--------------------------------------------
July 1960 - Tangier, Spanish Morocco
--------------------------------------------

One piece of Africa looked just like another some times. The endless rolling dunes in the distant, the ancient mud brick city in the foreground, and, surrounded by it all, the palatial hotels built by colonial empires. Rhodesia had a few leftovers from the colonial days but nothing quite like the graceful arches and stunning white marble of Spanish influence in Tangier. In fact, this was the closest she had ever come to leaving the African continent and part of her feared just how far her ambition might take her. 

"Miss Reicker." The voice that address her was soft, deceivingly so for the alleged power of the man she had come to meet. She turned from the window, the vista of the city replaced with the spartan interior of the room. Her host was a soldier, that much she knew, but what kind she could not say for certain. He wore a desert camouflage uniform with no markings of rank or any other insignia on it. "I am flattered you came at my request on such short notice." 

"Well, hard to ignore a note slipped under my pillow while I slept. That takes some skill." She replied with a thin smile. In truth she had been enraged at the action, and maybe a little worried. If someone could train an agent like that however, she wanted to learn everything they could teach. "But I have to ask, who are you? And who do you work for?"

The details had been very vague once she'd made contact with the unknown agent in the Addis Abba's Grand Market. She had arrived on time as the note directed and in the press of thousands a bent old man had approached begging for alms. She had dropped some coins into his bowl and he had slipped her an envelope. Inside had been a one way ticket to Tangier and a phone number. 

There was something terribly sinister afoot but Sara was confident in her ability to defend herself and heck, she had always wanted to see something more than Rhodesia and Ethiopia. She had heard nothing from Rhodesian Security Forces since the death of the Heaps and, frankly, she felt somewhat slighted and ignored. One hardly did their job for fame and praise but it didn't hurt to get the odd "atta girl".

Either way, here she was, in Tangier, meeting with a Spaniard who spoke the same flawless english as she, bore no insignia, worked in an office that would have done a disciple of Jesus credit, and had, to this point, no name.

"My name is Antonio. I represent a faction within the Spanish Government that has a vested interest in the future of our country and I would like to hire you to work for us." He stared her in the eye with a level respect she had seldom seen in a Whiteman before. "Your race, your creed, your religion, they do not matter in the struggle that is to come. I intend to wield you like a weapon. You will be ordered to follow people, to seduce people, and, to kill people." 

"Just another day at the office..." She muttered and saw the face in front of her crack slightly at the corner in the hint of a smile. 

"Yes, another day at the office." He had begun to pace slowly along the far wall of the room, backlit by a huge pair of bay windows that showed off the city behind him. "Any number of days in truth that will leave a trail of bodies across the Kingdom and, perhaps, beyond." 

"And whose bodies will those be?"

"Does it matter?" His eyes snapped back to her again.

"No, I suppose not." She nodded slowly. "What of my Rhodesian employers?"

The man snorted and waved a hand. "They are a regional power to be sure but their power does not extend into this part of Africa." 

"Okay. What are the terms of employment?" It felt strange to be negotiating terms of anything. It felt a bit like being her own boss and she found she liked it.

"You work for us until such time as you, or we, find the contract to... Untenable." He had stopped pacing behind his desk now and reached into a top drawer and drew out a small wooden box which he placed on the desk top. He placed one hand on the lid, fingers flexed out over the top like a spider.

"We will offer you a 100,000 peseta signing bonus, now. You will receive an additional 100,000 per six months worked, and 10,000 per confirmed kill." His hand pulled back the lid and she found herself staring at neat rows of gold coins. He smiled. "In gold of course."

Sara had never before in her life seen so much gold and she felt the intense lure of it that had driven the Spanish to build their great empire. She nodded slowly, eyes still fixed on the golden coins.

"I find the compensation to be acceptable." She looked up now. "What else?"

"Simple," He didn't smile at all now and she suddenly realized that his eyes had a dead look to them she had not noticed before. "If you betray us, we kill you."