Amanda: Tales of an international female spy

by Richard Marques

  To be in a position in which he was able to exert control over others excited him. He was enlivened by domination. He felt the kindle of life burst into flame when he was able to exercise the command of authority. He wanted to be venerated, respected and looked up to; but most of all he wanted to be feared. The human race was one that could only exist in a hierarchical system, and he knew exactly where he wanted to be – at the top.

  The car passed Hyde Park Corner and headed towards the Strand. The gentleman inside the Bentley possessed many names, many identities and a multitude of residences around the world. Today he headed for one of his favourite – a serviced apartment at the Savoy Hotel. The apartment comprised a suite in a section of the hotel that was closed to the general public and was known about by only a very few even amongst the staff. It was in this suite that a prominent member of society had been found dead back in the nineteenth century following a lavish private party. Consequently it had been boarded up and forgotten about. Most thought it had eventually been converted into a storeroom because of the bad omens associated with it, but in reality it had enjoyed a new life as a very private residence for certain extremely wealthy individuals.

  There was a small private entrance at the back of the hotel, between Adam Street and Savoy Place, and it was through this entrance that the man now passed. A small, old-fashioned wooden lift thought to be used only by staff took him up to his quarters. The main room was elegantly furnished in dark oak and mahogany, in the manner of a gentleman’s study. A butler and valet were already awaiting him, having been notified of his imminent arrival. After downing a quick, smooth scotch he dismissed the men and prepared to get down to business. He took a cigarette from an ivory case in his jacket pocket, mounted it on a black Dunhill cigarette holder, and then lit it and inhaled.

  Through the smoke he contemplated the document before him. It was a satellite picture of the northern hemisphere, with small red dots placed seemingly at random around it. There were some on each continent but they were more prevalent in North America, Europe and Japan. To many the dots would have been meaningless, but to him they represented the targets that would finally bring him the power he knew he deserved.

  He picked up the phone on the desk and dialled. After a single ring the call was answered.

  ‘Has everything been prepared?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Then we are ready to begin?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Excellent. Meet me in London as soon as possible. We will soon have them eating out of our hands.’

  Chapter 5

  A shrill cacophony broke the silence of the room. Amanda had chosen the least annoying of the alarm tones to rouse her from her slumber every day, but the constant repetition of any noise at that time in the morning could never be pleasant and she was learning to hate it. Even Beethoven’s Ninth played by a thirty-six piece orchestra was deserving of nothing better than disdain at six a.m.

  Amanda freely conceded that she was not a morning person. It was only as she changed the filter of the coffee machine that she suddenly remembered. This Monday morning was different. It was to be the first day of her new job with SVHQ.

  A week after her rather unusual interview she had received a scrambled voicemail that she had unencrypted using software provided on a programme sent to her by SVHQ. It had congratulated her on being selected for the position at SVHQ following evaluation of her performance. After talking on the phone at length with Gabriela, a conversation which included recounting the details of her strange experience with Patrick, she had made the firm and absolute decision to throw caution to the wind and plunge into the unknown by taking the job. She had derived considerable pleasure from handing in her notice at Rosenberg & Jackson, flashing her freshly whitened teeth as she beamed at her boss, unable to hide her happiness and oblivious to his protestations regarding loyalty to the company and the burden of finding someone to replace her at such short notice. However, although she was excited, she still had no real idea as to what the job would entail – which made the concept even more thrilling.

  Amanda ordered a cab and got dressed in head to toe Dolce & Gabbana, with a tailored white shirt, tight black jacket and pencil skirt, and patent Celia shoes, conservative but with a bit of shine to add a touch of playfulness. Being her first day she was determined to make a good impression. She sprayed a liberal mist of Gaultier for Women across her neck, grabbed her Prada work file and headed for the front door.

  As her cab negotiated its way through town, Amanda’s thoughts returned once again to the uncertainty of leaving a steady and prosperous, if unenjoyable, career in the City for a job she really knew nothing about. But it was too late to back out now.

  Arriving at the building, her worries seemed to evaporate like rain on the arrival of warm sunshine. The security guard, whom Amanda recognised from her previous encounter at SVHQ, nodded at her in acknowledgement and handed her a security card. Amanda took the card and saw with surprise that her photo was already in place on it. Then she reasoned that she must have included one in her résumé.

  She made her way to ‘The Lab’, this time knowing exactly which way to go. She had been given the code for the elevator, which transported her rapidly downwards and this time left her alone in the labyrinthine corridors. She reached the dead end of the mirrored hallway and only when confronted by its reflective expanse did she realise that she would have to go all the way back upstairs to fetch the security guard in order for him to gain access with his thumbprint. She turned on her heel and was about to head back to the lift when she was somehow instinctively compelled to try placing her own digit on the surface in front of her. To her utter surprise, no sooner had she placed her thumb on the mirror, than the wall retracted just as it had done on her previous visit, revealing the horizontal elevator in front of her ready to take her to her destination.

