Valparaiso is a beautiful city in Chile, on the coast, about 75 miles from the capital city of Santiago. It is renowned for its street art, or more accurately, its building art. Murals and scenes are painted on buildings throughout the city. The example below might become a part of the book cover when this book is ready to be released sometime later this year.
I found the city to be the perfect place to set my first entry into the spy world - well, it's sort of in the spy world. The sample below is not from the beginning of the book. As you'll see, it is from Chapter two.
Valparaiso, Chapter Two:
CIA Director,
Eric Dobbs, stood in front of the room.
Agent Lynn Jeffries sat in a chair at
the side of the table.
Dobbs brought up a picture on the
large screen at the front of the room. It showed a crunched, wrecked
motorcycle.
“You recognize that,” he said to Lynn
Jeffries.
“Scott’s motorcycle accident in
Chile,” Lynn said.
Dobbs nodded. He brought up a second
picture.
It was Tommy.
Lynn did a double take. “It’s him.”
Dobbs nodded.
“I mean, it’s been a couple years, and
he’s let his hair grow longer, but that’s him.”
“He goes by the name Tommy Sands,”
Dobbs said. “Runs a restaurant in the town of Valparaiso, about 75 or so miles
from Santiago.”
“He faked his death?” Lynn asked.
Dobbs nodded again.
“Since you’re his ex,” Dobbs began, “I
can only have you involved in a management roll. I’m not sending you there in
person.”
“What’s the plan?” Lynn asked.
Dobbs brought up another picture.
“This is Brenda Davis.”
Agent Davis looked to be in her 30s.
Attractive. Smart.
“What’s her history?”
“Three field assignments,” Dobbs
answered. “Good record. A couple minor things. Arguing a little with
supervisors. A little too flirty with a target.”
Lynn looked over at Dobbs with a jaded
look.
“Don’t tell me you’re having her
seduce him.”
Dobbs cleared his throat and did not answer.
Lynn laughed a sarcastic laugh.
“Scott’s going to fall for her,” Lynn laughed.
“We hope so.” Dobbs looked at Lynn
with a half-smile. “We’re counting on it.”
Lynn exhaled and twisted her neck.
“Ok,” she said. “Bring her in.”
Dobbs turned to a console and
pressed a button. He turned to Lynn and presented as fake a smile as he could.
Brenda Davis walked in the door, the
perfect picture of someone in control. She closed the door behind her. It
opened a half second later as Agent Lionel Miles followed her in. Agent Miles
closed the door, and they all sat calmly around the table.
Dobbs brought up Tommy’s picture
again.
“This is Scott Jeffries,” Dobbs
began. “Agent Jeffries ex-husband.” He nodded toward Lynn. “Scott was career
CIA until two years ago, when he disappeared. He sold classified info on the
international black market.”
Dobbs looked intently from Brenda to
Miles, to Lynn.
“Then he faked his death.”
Dobbs brought up the picture of the
crumpled motorcycle.
Brenda Davis was rapt with
attention. She soaked up the information as Dobbs revealed it.
Agent Miles scrunched his face a
little. “What’s stopping us from picking him up?”
“We are,” Dobbs said. “There’s more
here than meets the eye.”
The four agents were silent for a
moment.
“What’s our mission?” Brenda asked,
matter-of-factly.
Dobbs cleared his throat. “Become a
friend, gain his trust.”
“I’ll give you background on him as
a person,” Lynn said.
Peter Wick
January 14, 2025
