie is caught in the middle and lands in great danger at the most vulnerable time in her life.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NCDKF8P
Samantha
Back story to the Amie series 1. When Samantha drags long suffering Gerry abroad on their first holiday if it can go wrong, it will go wrong.
my.book.to/Amie-Sam
Ben
Back story 2. Ben Mtumba knows the day will come when he must endure the rights of passage to manhood, but is he the only one to notice the rust on the surgeon’s knife?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K352ZLQ
Walking over Eggshells
The first autobiography which relates Lucinda’s horrendous relationship with her mother and her life in various countries.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E8HSNDW
Truth, Lies and Propaganda
The first of two books explaining how Lucinda ‘fell’ into writing for a living – her dream since childhood. It began when she was fired from her teaching job, and crashed out in an audition at the South African Broadcasting Corporation. In a quirky turn of fate, she found herself writing a series on how to care for domestic livestock and she knew absolutely nothing about cows, goats and chickens. And it all continued from there.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QE35BO2
More Truth, Lies and Propaganda
Tales of filming in deep rural Africa, meeting a ram with an identity crisis, a house that disappears, the forlorn bushmen and a video starring a very dead rat. You will never believe anything you watch on television ever again.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VF0S3RG
Unhappily Ever After
The real truth you’ve never been told before. In Fairyland, Cinderella is scheming on how to get a divorce with a good settlement from King Charming, and the other royal marriages are in dire trouble as well. This year’s ball is approaching, along with a political agitator hell bent on rousing the peasants into revolting against their royal masters.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DPVB4M8
All her books are available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback.
Reviews
That Lucinda E Clarke can write and write well is not in question. This memoir left me breathless at times. She writes of her adventures, misadventures and family relationships in an honest but entertaining manner. I wholeheartedly recommend this book, (Walking over Eggshells) buy it, delve in and lose a few days, well worth it.
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This book was written with such consummate skill. I have enormous admiration for Lucinda E Clarke as an author. She not only knows how to write an edge-of-the-seat, well-constructed story that would make a brilliant movie – she does it using beautiful, spare, intelligent, and amazingly descriptive language. By the time I got to the end of ‘Amie’ I felt as though I’d been to Africa – seen it, touched it, smelled it, heard it... loved it and hated it. Everything that is the truth of the country is there in this book. Can I give it six stars please? It deserves it. (Amie an African Adventure)
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Lucinda E. Clarke takes the reader on another fast-paced African adventure full of suspense and twists and turns. The characters are so well developed that I felt as if I was watching a movie while reading this wonderful book. Mrs. Clarke both entertains and educates the reader about the African experience. The story never lags and quickly pulls the reader in this new adventure. (Amie and the Child of Africa)
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What a great book! I have so enjoyed this and love the tongue-in-cheek, self deprecating humour with which Lucinda Clarke relates her experiences. It's quite fascinating to read how she becomes involved in writing and broadcasting, and also really interesting to realise how much easier it was to get in touch with decision makers in the days before the digital onslaught. Either that or Lucinda is being overly modest and making it look simple! I loved the descriptions of her early experiences in Libya - both funny and frightening. And of course, there are lots of memories for me here as I moved to South Africa in the early eighties and always listened to Springbok radio. The style is easy and fluid, and I have enjoyed every page, riveted by the quantity of writing she managed to do without any previous knowledge of the subjects. Amazing. For me, this is the best one of Lucinda's yet in terms of keeping me pasted to my Kindle! I've read two of her other books before, and I'll definitely be reading the sequel to this one! (Truth, Lies and Propaganda)
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I picked this one up purely on the basis of how much I enjoyed reading the first book and I was not to be disappointed. Lucinda E Clarke is one of those writers who can tell a story effortlessly in a way that just carries you along with her adventures. I have to say she is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. The book revolves around a period of her life as she returns to work in Africa and she uses her natural writing ability to not just recount events but to entertain along the way. Her skill is not in telling extraordinary tales but in making often ordinary real-life stories come to life and it is in the smaller details of each story that I often found myself most enthralled. I cannot recommend this book and indeed the previous one highly enough. If your next book purchase is from the pen of Lucinda E Clarke you will have made a wise decision indeed. A thoroughly deserved 5 stars out of 5 from me. (More, truth Lies and Propaganda)
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The author's imagination and humour are combined to create a story that makes your smile or LOL from beginning to end. It is a rollicking pantomime of dry wit and well-described imagery that works exceptionally well. Highly recommended. (Unhappily Ever After)
Amie in Africa Box Set 1 Page 97
