America , livre ebook

Title Page
America
The eighth book in the Saskia story
Ian Berry



Publisher Information
Published in 2014 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
The right of Ian Berry to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998
Copyright © 2014 Ian Berry
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.



One
The figure appeared from behind the corner of a building. I fired three times, each shot through the heart. As the last shot rang out, a second figure appeared. I turned slightly and fired again, three more shots, again, directly through the heart. This happened twice more, four figures, three bullets each.
I put the safety catch on, pulled the clip, put the gun down on the table, turned, smiled sweetly, and said, “Like that? Is that how it’s done?”
The figures weren’t real, I wasn’t in a street surrounded by terrorists. This was the MI5 firing range, the figures were dummies, just flat boards cut out to resemble men. So how was it I was there in the firing range? It began with a phone call.
“Miss Hunt?”
“Saskia Chandler actually but it doesn’t really matter. What can we do for you?”
“Ah, sorry. It’s Ops at Five here. Sir Giles has asked us to ask you if you’d mind coming in to see us.”
“Hm. And Sir Giles is?”
“He’s Head of Section.”
“Must be the boss,” whispered Saskia standing next to me listening in with her super hearing.
“I assume he’s the boss?” I asked the voice at the other end of the phone.
“One of them anyhow. Can you do it? Come down to Ops?”
“What’s it about? You know we’re both on the Inactive list.”
“I have no idea. I’m only the messenger.”
“Ok. Wednesday do?”
“Fine. I don’t think it matters exactly when. Wednesday then. Thank you.”
I pressed ‘end’ on the phone and changed to make it disappear again. “Wonder why they never tell us what they want on the phone?”
“Probably think it might be bugged or something.”
“But this is just about the most untraceable, un-bug-able phone in the world.” It was - our unseen guide and mentor we called simply Voice made sure of that by arranging all calls to be routed via Alpha Centauri or somewhere.
“You know that, and I know that, but others are more sceptical.”
“Oh well. A day out at least.”
“Got to remember to tell James,” said Saskia.
That was Sunday. Monday morning saw us at the Robinson Corporation plant where we worked - some of the time anyway.
“Good morning, Petra. I see you’ve redecorated your bedroom, I like the new colour,” I said as we passed through reception.
“Ok, Saskia. Just how did you know that? I haven’t told anybody here, I only decided to do it on Saturday. Come on, how do you know?”
I laughed. “Elementary, my dear Petra. There’s a little patch of pink paint in your hair at the back. About the only room I think you’d paint that colour would be a bedroom. Therefore, you’ve redecorated your bedroom. Has to be this weekend, the paint would have washed out by now if you’d done it a few days ago.”
Petra made a rude noise. “And here’s me thinking you had my house bugged or you’d been creeping around spying on me.”
“You know we’d not do that,” said Saskia. “What do you think we are? Spies or something?”
“No, ‘course not. Sorry, Saskia.”
We grinned at Petra, who had the grace to grin back. She was used to us pulling her leg and stuff like that. We were still grinning as we got to our office. Melanie noticed at once.
“Ok. What’s going on. That’s one of the grins you use when you’ve just wound somebody up. Who was it? Poor old Petra again?”
“Mm. She likes it really. Says it brightens her day. Usually the highlight is signing for the latest delivery of paperclips or whatever.”
“I think she thinks we’re spies,” said Saskia.
“Well you are, aren’t you?”
“Well, yes, if you’re going to be picky, I suppose we are. I hope your fingers are firmly in your ears while we have this conversation,” I said.
The reference to the fingers and the ears was the phrase we used when we didn’t want Melanie to talk about stuff, not that we told her any secrets, but it never hurts to be careful.
“Going to see James,” said Saskia. “Want anything bringing?”
Melanie laughed. “You must be the only people to go from here to the Exec offices by way of the ground floor.”
“We’ve tried to get the cafeteria moved up here to the first floor but James is having none of it,” laughed Saskia.
The long trek to go a short distance was caused by us calling at the aforementioned cafeteria to collect mugs of the hot chocolate we were both obviously hopelessly addicted to.
