Page 59 of The Angel and the Agent

“Ethan was laughing,” Amelia explained.

“I’d have that looked at if I were you. I knew a bloke who sounded like that, and it turned out his lung was…”

Ethan pressed Amelia’s head to his chest, covering her exposed ear with his hand. “Go to sleep, I’ll take one for the team and keep listening,” he whispered.

“You are literally the best,” she said. She closed her eyes and, a few minutes later, she was asleep.

Chapter 21

“Are we staying at the embassy?” Amelia asked. They were approaching Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon and also the location of the nearest US Embassy.

“No.”

“Why are we going there?”

“We have to get your replacement passport,” he said.

“Um, I don’t have a passport,” she said.

“Of course you do, but it was stolen, along with our luggage, and so now we have to get you a new one,” he said.

“How am I getting a phantom passport?”

“A certain azure-haired friend is arranging some things, creating some records, etcetera.”

“Blue can do things like that? I thought he was just comic relief,” Amelia said.

“No one actually knows the extent of what Blue can do, or exactly where he came from. Like all good hackers, he just appeared one day. Rumors say he was created in a chat room,” Ethan said.

“Maybe he’s part of the matrix,” Amelia suggested.

“Maybe we’re the matrix, and he’s the only thing that’s real,” Ethan said.

“I’ve seen him sing karaoke. Believe me when I tell you he’s unreal,” Amelia said.

“Look, the city’s coming into view,” Ethan said, pointing.

Amelia gasped. “It’s huge, and it’s so modern.” So far the parts of Africa she’d seen were what she’d imagined—rural and underdeveloped. But Yaounde looked like any city in the US. “Is that a Hilton?”

“There are a lot of hotels here. They get a lot of dignitaries from all over the world. There’s a big expat population here, too. Both US and French,” he said.

“Wow,” she said, her face pressed to the window.

“Africa is diverse and fascinating. You haven’t gotten a good taste of it,” he said.

“Next time I get kidnapped, I’ll ask to be taken to one of the nicer parts,” she said.

The car came to a halt so suddenly Amelia slammed into the seat in front of her.

“Jones, what gives?” Ethan asked, rolling down the divider.

“This is as far as I go, mates,” Jones replied.

“The embassy’s over a mile away,” Ethan said.

“This is as close to it as I get. There’s a lot of law around there, if you know what I’m saying,” Jones said.

“I think we do,” Ethan said. He paid the man and gathered their paltry luggage—his pack and her small paper bag from the store.

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