Page 63 of Kiss Her Goodbye

Westwig sighs heavily.Kurtz gives up the ghost.

“Which would be the second detail Sabera omitted.She had been working for the army’s military intelligence corps.Until fourteen months later, a fellow cryptanalyst found an error in one of the messages she decoded.Further review revealed several more mistakes.”

“She wasn’t the wunderkind everyone supposed?”

Kurtz arches a brow.Waits.

My eyes go round as a second explanation comes to me: “They thought it was intentional.Like she was a double agent or something?”

“Let’s go with ‘or something.’The errors were random enough she could pass them off as slipups.But by then, doubt in her skills had turned into suspicion of her motives.She was officiallydismissed.No one would tell me anything more on the subject.Then again, military intelligence never likes to admit when they’ve been less than intelligent.”

Kurtz rolls his eyes, while Westwig nods in agreement.

I sit back, more flummoxed than ever.“So basically, Sabera’s mother was a spy for MI6.Her daughter knew, but no one else.Then Sabera approaches the US military to offer her services in decoding.Except maybe she wasn’t really there to help?She had another motive entirely?But what?”

Kurtz spreads his hands.“No one would comment.”

“But maybe she was up to something,” I try on.“Which earned her some enemies.Who may have then followed her to Tucson?Four years later?”

The men go from shrugging to open skepticism.Yeah, I can’t exactly blame them for that.

“You said someone with a ‘British-adjacent’ accent was looking for Sabera,” Westwig speaks up.“What did you mean by that?”

“That’s the problem; we’re not certain.The witness was a young boy.According to him, the man who tried to kidnap Zahra Ahmadi sounded like he had a British accent, except not exactly.I was thinking maybe Australian?Or maybe,” now that I think about it more, “South African?Would a South African have a reason to be pursuing an Afghan refugee?”I inquire.

More exchanged looks.

“Some of the best mercs in the world,” Westwig comments.

“And they’ve long been interested by Afghanistan,” Kurtz comments.“Given the mining potential.”

“Mining potential?”

“South Africa is one of the top mining countries.From diamonds to chromium, if it’s in the ground, they can get it out.Which makes the South Africans very keen on Afghanistan, which issitting atop some of the largest mineral-rich deposits in the world.Copper, iron, lithium, coal, gold, gemstones.You name it, they got it.And then there’s the matter of rare earth elements—REEs.”

“Which everyone wants,” Westwig adds.“Especially to reduce dependence on the Chinese.”

“But what does that have to do with Sabera Ahmadi?”I ask in total confusion.

“I don’t know that it does.”Westwig shrugs.

I feel ready to tear out my hair.Instead, I give up completely and rise to standing.Fascinating family legacy aside, learning Sabera’s mother’s past work isn’t helping me with the present circumstance.After another second, Daryl pushes out of his own chair.

“One last question,” I say as we turn toward the door.“Sabera’s mother’s MI6 handler.Did you find him?”

“We found her.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“We can make you the same deal we made Sabera: we’ll pass along your name to her.As for what happens after that…”

“Fair enough.”

“You’ll keep us posted on Sabera?”Kurtz requests.

“Sure.But I wouldn’t get your hopes up.Sabera doesn’t just create riddles, she’s become one.And I’ll be damned if I can decode what she’s gonna do next.”

CHAPTER 24