“Question remains unanswered,” said Saskia. “Want anything?”
“I’ll survive without,” grinned Melanie. “I can put on weight just looking at a mug of chocolate or a cream bun. I don’t know how you two manage.”
We laughed and left her to it. The sight of the Saskias heading towards the cafeteria and then coming back clutching mugs was no longer cause for comment. We headed for James office.
“Hi, Amanda. Great man receiving visitors?”
When there was nobody in with him, James tended to leave the connecting door open. That meant he knew who was outside wanting words with him.
“Send ‘em in, Amanda. I’ll deal with them.”
Amanda just pointed at the door. Saskia tapped gently on it as we went through it.
“Morning, Boss. Need a quiet word.”
“Shut the door then and sit down. What’s going on now?”
I shut the door and joined Saskia on one of the chairs. Amanda is like Melanie, she knows we do stuff outside of work. She never minds having the door closed on her like that.
“Need to be out on Wednesday,” said Saskia.
“What do they want you to do now? Can’t be saving the world, you don’t usually get any notice for that.”
“No, James,” I said. “Five want a word with us - us not us.”
James grinned as he untangled that sentence. “You mean you, not the other two.”
I grinned back. “That’s what I said, isn’t it?”
“I suppose so. What do they want this time?”
“We don’t know,” said Saskia. “They never tell us usually anyway. No exception this time.”
“Well you know you can just go and do whatever it takes.”
“Thank you, James, we know that. But it’s only fair to tell you in advance if we can,” I said.
“Anyway, we’ll let you get on with your day,” said Saskia. She jumped up and gave James a kiss. I shoved her up a bit and added my contribution as well.
Outside in Amanda’s office, Saskia paused for a quick word. “How’s your little car, Amanda? Still ok?”
“Brilliant, thanks.”
Saskia nodded and we left Amanda to get on with her day as well.
The rest of Monday and Tuesday passed quite quickly, we had to help Melanie with a mail shot, what she called ‘stuff, lick and stick’. By Tuesday afternoon I was fed up of envelopes and glossy fliers.
“You know we’re not here tomorrow, Melanie,” I said. “Got stuff to do. Stick your fingers in your ears.”
“One day I’ll discover what it is you do while I have my fingers in my ears,” laughed Melanie. “You going to thump anybody?”
“Dunnow. Not sure yet what we’ll be doing. If we can tell you, we will.”
Melanie had watched Saskia and me beat people up a couple of times so far. She thought we were experts in unarmed combat. The truth was somewhat different, we just used a bit of super strength to overcome the baddies, I suppose it looked like judo or kung-fu or something, but it wasn’t really. Had the same effect so I suppose it was ok. Being super girls does have some advantages. Like being able to fly to London in fifteen minutes or so, which is what we were going to do tomorrow.
That night, at home, Rob, Saskia’s dad, wanted words.
“Right. Car hire is fixed for the trip to America. I’ve put both of you on the system so all three of us can drive it.”
“That’s brilliant, Dad.”
“You going to be ok with the American cars? They’re a bit bigger than the mini.” Then he thought about it. “Well, Saskia won’t have a problem,” he said looking at me, “She drove that damn great Range Rover.”
“Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll manage. How hard can it be?”
“Famous last words, Saskia Hunt.”
“I’ll be ok,” she whispered at me. “You know I will. If you can do it then so can I.”
“Yep. That’s how it works,” I whispered back.
The Saskia Magic had given Saskia all my driving skills, I could drive anything up to and including an eighteen wheel juggernaut, therefore so could Saskia. We just couldn’t tell her dad that.
Wednesday. As usual, Rob was up first. I appeared in the kitchen while Saskia appeared to be using the bathroom. I say ‘appeared to be’ as I knew she’d not bother, she’d just change to be clean with brushed and shiny hair at the same time as she changed to not be wearing jim-jams but the jumper and pants we’d chosen for today.
“Good morning, you. Sleep well?”
“Yes thank you, Rob.” I walked up to him and accepted the hug and kiss I knew he’d give me. This is the same kind of hug and kiss he’d be giving Saskia as soon as she appeared. I knew he loved me as if I was his second daughter. Not only were we not actually related, I wasn’t even actually a girl - although that disti