  Once she entered ‘The Lab’ she was once again greeted warmly by the suave Dr James.

  ‘Ms de Frey, I am delighted to see you again. This morning I shall give you an induction and introduce you to the team you shall be working with.’

  ‘The team’ turned out to consist of just three other people. Charlotte, who had long brown hair neatly tied back, fashionable tortoiseshell glasses and a Welsh accent, was the head of information. May, who was a tall and very beautiful oriental, was the head of IT. James, who was young, cute and goofy-looking, was head of equipment and technology. The chairman explained that they had more than thirty such teams, each supporting agents like her during their assignments.

  There followed a series of seminars, which were attended by all four team members. The seminars, which took place in a spacious modern lecture theatre, were given individually by five directors, who reported directly to the chairman. The first two focussed on professional attitudes and confidentiality. They covered in great detail the importance of all agents and staff at SVHQ maintaining their commitment to secrecy. Each and every member of the organisation was required to sign strict privacy agreements. As they were handling cases for influential and very private individuals any leaks to the public or media would severely damage their reputation. Emphasis was also placed on carrying out each case without questioning the client’s motives; that was the job of the directors, who were responsible for deciding which cases would be accepted.

  There must have been over a hundred individuals attending the seminars, most of whom engaged in lively conversation during the intervals. There was a break after the second of the five presentations, during which they all had lunch. Amanda made her way down to the subsidised cafeteria, a clean white room where diners sat at round zinc tables. It was self-service and Amanda, who was watching her weight as usual, settled for a salad with no carbs or mayonnaise. She find herself sitting next to a young girl named Jane, who was PA to the IT director. Jane told her about the teething problems that had occurred following recent upgrades to the computer systems. Amanda listened politely – whilst she well appreciated the difficul
ties computers could cause, she knew very little about the technical aspects.

  Amanda was one of the last to finish and took the elevator back up to the lab. It was a large glass elevator which afforded a view of the central plaza below, but it also had the ability to make its occupants feel slightly nauseous due to its extreme speed. Arriving back in the theatre, Amanda was astonished to find nobody there. Suddenly a boy who looked like he was still in his late teens, came rushing in.

  ‘I have a memo for you, Miss de Frey. The rest of the presentations have been cancelled. You are to report immediately to Charlotte for a debriefing!’

  When she found Charlotte, she was carrying a clipboard and looking serious. She motioned Amanda towards a large LCD screen.

  ‘The assignment that you were intended to lead has just taken on much greater urgency.’

  Amanda frowned. She had only just arrived at SVHQ and barely knew where to begin planning a case, let alone take charge of one.

  ‘This is Monsieur Chaumert.’

  The image of an elderly, distinguished-looking Frenchman in a grey suit appeared on the screen in front of them.

  ‘Monsieur Chaumert is Chief Executive of Solution d’energie, a French nuclear and renewable energy consultancy firm,’ Charlotte explained. ‘Their headquarters is located in Sophia Antipolis, near the village of Valbonne in the south of France, roughly twelve miles from the centre of Nice. The company recently suffered a security breach during which several top secret documents were taken. You have been assigned the task of visiting Solution d’energie in order to recover the documents and bring the culprits to justice. Do you have any questions?’

  Amanda’s shock must have been obvious as Charlotte’s business-like tone softened.

  ‘Don’t be anxious, Miss de Frey. I completely understand your misgivings, but you will have the support of SVHQ with you every step of the way. Although we have agents with cultural links all over the world, you are one of the few English-born agents with French parentage. The chairman was greatly impressed by your performance during the intellectual and physical assessments and wanted to give you this chance to prove yourself to the organisation.’

  Charlotte went on to inform her that she would load the details of the assignment onto her PDA, which she would receive once she had been given a briefing by May in the IT unit.

  May was waiting for in a large room where around forty computers were networked together. May saw Amanda staring at them.

  ‘We have our own server, you know. It’s probably large enough to run an entire social networking site! All data is thoroughly encrypted and we scramble all incoming and outgoing traffic. We have fourteen layers of firewall and our codes are generated and changed three times daily. We aim to make SVHQ completely impenetrable to cybercrime. Though it gets harder every day.’

  ‘I can well believe it.’

  ‘We have prepared three main items for you. Firstly, a laptop computer with the latest processors, an ultra-high resolution screen and secure hard drive. Secondly, a Sony netbook for use on the move and, finally, your PDA, which will receive updates during your assignment. You have already spoken with Charlotte, I take it?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Good. The brief has been uploaded and is now ready for use. We must set about creating your personal account on the SVHQ intranet and assigning your usernames and passwords.’

  They spent the next hour doing just that. Most user entry was gained through physiological biometrics, including iris and thumbprint scanning. However, the system was also able to use behaviometric technology to identify typing rhythm and style and it would immediately shut down any devices that fell into the wrong hands and report it to SVHQ.

  Her last synopsis of the day was to take place in James’ office behind an automated double door at the end of a long corridor. Entry to the office was gained by a video intercom system.

