Deception!
Page 23
‘There were complications...’
‘What complications?’
‘It seems your Mr Hawkins has managed to acquire dual nationality.’
‘How on earth did he do that?’
‘No idea; but I saw the documents myself.’
‘Well, they must be fakes.’
‘And there seems to be some doubts about his real identity.’
‘But the fingerprints...’
‘And the Brazilians weren’t at all happy about the circumstances surrounding his forcible removal from São Paulo to Brasilia.’
‘But that doesn’t alter the fact that we’ve got proof the man living as Michael Hawkins is actually Sir Fredrick Michaels.’
‘Apparently it does. This is a man who seems to have friends in high places.’
Francine stared into space, her fingers tapping a rapid tattoo on the desk. Finally she exhaled sharply.
‘Well, I guess there’s nothing we can do for the moment. It’s all a bit of a cock-up, isn’t it? I hate to think what the Foreign Office is going to say.’
‘Er, you don’t know, do you?’ said Rico tentatively.
‘Know what?’ Francine felt a frisson of apprehension run through her.
‘The order to release Michael Hawkins came from someone at the Foreign Office.’
‘What?’
‘Listen, Francine; you didn’t hear this from me, right?’ There was a pause then he started again, speaking even more quietly than before. ‘There are some high level talks going on over here at the moment. It’s supposed to be a commercial trade delegation, but between you and me, there are rather a lot of people with a military bearing around.’
The penny dropped. Or rather, it rolled down the slope, flew across the room, ricocheted off the bookshelves and hit Francine right between the eyes.
‘The Fastscape project!’
‘Precisely. I understand we’re close to a signature and no-one’s willing to risk losing the deal. Too many jobs and too much money at stake. And as Michaels is supposed to be dead anyway...’
‘So we just rolled over and handed him back?’
‘That’s pretty much it. I’m sorry, Francine. I’ll put out some feelers with my contacts in Rio and São Paulo, but I’m not holding out much hope. The villa seems to be locked up. Has been ever since we received this little bundle last month.’
In a daze, Francine concluded the call and replaced the receiver. She picked up the email and read it through once more. Then knowing she had no other option, she pressed the intercom connecting her to her PA’s desk.
‘Marjorie, can you put a call through to the Jones Technical Partnership, please? I need to speak urgently to Suzanne Jones.’
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am once again very grateful for all the support provided by my friends in the thriving community of writers and readers, both in Devon and beyond. In particular, my thanks go to Margaret Barnes for being my writing partner during the editing of our books; to my friends in Chudleigh Writers’ Circle and Exeter Writers; to Sue, Clare and Helen, my MA buddies; and to Jenny Benjamin, Jo Cole, Mary Anne McFarlane, Heather Morgan and Richard Morgan, my beta readers.
I have fond memories of business trips to Brazil in the 1990s and 2000s; they were always great fun as well as hard work. The Rough Guide to Brazil; Brazil (Footprint Handbook); and DK EYEWITNESS Top 10 Rio De Janeiro helped supplement my notes on Sao Paulo and Rio. And the Berlitz Cape Town Pocket Guide was invaluable for travelling back to 1960s South Africa. I am grateful to Graham Walker who shared with me his encyclopaedic knowledge of steam railways.
Berni Stevens (@circleoflebanon) is responsible for the beautiful cover; Julia Gibbs (@ProofreadJulia) made sure the final text is as error-free as possible. My thanks go to both of them. I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to my sisters, Margaret Andow and Sheila Pearson, for their analytical reading skills and ongoing cheerleading.
Finally, my thanks go, as always, to my husband Michael McCormick, my fiercest critic and strongest supporter, who read the manuscript ‘a million times’ before we were both happy with it.
ENJOYED THIS BOOK?
Reviews and recommendations are very important to an author and help contribute to a book’s success. If you have enjoyed Deception!, please recommend it to your friends and family. And also, please consider posting a review on the online store you bought it from; or your preferred review site.
And if you would like to continue reading the stories of Suzanne Jones, Charlie Jones, and Francine Matheson, book 1, Counterfeit!, and book 3, Corruption! are also available. Find all the details here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth Ducie was born and brought up in Birmingham. As a teenager, essays and poetry won her an overseas trip via a newspaper competition. Despite this, she took scientific and business qualifications and spent more than thirty years as a manufacturing consultant, business owner and technical writer before returning to creative writing in 2006. She has written short stories and poetry for competitions—and has had a few wins, several honourable mentions and some short-listing. She is published in several anthologies.
Under the Chudleigh Phoenix Publications imprint, she has published one collection of short stories and co-authored another two. She also writes non-fiction, including ebooks for writers running their own small business. Her debut novel, Gorgito’s Ice Rink, was runner-up in the 2015 Self-Published Book of the Year awards.
Elizabeth is the editor of the Chudleigh Phoenix Community Magazine. She is a member of the Chudleigh Writers’ Circle, Exeter Writers, and ALLi (The Alliance of Independent Authors).
For more information on Elizabeth, visit her website: http://elizabethducieauthor.co.uk/; follow her on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest; or watch the trailers for her books on YouTube. To keep up to date with her writing plans, subscribe to her quarterly newsletter (the link is on the website): or just drop her a line; she loves to chat with readers: elizabeth@elizabethducie.co.uk.
OTHER BOOKS BY ELIZABETH DUCIE
Corruption! (Suzanne Jones Book 3)
Counterfeit! (Suzanne Jones Book 1)
Gorgito’s Ice Rink
Parcels in the Rain and Other Writing
Sunshine and Sausages
The Business of Writing series:
Part One Business Start-Up (ebook only)
Part Two Finance Matters (ebook only)
Part Three Improving Effectiveness (ebook only)
The Business of Writing Parts One—Three (print only)
WRITTEN WITH SHARON COOK
Life is Not a Trifling Affair
Life is Not a Bed of Roses