Amanda: Tales of an international female spy

by Richard Marques

  Amanda found it all rather creepy and could barely wait to leave such sinister surroundings behind. She found the idea of keeping stuffed animals in a living room for reasons of amusement more than a little macabre.

  They retreated down the stairs and back into the scullery. They didn’t hear the slightest noise to suggest the house might be currently occupied. The passageway that led down to the basement consisted of a set of spiral stone steps that caused Amanda to wobble precariously.

  Presently they found themselves in front of a small oak door, crudely fashioned so that its surface had an uneven appearance. There were knots in the timber and several ragged holes, as if some ravenous woodland creature had once gnawed upon it due to a lack of better nourishment.

  The lock was as crude as the door it secured and little more than a key-shaped hole in the wood. Amongst the items given to Amanda back at SVHQ was a black metal key hung separately on a large key-ring. It was heavy in her hand and its tag read ‘Basement Door’. Amanda turned the key in the lock, which required a certain amount of jiggling due to its stiffness. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest as the mechanism shifted and she opened the door a fraction, bracing herself for whatever might be waiting to greet them.

  What she saw was a large cavern-like room that appeared to span the entire basement of the house. Its walls and flooring were constructed entirely from a dark and smooth slate-like stone and the space was virtually bare. What little furniture did occupy the room was constructed entirely of glass and included several glass chairs and a glass coffee table. Within the back wall was the most spectacular feature of all – a man-made waterfall. Water gushed from a gulley within the stone walls and came splashing down into a small pool of water below. Amanda could only assume that the water was pumped in a cyclical fashion to keep the waterfall running continuously.

  They stood together for some time, unsure as to what course of action they should take next. The brief had not allowed for this. There wasn’t a soul about and no computers, no papers and no telephones. Jeremy went to each of the walls in turn to check their integrity, evidently suspecting there may be a passageway hidden beyond them. Amanda sat down on one of the chairs in front of the glass table and pondered upon their unexpected surroundings.

  What was it all about?

  Viktor punched a number into the cordless telephone in his left hand. He had seen the two intruders snooping around the house via a security monitor linked to the cleverly concealed video camera behind the lifeless eyes of the toucan in the lounge.

  ‘Please give the following message to Mr Charles.’

  ‘Can I take your name?’

  ‘No. He will know what it refers to.’

  Sitting before the glass table Amanda began to wonder why they had come there so ill-prepared. SVHQ had briefed them for everything up to this point but now they were on their own. Jeremy stood opposite her, still examining the walls and pressing wall stones at random with an eager futility.

  As she deliberated on their next move, Amanda began drumming her fingers on the glass table top. Using her left hand and tapping with each digit in turn, ending with the thumb, she repeated the subconscious gesture out of pure frustration. She stared into her forlorn-looking reflection in the glass and then she noticed that where she tapped her fingers on the glass it changed colour in a curious manner. Continuing to press on various sections of the table top she realised this was the case all over – and then, finally, it came to her. The table was actually a disguised tablet PC!

  Once Amanda had discovered how to initiate the touch-keypad she was easily able to access the homepage on the device, which was set up just like any other Microsoft or Mac operating system. Although she was no Charlotte when it came to computing ability, she certainly knew her way around a hard drive and had even been known to dabble in a spot of programming in her spare time, having designed a couple of basic apps which she had uploaded and had sold reasonably well.

  Jeremy saw that she had discovered something and quickly abandoned his fruitless examination of the basement walls. Looking surprised, he sat down beside her as she siphoned through the computer files.

  After repeatedly searching the computer’s contents and finding nothing of any interest she was almost ready to give up when she realised that the computer was actually a dual hard drive. The hard drive she had already searched was readily accessible by any external user, but the alternate hard drive was, it appeared, heavily password-protected. Amanda was now almost certain that this hard drive would contain the information she required.

  Once again SVHQ had unknowingly provided her with the perfect piece of kit for the task at hand. The password-cracker was a small cylindrical device with a digital display programmed to provide accessibility to even the most complex of security systems. In this case it was able to work in tandem with an even more sophisticated online password breaker accessed via the SVHQ intranet using GPRS.

  After a couple of minutes the programmes had run through several thousand combinations and she was able to bypass the first barrier. The digital display showed a multitude of random characters as the contraption attempted to tap into the driver in order to determine the correct code. After another few minutes it had bypassed the second code. The third and final stage of security protection was biometric, requiring a simple fingerprint. For this Amanda used SVHQ’s biometric scanner within her beautiful watch. The diamonds sparkled in the light and Amanda could sense Jeremy’s look of awe as he saw the watch properly for the first time. The maid had obviously not been doing her job or was not allowed access to this area regularly as Amanda was able to scan the required print straight off the glass table-top and project it back. In this manner she was able to gain full entry to the alternate hard drive.