  ‘Hello, it’s Miss de Frey.’

  ‘Come on in, Amanda,’ said a voice from behind the door.

  James’ ‘office’ was more like an boy’s ultra-high-tech bedroom, with strange, unidentifiable gadgets lying about everywhere. James motioned for her to take a seat and perched himself on one of the lab-like work surfaces. His hair was styled into a slightly messy side parting, which was due to the fact that it was naturally curly under layers of hair product. It was light honey-brown in colour but had strands of gold throughout, cheekily visible when they caught the sun. Amanda caught herself likening the state of his office, and his appearance, to the innate unruliness of his character, which she sensed was slightly wild and had to be tousled into submission.

  ‘As you know, I am the electronics and technology geek around here. I’ll provide you with the newest developments to facilitate your case. We must also run through the health and safety information required to keep yourself and your client safe.’

  Amanda had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from bursting into laughter. James appeared to appreciate that she was unimpressed with the standard company mantra.

  ‘You managed to gain entry through the mirrored hallway this morning?’

  ‘Yes... why?’

  ‘It was me who transferred your print from the espresso cup you used on your first visit.’

  He looked pleased with himself as Amanda attempted to maintain an unreadable expression.

  ‘Do you have a pen I can borrow?’

  ‘Of course. Here, take this one,’ she replied, handing him a black biro.

  James gave it a scornful look and handed it back to her.

  ‘That is a poor excuse for a pen.’

  He opened a drawer and withdrew a black lacquer case. Within it was an elegant fountain pen with an unmistakable snowy white top.

  ‘This Mont Blanc pen can write underwater, upside down and even in space,’ he told her.

  ‘Impressive.’

  ‘That’s not all it can do.’

  He tipped the elegant pen horizontally so that the butt of the pen was pointing away from him. A deft twist of the fingers caused the end section to slide open and what appeared to be a fine metal dart was propelled forward at extreme speed, narrowly missing Amanda’s right leg and embedding itself in the A3 presentation pad draped over one of the room’s numerous whiteboards.

  ‘A tranquillizing dart capable of rendering a man unconscious in just two seconds… and a woman in just one!’ He grinned, but the smile disappeared immediately when he saw Amanda’s look of vexation. ‘I have another gift for you,’ he hastened to add.

  He produced a slim, plain-black jewellery case and opened it to reveal one of the most beautiful watches Amanda had ever seen. The intricate strap was formed of silvery strands delicately threaded to form a shimmering platinum band as lightweight as a single strand of cashmere. The small dodecagon face was fashioned from platinum and cut crystal with twelve flawless; glittering stones, one at each point.

  ‘All twelve of these stones are blue diamonds of the highest quality. The watch, of course, is capable of much more. With this watch face you are able to scan biometric indicators such as the iris or fingerprint, as I did when transferring your print from the coffee cup, and project it onto an entry system allowing you to gain access to restricted areas undetected.’

  ‘Of course every woman also needs a signature cologne’ he said removing an incredibly elegant crystal perfume bottle from burgundy packaging. She went to smell the scent which was deep, woody and intense with notes of neroli. ‘However, I would not wear this in public as when heated it becomes a vapour that can render anyone who inhales it unconscious.’ She made a mental note to stick with her Chanel number 5!

  He walked over to the side of the room, picked up a silver-coloured remote control and began pressing some buttons that lit up bright blue when touched. A large single partition at the far end of the room that Amanda had hardly noticed retracted to reveal a gleaming black Lamborghini.

  ‘This is to be your new mode of transport. This Lamborghini Gallardo has ten cylinders, a
5204cc engine and a top speed of 202 mph. We have converted it to a hybrid engine giving you the ability to travel at lightning fast speed in near silence, while also being environmentally friendly, of course. Additionally, there are rocket launchers at the front and back of the car with homing missile capability and in-built ultraviolet head and tail lamps to dazzle the living daylights out of anyone in pursuit. My favourite feature, though, is a modification of the satellite navigation system. Using laser technology, the car will drive itself from one destination to another with complete awareness of all other cars and obstacles on the road. A word of advice, though – watch out for traffic cones. We have found in tests that the car tends to want to drive straight over them rather than going around them. The car will remain in London whilst you are away, however, as you will be travelling to France by plane.’

  ‘Great. When do I actually leave?’

  ‘Tomorrow morning. Charlotte has loaded your e-tickets onto your PDA. They can be scanned directly from the screen. Just arrive half an hour before take-off.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  Amanda turned to leave, placing all the items carefully in a leather weekend bag that James had provided.

  ‘One more thing, Miss de Frey.’

  Amanda looked up and saw that his blue eyes were twinkling mischievously.

  James produced what looked like a large white hat box from under the table and removed the lid with a flourish. Surprise and disbelief overcame Amanda when she looked inside to see a small black furry object huddled in the corner, it was only when it moved that she realised it was a cat.