  Once access was granted, Amanda found she was free to roam the information at will. There were plenty of unexciting folders and files detailing such things as invoices and minutes from the quarterly meetings of the board of directors of ENCO. Amanda made a mental note of which files to copy and which to ignore. These would be better interpreted by the SVHQ team. Jeremy made the occasional interjection in an attempt to be helpful but in reality they served only to remind Amanda of his presence.

  After approximately ten minutes spent sifting through the hard drive’s contents Amanda was beginning to think it was a wasted effort. To have come this far and to have found next to nothing to present to SVHQ was bitterly disappointing. Jeremy was eager to repeat the process in case he spotted something she had missed, but Amanda was sure she had not missed anything. She didn’t think he’d find anything else either, as he had been sitting by her side, watching her like a hawk the entire time. She was about to step aside, however, and let him try his luck, when she came across the one folder on the drive whose contents were conspicuously encrypted.

  When one of the files within the folder was opened it revealed a scrambled mass of text that resembled hieroglyphs more than anything else. Amanda quickly realised this was more than just a simple change of font. A quick, succinct e-mail to Charlotte typed on the touchscreen keypad was all that was required to summon aid and a few seconds later a reply containing a de-encryption programme arrived in her inbox. She activated the software, which was almost instantaneous in its translation and uncovered the most shocking revelation yet…

  ‘We have them,’ Viktor said into the phone he gripped in his left hand. He waited for a response but there was a long pause at the other end. ‘Am I required to do anything more?’

  ‘You are to join us immediately.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘The usual place.’

  Then the line went dead, leaving only a single continuous tone emitting eerily by the earpiece.

  A copy of the stolen blueprints was but one component of the folder, which contained numerous files. There was also a detailed document pertaining to each nuclear energy plant in Europe, both planned and existing. It was, however, an accompanying memo that drew Amanda’s attention above anyth
ing else. Labelled ‘Project X’, the memo made it clear, in detail and in no uncertain terms, that the buildings were to be the target for a terrifying act of terrorism. Not only that, but it appeared that Mr Charles already had a network of moles placed in each of the existing plants, ready to strike upon his command.

  ‘Jeremy, you must see this!’

  ‘I can’t believe it!’ Jeremy muttered once he had take it all in. ‘We must let SVHQ know immediately!’

  Then they heard a noise behind them.

  They both span round, to see Mr Charles himself come through the basement entrance flanked by Viktor and about a dozen other henchmen.

  ‘But believe it you must,’ Charles sneered, staring at them both.

  The henchmen took up positions on either side of Amanda and Jeremy. Viktor remained by Charles’s side.

  ‘You have stumbled upon possibly the most closely guarded and important secret in existence,’ Charles smiled and paused, obviously taking great pleasure in revealing his accomplishment before continuing. ‘I was never interested in purely winning the contracts to provide nuclear energy; that would be far too easy and not at all satisfying. Had I bribed people, or allowed Viktor to use his methods of persuasion on them, that could have been achieved a long time ago. My actual objective, you see, is to have complete control over all nuclear energy plants and thus all the countries they are based in. I want to have the United Nations eating out of my hand.’

  He looked at them and frowned.

  ‘You appear sceptical. Perhaps I had better explain how I plan to achieve this. As you have discovered, I have people working for me in each of the existing plants. What you don’t know is that we have now managed to conceal explosives in each site. When I detonate them they will trigger the explosion of the nuclear reactors themselves. The outcome will be like several atomic bombs being dropped simultaneously at the same place. Utter devastation. Would you like me to show you where the control panel is housed?’

  He left the rhetorical question hanging in the air as he strolled across to the waterfall that gushed from the far wall into the shallow pool below.

  ‘Of course, without the transmitter you could never have discovered this.’

  He depressed a button on a small device concealed within his palm. Immediately the flow of water ceased. Then he pressed another button, which had the effect of causing the stone wall to part, revealing a large space beyond it.

  ‘Viktor, bring our guests through.’

  Viktor grasped Jeremy’s shoulders with his large gloved hands and manhandled him through the archway created by the parted stone walls and the basement ceiling above. The other armed henchmen, who wore identical black uniforms, led Amanda through closely behind them.

  The room they entered had three notable features. The first comprised the entire left wall, which consisted of a large plasma-screen display. The second was what appeared to be a smart wooden lectern, positioned in the centre of the room, while the third a glass booth resembling a shower cubicle in the right-hand corner of the room.

  Jeremy and Amanda looked nervously at one another. They were completely surrounded by guards who, including Viktor, came to eleven in all by Amanda’s reckoning. Attempting to make a break for it looked very unwise.

  Charles took his place at the lectern with an air of confidence and gravity, as though he was a head of state about to address a delegation before him. He sipped pensively from a glass of water placed in his right hand by one of his deputies. He seemed to be intent on prolonging the moment for as long as possible in order to intensify the anticipative atmosphere within the room. He placed the glass on the lectern, carefully as though to ensure its surface was not troubled by the slightest of tremors.

  Then he tapped a long combination of keys on the laser keyboard in front of him. The large plasma screen to the left lit up to display a vast digital map of Britain, mainland Europe and the USA. Depicted in dull shades of green and brown it resembled a fairly standard geographical representation of the various nations. In one detail, however, it differed from any other map that Amanda had ever seen. Plotted on the map were numerous red-glowing dots that appeared to pulse with energy. Amanda tried to discern a pattern in the dots, but they appeared to be scattered randomly and not at significant geographical locations.

  Charles turned to Amanda.

  ‘I see you have noticed the markers on the map.’

  Amanda nodded.

  ‘Each one represents a nuclear power plant that has been infiltrated by us. We have now re-programmed all of the reactors so that at any time I choose I may flip the switch and send the reactor concerned into nuclear meltdown. Of course it is entirely possible for me to detonate all reactors simultaneously. If I decide to, I can destroy them all.’

  ‘You’re crazy!’ exclaimed Jeremy.

  Charles shook his head. ‘I’m not the one who’s crazy. Remember that it’s the will of the political elite that has given this highly dangerous energy source the prominence it has today.’

  ‘Thousands of innocent people will die!’

  Charles shrugged. ‘I believe that is a necessary evil in order to save humanity from itself. We need a new start, a second-cleansing if you will. Through this apocalypse the human race will achieve deliverance.’

  ‘Think about what you’re saying!’ Jeremy countered. ‘The loss of life is not worth the outcome. I implore you to reconsider – this is not the solution!’

  ‘This is the only solution and believe me, I have taken everything into consideration. This is not a momentary whim. This is the result of years of deliberation upon the world’s continuous moral decline. The world is headed for destruction anyway. We drill into the earth for oil, fell the rainforest and suck every drop of energy from the planet – and for what? What have we created, but a world of gross inequality in which some languish in famine and disease while others live alongside them in wealth and splendour? We need to return to a more basic way of life, one in which people are equal and care about the plight of their fellow man. One in which we live in harmony with nature and the Earth.’

  Jeremy stared wild-eyed at their captor. ‘Things are changing! People have woken up to the problems. They do care about the world – and have the will to change things.’

  ‘It is far too late. Greed always takes priority. Humans will always return to their base instincts, in spite of all the technological advances that have been made. We live in a world where survival of the fittest is the order of the day. The leaders of business and industry value their revenues far more than the consequences their behaviour will have on the human race. Political leaders are corrupt and will readily enter into conflict if it serves to maintain the imbalance between the leading economies and the developing world. Even within the developing world tyrannical leaders subject their people to inequality and injustice. These tyrants enjoy the support of the West as it serves their purpose of sustaining their own mantle of power.’

  ‘It’s not as simple as that!’ Jeremy protested. ‘People are far more complex. The leaders of a nation will only enter into conflict if they believe it is in the interest of their people and world order. Everyone knows that in the future we must avoid a third great war, because next time more powerful armaments will bring about untold destruction and misery.’

  Charles grinned. ‘I do hope so. Fortunately for you, the two of you shall personally witness the great moment when I unleash humanity’s own technology against them. Unfortunately, of course, you will be eradicated shortly afterwards. Viktor, place them in the booth.’

  Before they could argue, Jeremy and Amanda were roughly directed towards the large glass booth in the corner of the room. Viktor depressed a button concealed in the wall, causing the left portion of the four-sided booth to move upwards, creating an opening. They were both then forced inside the transparent box. Amanda could see that the glass that enclosed them was several layers thick.

  The guards surrounded the booth and kept the barrels of their guns levelled a
t them like pointing fingers accusing them of some terrible crime.

  Jeremy slid an arm around Amanda, as much for his own comfort as for hers. They watched through the glass as Viktor once again depressed the button, causing the raised section of the glass to slide back to its former position, trapping them.

  Charles stood on his podium and stared intently at the screen.

  ‘We shall begin with somewhere relatively small, I think, somewhere sparsely populated. How about… Molebka? That should prove a suitable demonstration to the world of what we can do.’ He glanced over his shoulder towards Amanda and Jeremy in the booth. ‘Molebka is a small village on the borders of the Perm and Sverdlovsk regions of the Russian Federation. The nuclear power plant is fifteen miles away from the nearest town. There are a few workers who live on the site, those who maintain the plant during the day and those who maintain the plant after-hours. It’s a big place, large and sprawling, rather like a converted bunker from the Second World War. Hardly on a level with the modern power plants that have been built elsewhere in recent times, but it will do nicely for my purposes, I should say. I imagine everyone will think the explosion is the result of some sort of unexplained accident, perhaps a safety error or a computer glitch, but then I will reveal myself as the perpetrator and they will have to listen to my demands.’